Novak flew in an airplane made by constructor Slavoljub Penkala from the military training-field in Črnomerec, Zagreb.
Later, during one of Novak's flying achievements, on 20 October 1910, the airplane was damaged, and Penkala gave up on aircraft design.
(Otherwise, in spite of the impression created in and about a part of the community, mainly by his merit, Mihajlo Merčep bad never taken to flying himself, nor he was a constructor or similarly; he was the entrepreneur who decided to share the glory of Edvard Rusjan and later of Dragutin Novak, deciding that the future of aviation is knocking on the door.)
After a short period of service in the army (infantry) he was transferred to the air force of the Austria-Hungarian kingdom.
At the beginning of 1916, after he was wounded during an air battle (when after an explosion near the airplane he went deaf in the left ear), he was promoted to the post of flight-teacher in the most important military-pilot school in the Monarchy in the Wiener Neustadt.
After the end of the First World War he refused to serve in the Austrian army, and returned to his family.
With his family he moved to Križevci where for a short while he worked in a steam-powered flour-mill, then he returned to Zagreb and was employed at the Anatomy institute of the Medicine faculty.
Thanks to the right motivation and intervention of his family and enthusiasts, his peculiar contribution to the life of citizens was awarded by his insertion in the Croatian encyclopedia LZMK (7th volume), and in a short time from now[when?]
The city of Križevci honored with a memory-plate on the house in which he had lived and worked, and by naming the neighboring promenade Dragutin Novak.