Quote:
Originally Posted by Eugenio57
Did he stay on the ground watching his men for three month in a terrible situation?
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A possible answer:
Nowotny was the first pilot in history to pass 250 victories and was now the top-scoring fighter ace of the Luftwaffe. On 19 October, he became the eighth recipient of the Brillanten. The Nazi propaganda machine turned Nowotny into a “superstar” of the Luftwaffe. He had received the highest military awards available: Ritterkreuz mit Eichenlaub, Schwertern und Brillanten and was withdrawn from combat activity by the High Command. During the following months, his main role was to perform propaganda and moral-boosting duties before, on 1 April 1944, Hauptmann Nowotny was appointed Kommodore of JG 101, an operational fighter-training unit, based at Pau in France.
http://www.luftwaffe.cz/nowotny.html
I have also read that the loss of Döbele (KIFA) and Schnörrer (WIA) in two days in November 1943 had a big impact on Nowotny morale, and maybe will to fight.
From my source, he was Kommandeur of I./JG 54 up to 4 February 1944. Whay he did between this date and 1 April 1944 were propably propaganda tours.
Regarding the number of victories listed in the book, one possible explanation was the long victory confirmation process by the Luftwaffe. Some claims were only confirmed or rejected after months, even more than a year later. So I guess that wartime sources will show the total numbers of claims made by a pilot at a given time, while the current victory list will only show confirmed victories (that is, until the system broke in 1944).