Hauptmann (Captain) Benno Fiala Ritter von Fernbrugg (16 June 1890 – 29 October 1964) was an Austro-Hungarian fighter ace with 28 victories to his credit during World War I.

[2] Benno Fiala von Fernbrugg was born in Vienna to an aristocratic family with a tradition of military service.

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.

Fiala completed training as a flying observer on 28 July 1914, the very day Austria-Hungary declared war on Serbia.

[5] 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.

[6] 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.

It was used in May 1915 on the Russian Front, during the Battle of Gorlice-Tarnow: by sending corrections to a receiver on the ground, it successfully adjusted mortar fire.

The semi-rigid dirigible had been returning from a bombing raid when Fiala shot it down above Gorizia, Italy,[8] killing the entire crew of six.

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.

His victory roll included a dirigible, three observation balloons, and a predominance of enemy fighters among the planes he had felled.