Benno Fiala Ritter von Fernbrugg

Benno Fiala von Fernbrugg
Allegiance	Austro-Hungarian Empire
Service/branch	Artillery, aviation
Years of service	ca 1914–1918, unknown period during World War II
Rank	Hauptmann (Captain)
Unit	Fort Artillery Regiment 1, Fliegerkompagnies 1, 19, 41J, 12D, 56J.

Hauptmann (Captain) Benno Fiala von Fernbrugg (16 June 1890 – 29 October 1964), Order of the Iron Crown, Order of Leopold, Military Merit Cross, Military Merit Medal, Gold Medal for Bravery, Iron Cross was an Austro-Hungarian fighter ace with 28 victories to his credit during World War I. He was the third ranking ace of the Austro-Hungarian Empire. He was also a technical innovator who pioneered the use of machine guns, radios, and cameras in airplanes.

Early life

Benno Fiala von Fernbrugg was born in Vienna to an aristocratic family with a tradition of military service. His father was an artillery officer and his brother in naval aviation. Fiala attended primary and secondary school in Vienna, and went on to major in mechanical engineering at the local University of Technology.

He had an early fascination with aviation but was initially refused aviation service, instead being gazetted as an officer in the engineers and assigned to Fort Artillery Regiment 1.

Assignment to Aviation

Being assigned to the artillery didn't quash his interest in aviation; he visited airports. While at one, he met Emil Uzelac, Commander of the fledgling air force of the Austro-Hungarian Empire. Uzelac arranged Fiala's transfer to Fliegerkompagnie 1 of the Luftfahrtruppen as a technical officer. Fiala completed training as a flying observer on 28 July 1914, the very day Austria-Hungary declared war on Serbia.

In November 1914, Fiala took charge of the locomotive of a supply train and drove it to safety even though it was under attack by Russian troops. He was awarded the Silver Medal of Merit for this. On 10 November, he was also promoted to leutnant (Second Lieutenant).

Although trained as an observer, Fiala's duties in this beginning of the war consisted mainly of arming planes with machine guns, and experimenting with aerial cameras. He also rigged a 30 kilogram (66 pound) radio transmitter in an unarmed plane. It was used in May 1915 at the Battle of Gorlice-Tarnow on the Russian Front; by sending corrections to a receiver on the ground, it successfully adjusted mortar fire.

Aerial Victories

Fiala had had a couple of unconfirmed victories on the Russian Front. Now he was transferred to Fliegerkompany 19 on the Italian Front. There he flew a Hansa-Brandenburg C.1 two seated reconnaissance plane, scoring his first confirmed triumph on 29 April 1916.

On 4 May 1916, he was piloting a Hansa-Brandenburg C.1 when he teamed with a second C.1 to shoot down the Italian airship M-4. The semi-rigid dirigible had been returning from a bombing raid when Fiala shot it down above Gorizia, Italy.

Fiala was wounded by anti-aircraft fire in the beginning of 1917. After he recovered, he moved into Fliegerkorps 41J, then into a Hansa-Brandenburg D.1 fighter in Fliegerkorps 12D.

Beginning 9 August 1917, he ran off a string of five confirmed and two confirmed wins that month. He scored once more, in October, before changing squadrons once again in November, to move into an Albatros D.III with Fliegerkorps 56J.

He notched win number nine with 56J, but didn't spend long with them; he transferred into command of Fliegerkorps 51J in January, 1918. His steady accretion of victories helped shape Flik 51J into the premier squadron of the Austro-Hungarians. Especially notable was his 14th win; on 30 May 1918, he downed British ace Alan Jerrard in an action that was so fierce, it won the loser the Victoria Cross.

Fiala racked up number 28 on 20 August 1918. He was then forwarded to nonflying staff duties until war's end.

The engineer turned fighter pilot had flown on two fronts which had more hazardous flying conditions and less opportunity for air combat than the Western Front in France. His victory roll included a dirigible, four observation balloons, and a predominance of enemy fighters among the planes he had felled. He claimed at least five unconfirmed victories. He had won the Order of the Iron Crown, Order of Leopold, Military Merit Cross, Military Merit Medal, Gold Medal for Bravery, and the Iron Cross.

Postwar

Fiala returned to college after the war, completing an engineering degree from the University of Vienna in 1923. From 1925 through 1927, he worked with Professor Hugo Junkers of Junkers fame on aircraft maintenance for civil airliners. In 1928, he entered into a partnership with Mitsubishi Industries of Japan to produce an all-metal plane for the United States market.

In March, 1933 he was placed under house arrest by the Gestapo by direct order of Hermann Göring. After his release, he fled Germany back to his native Austria.

He then joined his old comrade in arms Julius Arigi in founding an airport operations company. He was an executive of this company through 1936.

During World War II, he served in the Luftwaffe as a Captain, or Hauptmann.

Later, he ran the airport in Horsching, Austria.

He died in Vienna on 29 October 1964.

See also

• ‹See Tfd›German: Benno Fiala von Fernbrugg
• Polish: Benno Fiala von Fernbrugg

External links

• http://www.theaerodrome.com/aces/austrhun/fiala.php
• http://www.firstworldwar.com/bio/fernbrugg.htm
• http://www.greatwarflyingmuseum.com/aces/austria_hungary/benno_von_fernbrugg.html
• http://www.historyofwar.org/articles/battles_gorlice_tarnow.html
• http://aces.safarikovi.org/victories/austria_hungary-ww1-airship.killers.html