Gottfried Freiherr von Banfield Gottfried Freiherr von Banfield ( 1890 – 1986 ) was the most successful Austro - Hungarian naval aeroplane pilot in the First World War . He was known as the ' Eagle of Trieste ' and was the last person in history to wear the Military Order of Maria Theresa . He may have been the only flying ace who flew a flying boat to five or more victories . Family . Of Norman origin , the Banfields were an Irish family in the 16th century . The ancestor Thomas Banfield , an officer in the British army , while in Bavaria married an Austrian noblewoman . He took part in the Crimean War and died after the taking of Sevastopol . His son Richard Banfield , born in Vienna in 1836 and educated in Austria , chose Austrian citizenship , became an officer of the k . u . k . Kriegsmarine and took part in the Battle of Lissa as one of the commanders on Wilhelm von Tegetthoff ' s flagship , the " Erzherzog Ferdinand Max " . Early training . Banfield was born 6 February 1890 in Castelnuovo , which is situated in the Bay of Cattaro and was the homeport of an Austrian fleet . His father was a British subject , but the boy Gottfried took Austrian nationality . He attended the Military secondary - school in Sankt Pölten , and the Naval academy in Fiume : on 17 June 1909 he emerged as cadet . In May 1912 he was promoted to frigate - Lieutenant . One month later he began pilot training in the flying school in Wiener Neustadt , and in August he obtained his flying licence . Enthused with aviation like his older brother , who had already become a well - known aviator , he was chosen to be among the first pilots of the Austrian navy , and went off to perfect his training at the Donnet - Lévèque pilot school in France , where his trainer was the company ' s chief pilot , the naval lieutenant Jean - Louis Conneau , a pilot famous at the time for having won many air contests under the pseudonym of " Beaumont " . On the Pola Naval Air base of Santa Caterina island he trained in seaplane s . As a result of a forced landing in 1913 he broke a leg so badly that the foot was barely saved . He was not airborne again until the outbreak of war . Wartime experience . At the start of the First World War , Banfield was posted to fly the Lohner flying boat E . 21 allocated to the pre - dreadnought battleship SMS " Zrínyi " for aerial reconnaissance . He took part in the first aerial actions against Montenegro from the base of Cattaro . In the period following he worked as a test pilot and instructor at the airfield on the island of Santa Catarina off Pola . Once the Italians entered the war he was commissioned with building up a larger seaplane station near Trieste , and after its completion was named as its commanding officer . He retained his command until the end of the war . He won his first air - battles in a Lohner biplane seaplane against the Italians and their French allies in the gulf of Trieste in the month of June 1915 , downing a balloon on the 27th . Even coming up against his old teacher Jean - Louis Conneau ( better known as André Beaumont ) in September 1915 . Experimenting with a monoplane seaplane early in 1916 , he won many victories and for a time held first place among the Austrian aces . He was wounded in combat in 1918 . Decorations and military tally . Banfield ' s 9 confirmed and 11 unconfirmed air - kills make him the most successful Austro - Hungarian naval airplane fighter , and he holds a place among the most successful flying aces of Austro - Hungary . It was because he made most of his expeditions over the northern Adriatic , and therefore many of his attributed air - victories could not be confirmed , that accounts for his high tally of unconfirmed air - conquests . For his military services he was in 1916 decorated with the Large Military Merit Medal with Swords . Founded on 1 April 1916 , this honour was intended for the " highest especially praiseworthy recognition " and was awarded only 30 times . 28 of its recipients were officers of general ' s rank ; the other two were the cryptologist Hermann Pokorny ( 1918 ) and Banfield himself . On 17 August 1917 Banfield was further honoured when he received the Military Order of Maria Theresa . Individuals who received the order and were not already members of the Austrian nobility were ennobled and received the hereditary title of ' Freiherr ' , meaning ' Baron ' to their family name . At the time of his death in 1986 , Freiherr von Banfield was the last living Knight of the Military Order of Maria Theresa . Il Barone at Trieste . After the First World War , the city of Trieste was annexed by Italy , and Freiherr von Banfield was for a time imprisoned by the occupation police . In 1920 he emigrated to England and became a British subject . He married the Contessa Maria Tripcovich of Trieste ( d . 1976 ) . They settled in Newcastle - upon - Tyne , where their son Raphael Douglas , known to the world as the composer Raffaello de Banfield Tripcovich , was born in 1922 . In 1926 , Gottfried took Italian nationality and returned to Trieste to become Director of the Diodato Tripcovich and Co . Trieste Shipping - Company , which he took over from his father - in - law . Trieste Company ships then sailed under the Italian flag . Banfield became a celebrity of the city , usually called " Our Baron " , " Il nostro Barone " , even winning a local tennis championship in 1927 . Serving as the Honorary Consul of France at Trieste , he was decorated with the Legion d ' Honneur in 1977 . Freiherr von Banfield died in Trieste 23 September 1986 , at the age of 96 . A military tribute . As a memorial the 1990 graduating year ' s class of the Theresa Military academy in Wiener - Neustadt , the greater number of whom had begun their foundation military service in the year of Freiherr von Banfield ' s death , called itself the ' Banfield Class . '