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Julius Arigi (3 October 1895 – 1 August 1981) was a flying ace of the Austro-Hungarian Empire in World War I with a total of 32 credited victories. His victory total was second only to Godwin von Brumowski. Arigi was considered a superb natural pilot. He was also a technical innovator responsible for engineering changes in the aircraft he flew.
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Julius Arigi (3 October 1895 – 1 August 1981) was a flying ace of the Austro-Hungarian Empire in World War I with a total of 32 credited victories. His victory total was second only to Godwin von Brumowski. Arigi was considered a superb natural pilot. He was also a technical innovator responsible for engineering changes in the aircraft he flew.
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Early life Julius Arigi was born in Děčín (German: Tetschen), Bohemia, to a Sudeten German family. Before joining the military, he was a waiter or an electrician (sources are unclear in that case). He volunteered in October 1913 for Fortress Artillery Regiment No. 1 of the Austro-Hungarian Army.
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Aerial service In March 1914, he transferred to the Luftfahrtruppen (air service). He trained as a pilot, passing final tests on 26 November 1914, to become Zugsführer (sergeant). Initially during World War I, Arigi was assigned to Fliegerkompanie 6, based in southern Dalmatia, flying Lloyd Type LS 2 and Lohner biplane aircraft in operations against Serbian and Montenegrin forces. On 20 December 1914, Arigi and his observer, Leutnant Levak, crashlanded a Lohner 140 in the Adriatic Sea; fortunately for them, in the shallow water. In October 1915, Arigi became a prisoner of war when he was forced down due to engine failure during a reconnaissance flight behind enemy lines in Montenegro. He escaped captivity on his sixth try in January 1916, however, by stealing an enemy staff car belonging to Prince Nicholas of Montenegro, and rejoining his unit which later moved to Albania. While flying on the Albanian front, Arigi sank an Italian steamboat in the port of Valona (now Vlorë). On 22 August 1916, Stabsfeldwebel (Sergeant Major) Arigi ignored standing orders that an officer had to be aboard to command his plane. He took Feldwebel (Staff Sergeant) Johann Lasi along to engage six Italian Farman aircraft over the Skumbi…
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Post World War I After the war he became a citizen of newly established Czechoslovakia where he in 1919 co-founded Ikarus, one of country's pioneer civil aviation companies; two years later founded another company, air travel named Weltbäderflugverkehr ("World Spa Air Transport"), which operated on the line between the capital Prague and famous spa towns of Mariánské Lázně and Karlovy Vary etc. in western Bohemia. Also while in Czechoslovakia, he helped select sites for new airfields. Later, when he became an ardent National Socialist and joined (1928) the German National Socialist Workers' Party (Czechoslovakia), was involved in espionage for the Third Reich. In 1934 he moved to Berlin and two years later he obtained Austrian citizenship. In 1935, he partnered with a friend from World War I, fellow ace Benno Fiala von Fernbrugg, in forming the Wiener-Neustadt Airport Management Association. From 1938, he was a Luftwaffe fighter instructor with the rank of captain. Two of his students became some of the most successful aces of World War II: Walter Nowotny (258 victories) and Hans-Joachim Marseille (158 victories). Their ability to repeatedly shoot down multiple enemies on the same sortie can be traced to Arigi's teaching them to close to minimum…
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Further reading Franks, Norman L. R.; Guest, Russell; Alegi, Gregory (1997). Above the War Fronts. London: Grub Street. ISBN 1-898697-56-6. Grosz, Peter M.; Haddow, George; Schiemer, Peter (1993). Austro-Hungarian Army Aircraft of World War One. Mountain View: Flying Machines Press. ISBN 978-0-9637110-0-7.