Benno Fiala Ritter von Fernbrugg 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 . His forty - year aviation career also included aircraft manufacture , airport management , and the establishment of commercial airlines . 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 , becoming an Ingenieur . 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 in 1910 . Assignment to Aviation . Being assigned to the artillery didn ' t quash his interest in aviation ; his brother was a naval aviator , and Fiala 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 and he was wounded in the action . He was awarded the Silver Military Merit Medal for this . On 10 November , he was also received a most unusual promotion to leutnant ( Second Lieutenant ) ahead of his sequence in seniority . 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 . Fiala was briefly attached to the testing section of the air arsenal before being reassigned to a flying unit . 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 in January 1916 . There he flew a Hansa - Brandenburg C . I two seated reconnaissance plane , scoring his first confirmed triumph on 29 April 1916 . On 4 May 1916 , he was piloting a Hansa - Brandenburg C . I when he teamed with a second C . I 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 , killing the entire crew of six . Fiala was wounded by anti - aircraft fire in the beginning of 1917 . It was during this recuperation that he decided to apply for pilot ' s training . After he recovered , he moved into Fliegerkorps 41J , then into a Hansa - Brandenburg D . I fighter in Fliegerkorps 12D . Beginning 9 August 1917 , he ran off a string of five confirmed and two confirmed wins for the 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 continued to fly until October , but then was posted 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 , three 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 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 . The Austrian air force base at Aigen is named for him . References . " Austro - Hungarian aces of World War 1 " Christopher Chant . Osprey Publishing , 2002 . ISBN 1 - 84176 - 376 - 4 , ISBN 978 - 1 - 84176 - 376 - 7 .