Royal Hungarian Air Force
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The Royal Hungarian Air Force (Hungarian: Magyar Királyi Légierő ) was a branch of the armed forces of the Kingdom of Hungary under the imperial administrator and head of state Miklós Horthy , which were officially established on January 1, 1939 by decree of December 28, 1938. However, their de facto formation took place in 1920. At the end of the Second World War in 1945, the air forces were largely disbanded and their structures smashed. With the collapse of the kingdom and the conversion from the monarchy to the People's Republic of Hungary in 1949, it then became completely extinct and was re-integrated into the Hungarian People's Army.
history
From the beginning to the official foundation
The Treaty of Trianon 1920 determined for Hungary under the point of the armaments restrictions, besides the imposition of other restrictions, the prohibition of the production of military aircraft of all kinds as well as the training of pilots as well as the military aviation in general. However, contrary to the regulations, Hungary continued to operate military aviation on a modest scale under a camouflage coat. In 1924, the Hungarian Aviation Affairs Office was established with three departments within the Ministry of Commerce, which acted as camouflage. The new office was responsible for
- the development of military aviation
- the training and recruitment of suitable aviation personnel and
- the boost in aircraft production.
In order not to violate the Trianon Treaty, the first Hungarian air forces that emerged as a result were called aerial gendarmerie or simply air base administration . They organized the first practical and theoretical pilot training courses. For this purpose the pilot school in Szombathely was founded in 1924 . In 1926 the pilot schools in Szeged and Székesfehérvár followed . The schools for the (aviator) observers were subject to the area of responsibility of the Hungarian army at this time and were not bound by the strict restrictions of military aviation. In addition to the training of upcoming air officers as observers, they were also responsible for the training and education of infantry and artillery officers. In 1928 the observer school was also founded in Székesfehérvár. In 1931 the staff of the Office of Aviation Affairs were given their own uniforms, which were adopted unchanged in 1939 when the Royal Hungarian Air Force was officially established.
From 1939
The official establishment of the Royal Hungarian Air Force took place on January 1, 1939 by decree of December 28, 1938. The air forces had their first use in the Slovak-Hungarian War in 1939. When a Slovak air force base near Spišská Nová Ves was bombed on March 24, 1939, came the 13 people killed. In the Balkan campaign (1941) the Royal Hungarian Air Force supported the German Wehrmacht . When the German Reich invaded the Soviet Union on June 22, 1941 , a large part of the aircraft fleet of the 2nd Air Brigade of the ally Hungary was shot down in the following months after heavy fighting over the Ukraine. Germany quickly rearmamented its ally. After the Battle of Budapest in 1945 the Royal Hungarian Air Force was practically non-existent.
Equipment and structure
The Royal Hungarian Air Force was from the beginning its own armed forces under the command of Major General László Háry . From March 1941, the air forces were merged with the air defense and civil defense under the command of General András Littay and the air forces were thus effectively subordinated to the army command. General Béla Rákosi became the commander of the air force .
Aircraft
In 1938 the Royal Hungarian Air Force were with bombers of the type Junkers Ju 86 and biplanes of the type Fiat CR.32 and a little later Fiat CR.42 equipped. 30 German Heinkel He 112s were also delivered in 1939. The Fiat CR.32s were replaced by the newer Italian Reggiane Re.2000 from 1940 to 1941 . A heavily modified version of the Re.2000, the Hejja II, was also made in Hungary. By October 1942, Hungary was supplied with new fighters such as the Messerschmitt Bf 109 F-4, Junkers Ju 87 dive bombers and Messerschmitt Me 210 destroyers . The Messerschmitt Bf 109 F-4 were later replaced by the G-2 variants and, as the war continued, the G-6, some of which were also manufactured by the Hungarian company Csepel in its factory in Győr .
Parachute battalions
In 1937 the 1st Hungarian parachute formation was set up in Győr with a nominal strength of 84 men. On May 25, 1942, it was renamed Kgl. Renamed Hungarian vitéz Bertalan Árpád Honvéd Paratrooper Battalion . Bertalan Árpád , founder of the Hungarian parachute weapon, had previously fallen on April 12, 1941. In the summer of 1944, a second paratrooper battalion was set up, but without parachute training under the name of the II Honvéd Parachute Battalion . Due to the development of the situation on the Eastern Front , however, both battalions were soon detached from the Hungarian Air Force and regrouped as the newly established 1st Parachute Grenadier Regiment and merged into the 1st and 2nd Battalion of this regiment. The regiment was then part of the Hungarian elite unit, the Szt. László division . This division as well as the integrated parachute battalions suffered considerable losses in the battle for Budapest and in further fighting in western Hungary until their remnants surrendered to the British armed forces in April 1945 together with units of the German armed forces in Carinthia .
See also
- Royal Hungarian Army
- Hungarian Paratrooper Achievement Badge
- Hungarian paratrooper troops badge
- Special badge of the head of the Hungarian aviation authority
- Hungarian observer badge
- Hungarian pilot badge
- Hungarian pilot badge
- Hungarian Air Force
literature
- Tálas Géza: Hungarian pilot and paratrooper badges 1920-1945 . Ed .: Ernst Blass. No. 21 . Small series for friends of medals and decorations customers, Budapest 1981, p. 1/7 .
- Rudolf Höfling: Hungarian aviators on the Eastern Front . In: FLiEGERREVUE X . No. 43 . PPV Medien, 2013, ISSN 2195-1233 , p. 54-85 .