Arigi, Julius

Officierstellvertreter Julius Arigi


Arigi was one of the great Austrian fighter aces of the First World War. He came from Bohemia, because he was born in Děčín on October 3, 1895 and spent his childhood in Mariánské Lázně. At the age of seventeen, he went to Vienna to volunteer for the Air Force. In November 1914, after basic and then advanced training, he was appointed pilot and corporal at the same time.


After the outbreak of war, Arigi was assigned to Fliegerkompanie 6, based in Kotor. Aligi was already famous for his accurate raid on an enemy ship and was awarded for the first time. However, on October 1, 1915, two days before his twentieth birthday, he had to make an emergency landing with his Lohner on enemy territory in Montenegro. He still managed to destroy the plane, but fell into captivity. With several other prisoners, he got a job as a car mechanic in the garages in Podgorica, where he first managed to repair and later steal a Fiat limousine from the property of Prince Nicholas of Montenegro. After many adventures, he and five other refugees got across the front line to the Austrian army. On January 23, 1916, two hours after returning to Flick 6, he took off again for a bombing flight. Shortly afterwards, Flik was moved south.


On August 22, 1916, word came that six Italian Farmans were attacking the port of Durazzo, and Arigi volunteered to attack the enemy formation. However, he was rejected on the grounds that there was no free officer to fly with him as an observer and commander at the same time. At short intervals, Arigi unsuccessfully repeated his request, but as the Italian bombers approached by ear, he took off without a command in a crew with NCO Johann Lasi. A lone double-seated Brandenburg C.I, armed with one fixed and one movable machine gun, bravely attacked the enemy formation. In half an hour, Arigi managed an incredible time. Three Farmans made an emergency landing on the coast for combat damage, and two crashed into the mouth of the Skumbi River. The Italian pilots were rescued by their own fleet. All five victories were confirmed by ground troops, and Arigi suddenly became the most popular man in the Austrian Air Force. All victories were immediately reported to Vienna at the Air Force Headquarters, from where they were mainly interested in why no officer took part in the action. The answer that all the officers were indisposed certainly did not serve Flika.


At the end of 1916, Arigi went to Fluggeschwader 1, where he flew on fighters Hansa-Brandenburg D. I. He engaged in heavy fighting on the Isonzo River and won a number of air victories. In the summer of the same year he was transferred to Flik 41 J, which he soon left due to serious personal disagreements with his commander [ url=/topic/view/57958/Brumowski-Godwin] by Godwin Brumowski[/url] (35 kills).


Godwin Brumowski was with his 35 kills the most successful Austro-Hungarian fighter. His father, originally from Poland, was a soldier, so tradition decided that Brumowski graduated from the Military Academy in Vienna in 1910. At the beginning of the war he served in the artillery on the Eastern Front. He was later sent for training as an artillery air observer. He joined u Flik 1, where he served under Bohemia Otto Jindrou. 12. 4. 1916 he flew as Jindra's observer and together with bombs attacked the military parade of the Tsar Nicholas II. Immediately, Brumowski won the first two victories when he shot down two of the four Russian Morane Parasols with his machine gun, who tried to drive them away.


During 1916 Brumowski underwent a pilot course and was transferred to the fighter unit Flik 12 on the Italian front, where he flew fighters Hansa-Brandenburg DI In February 1917 he already commanded Flika 41J. In August 1917, he shot down 12 enemy aircraft in 19 days. For some time he also flew on the Austrian Albatrosech D.III (Oeffag), manufactured in Austria under license. In February 1918, he almost did not survive the fierce battle with eight enemy aircraft and had to make an emergency landing with a burning aircraft. He was also on an internship at JG I Manfred von Richthofen.


In October 1918 he was appointed commander of all air squadrons of the Austro-Hungarian army in Isonzo. Of his 35 victories, most were Italian aircraft, but he also destroyed the British Camel. Although he was an excellent fighter and a brave soldier, he had a complex nature. It always had to be his. Therefore, several pilots were taken away from his Flick, when, for example, his superiors advised him to apply for the Knight's Cross of Maria Theresa, he replied: the commander handed over. It is not my duty to ask or beg for him. ″He was right, but on the other hand, it was just as common in the Austro-Hungarian army, so Brumowski never received the award. When the war ended, Brumowski was discharged from the army. Bored of routine civilian life, he soon left his wife and daughter and returned to Vienna, where he founded a flight school. He died an air death in 1936 in the Netherlands.

From August 1917, therefore, Arigi served northwest of Venice at the famous Fliku 55 J, which was nicknamed Kaiserstaffel for excellent results, that is, the Imperial Squadron. Arigi flew here in a swarm, among other things, with the most successful fighter of Hungarian nationality Josef Kiss (19 kills).

In April 1918 he was again transferred to Flik 6 on the Albanian front, where as a fighter defended Kotor against English bombers. It is said that the emperor Karel sent two aircraft to Arigi on the front line Berg D. I, spread out in boxes, on which was written Arigi's name and thus a nickname for the whole unit - Arigistaffel. In June 1918, Arigi and the others joined the Jagdfliegerkompanie 1 J, in whose ranks he lived to see the end of the war in the rank of Offiziersstellvertreter (officer waiter), because strict Austrian regulations did not allow his promotion to officer.
However, Julius Arigi achieved a total of 32 victories, making him the second most successful Austrian fighter and the most decorated non-commissioned officer of the Austrian Air Force.


After the end of World War II, Arigi returned to Czechoslovakia and devoted himself to business in air transport. He had a large share in the construction of airports in Prague and Karlovy Vary. At the end of the 1920s, he moved to Vienna, where he became a co-founder and chief pilot of the aircraft factory in Wiener Neustadt. At that time, he began to show political sympathy for the Nazi movement, then banned in Austria. After the outbreak of of the Second World War, Arigi, in the rank of captain Luftwaffe, became an instructor at the Schwechat fighter school near Vienna. Among his students were such fighter aces as H. J. Marseille and W. Nowotny.


After completion II. World War II Julius Arigi retired and lived in the Austrian village of Seerwalchen, where he also died on August 1, 1981.