Benno Fiala from Fernbrugg

Benno Fiala Ritter von Fernbrugg (born June 16, 1890 in Vienna ; † October 29, 1964 ) was the third most successful fighter pilot in Austria-Hungary in World War I and the most successful who was born in what is now Austria.

Life

Fiala von Fernbrugg was born into a noble Viennese family with an old military tradition. His father was a Feldzeugmeister and his brother Otto was with the kuk Seefliegern . He attended primary and secondary school in Vienna and then studied mechanical engineering at the Vienna Technical University . After graduation he got the title of engineer . He then volunteered for the Austro-Hungarian Army as a one-year volunteer and served from 1910 to 1911 in the fortress artillery regiment No. 1 in Vienna.

Fiala often visited airfields because of his interest in aviation. Shortly before the outbreak of war he met the commander of the Austro-Hungarian airship department Emil Uzelac at the airfield in Fischamend . Uzelac was still missing a technical officer for Fliegerkompanie 1 , which was to be relocated to Galicia, and so he arranged for Fiala, who had already been called up to the artillery, to be transferred.

With the Flik 1, Fiala gained flight experience as an observer, but his performance was mainly in the technical area. In addition to the installation of rigid machine guns for pilots and photo cameras for aerial reconnaissance in planes, he was also involved in the construction of radio equipment. His system consisted of a transmitter for the aircraft and a receiver for the ground crew. The transmitter weighed 30 kg, which is why the machine gun had to be dispensed with due to the limited carrying capacity of the aircraft types at that time. The system was used successfully in the battle of Gorlice-Tarnów , where the fire of an Austro-Hungarian 30.5 cm mortar was directed from the aircraft.

Before his transfer to Fliegerkompanie 16 in January 1916, Fiala was temporarily assigned to the test department of the Fliegerarsenal in Fischamend . His new unit was under the command of Adolf Heyrowsky and was stationed with Haidenschaft on the Italian front . His duties included infantry support, photo reconnaissance and communication. Here he scored his first confirmed kill on April 29, 1916. This was followed by the shooting down of the Italian airship M.4 . After recovering from an injury, he was trained as a field pilot and assigned to the 41J fighter pilot company under Godwin von Brumowski .

After a few weeks, Fiala was transferred again, this time assigned to Divisional Aviation Company 12D . This was followed by a short time with the Fliegerkompanie 56J , until he was finally given his own command at the end of January with the Fighter Flier Company 51J . Here he stayed almost until the end of the war, achieved the majority of his 28 aerial victories and made the unit one of the most successful of the aviation troops. He achieved a notable victory in the air on March 30, 1918 against the English flying ace Alan Jerrard , who survived the crash and was then captured.

After the war Fiala studied again at the Vienna Technical University. He completed his studies in mechanical engineering, aircraft and automobile construction in 1923 with a degree in engineering . In 1925 he became the personal assistant of Professor Hugo Junkers in Dessau . In the following years he was plant manager of the Junkers shipyard of Polska Linja Lotnicza Aerolot in Warsaw, introduced the all-metal construction method for aircraft at Mitsubishi Aircraft Company in Japan , negotiated for Junkers in the USA and was most recently director of the entire Junkers factories . On March 23, 1933, like Hugo Junkers, Fiala was placed under house arrest on Hermann Göring's orders . After his release he had to leave Germany.

Fiala returned to Austria and founded the Wiener Neustädter Flughafenbetriebs GmbH together with Julius Arigi , of which he remained on the board until 1936. In the Second World War he served as captain in the German air force and was most recently in command of the airfield in Hörsching . His grave is in the Vienna Central Cemetery (Group 71B, No. 54).

The Fiala Fernbrugg air base of the Austrian Armed Forces in Aigen im Ennstal is named after him.

Awards

• Austrian gold medal for bravery for officers
• Silver Military Merit Medal
• Bronze Military Merit Medal
• Knight's Cross of the Leopold Order with war decoration and swords
• Order of the Iron Crown III. Class with war decorations and swords
• Austrian Military Merit Cross III. class
• Iron Cross (1914) 2nd class

literature

• O'Connor, Dr Martin: Air Aces of the Austro-Hungarian Empire 1914-1918 . Flying Machines Press, Mountain View (California) 1986, ISBN 1-891268-06-6
• Peter, Ernst: The Austro-Hungarian Airship and Aviation Troops - 1794–1919 . Motorbuch Verlag Stuttgart, Stuttgart 1981, ISBN 3-87943-743-2

Web links

• Short biography with a picture
• Short biography and list of the aerial victories of Fiala von Fernbrugg (English)