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Gottfried
von Banfield
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| Country: |
Austria |
| Born: |
06 February 1890 |
| Place of Birth: |
Pola |
| Deceased: |
23 September 1986 |
| Rank: |
Linienschiffsleutnant |
| Stations: |
Pola Trieste Naval Air Station |
| Victories: |
9 |
|
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| Banfield was the Empire's highest
scoring naval ace and the only Austro-Hungarian
airman to receive the Empire's highest honor:
the Knight's Cross of the Order of Maria Theresa.
An excellent marksman, he scored all nine victories
from flying boats. Participating in more than
400 sorties against the enemy, he was the first
Austro-Hungarian airman to score a victory at
night. Flying a Lohner two-seater on 27 June
1915, he scored his first victory, downing an
Italian balloon near the mouth of the Isonzo
River. In February 1916, he assumed command of
the naval air station at Trieste for the duration
of the war. Following his marriage to Countess
Maria Tripcovich of Trieste in 1920, Banfield
became head of his father-in-law's shipping company. |
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