Nozzle guide vanes (NGV) of gas turbine engines are the first components to withstand the impingement of hot combustion gas and therefore often suffer thermal fatigue failures in service. A lifting analysis is performed for the NGV of a gas turbine engine using the integrated creep–fatigue theory (ICFT). With the constitutive formulation of inelastic strain in terms of mechanism-strain components such as rate-independent plasticity, dislocation glide-plus-climb, and grain boundary sliding (GBS), the dominant deformation mechanisms at the critical locations are thus identified quantitatively with the corresponding mechanism-strain component. The material selection scenarios are discussed with regards to damage accumulated during take-off and cruise. The interplay of those deformation mechanisms in the failure process is elucidated such that an “optimum” material selection solution may be achieved.