Walter Nowotny was born in Gmünd a small town on the Austria/ Czechoslovakia border. In his teens, Nowotny was interested in all kinds of sports. In 1935, he played football for the school team in Waidhofen, and in 1937, took first place in the javelin and third place in the Lower Austrian 1,000 metres track and field championships.

Nowotny had joined the NSDAP-National Socialist German Workers' Party in 1938 and the same year, he joined the Hitler Youth where he became a leader of a troop. On 26 January 1939, Nowotny submitted an application "for voluntary entry into active military service" with the aim of becoming a pilot.

After he took his Gymansium diploma he then served four months with the mandatory Labour Service. He joined the Luftwaffe on 1 October 1939 and began his military basic training and continued at the Luftkriegschule 5.

Here he was promoted from Gefreiter to Fänrich in four months time. After Nowotny had completed his pilot training he received the Pilot Badge on 19 August 1940. During his training Nowotny became befriended with fellow pilots like Karl Schnörrer and Paul Galland.

After graduation from the Jagdfliegerschule 5, Nowotny was transferred to the I./Ergänzungs-Jagdgruppe Merseburg on 16 November 1940, flying fighter cover for the Leuna industrial works.

Nowotny was then posted to the Ergänzungsstaffel JG 54 on 1 December 1940 where he was further trained by veterans from the front line. And from 25 March 1941 Nowotny flew with the Stabstaffel of Erg./JG 54 where he on 1 April 1941 was promoted to Leutnant.

He would draw his first blod while participate in the attack on Soviet Union and on 19 July while flying his Bf 109 E-7 "White 2" on his 24th operational mission he claimed his first three enemy aircraft, of which two later was confirmed. Both VVS aircraft was I-153:s from KBF's 12 OIAE/61 BAB, downed 7 km northwest of Arensburg.

During this clash, he was also on the reciving end in this engagement, as he was shot down by the Soviet ace Aleksandr Avdeyev piloting another I-153 fighter. It is interesting to note that during this engagement, according to Soviet detailed archives, no Soviet aircraft was in fact lost.

The ordeal was however not over for Walter Nowotny as he spent three days in a dinghy in the Gulf of Riga ­ on one occasion almost being run down by a Soviet destroyer ­ until finally being washed ashore on the Latvian coast.

During "Nowis" spell in Erg./JG 54 he would be accredited with a total of 12 VVS aircraft, the most successful pilot in the Gruppe. Finally on 11 March 1942 he was transferred to 3 Staffeln of JG 54, scoring his 13th on 25 April, a MiG-3.

In total Walter "Nowi" Nowotny is accredited with 258 confirmed victories in 442 combat missions, three while flying the first operational jet fighter, the Me 262 It is interesting to note that his last two claims on 8 Nowember 1944, a B-17 and a P-51 Mustang was never included in his total.

His death on 8 November 1944 is still debated by researchers. According to some, Major Walther Nowotny´s Me 262 A-1a (White 8) was shot down by P-51 Mustangs while attempting to land at Achmer and crashed near Bramsche. The another version stated that his aircraft was hit and was then seen to dove vertically through clouds crashing at Epe 2 km East of Hesepe.

Note that this Bf 109 F-2 was probaly a machine transferred from the III./JG 54 and on deliverey to this training unit had an extensive respray, similary with the camouflage from the early 1940 period, consisting of a upper Green RLM 70 and RLM 71 camouflage over a RLM 76 Light Blue-Gray.

This profile is one of the four new profiles made during the week, I have also manage to update all my La-7 fighters to my latst standard. This profile would be included in my upcoming profie book No 17 to no 20.