Hungary: Warplanes of the Second World War preserved

Warplanes of the Second World War preserved in Hungary

The aim of this website is to locate, identify and document Warplanes from the Second World War preserved in Hungary.  Many contributors have assisted in the hunt for these aircraft to provide and update the data on this website.  Photos are as credited.  Any errors found here are by the author, and any additions, corrections or amendments to this list of Warplane Survivors of the Second World War in Hungary would be most welcome and may be e-mailed to the author at hskaarup@rogers.com.

Hungary (Szalasi regime)

Relations between Germany and the regency of Miklós Horthy collapsed in Hungary in 1944.  Horthy was forced to abdicate after German armed forces held his son hostage as part of Operation Panzerfaust.  Hungary was reorganized following Horthy’s abdication in December 1944 into a totalitarian fascist regime called the Government of National Unity, led by Ferenc Szálasi.  He had been Prime Minister of Hungary since October 1944 and was leader of the anti-Semitic fascist Arrow Cross Party.  In power, his government was a Quisling regime with little authority other than to obey Germany’s orders.  Days after the government took power; the capital of Budapest was surrounded by the Soviet Red Army.  German and fascist Hungarian forces tried to hold off the Soviet advance but failed.  In March 1945, Szálasi fled to Germany to run the state in exile, until the surrender of Germany in May 1945.  (Wikipedia)

Hungary

The present day Hungarian Air Force (Hungarian: Magyar Légier?) is the air force branch of the Hungarian Army.  Following the dissolution of the Austro-Hungarian Monarchy in 1918, a small air arm was established operating surviving aircraft from Hungarian factories and training schools.  This air arm became the Hungarian Red Air Force under the short lived Hungarian Soviet Republic but was disbanded upon its downfall.

Under the Treaty of Trianon (1920), Hungary was forbidden from owning military aircraft.  However, a secret air arm was gradually established under the cover of civilian flying clubs.  During 1938, the existence of the Royal Hungarian Air Force was made known.  The air arm was reorganized and expanded.  On 1 January 1939, it became independent of the army.  It subsequently participated in clashes with the newly established Slovak Republic and in the border confrontation with the Kingdom of Romania.  In April 1941, operations were conducted in support of the German invasion of Yugoslavia and, on 27 June 1941, Hungary declared war on the Soviet Union.  On 1 March 1942, the air force was returned to army control.  In the summer of 1942, an air brigade was attached to the Luftwaffe’s VIII. /Fliegerkors on the Eastern Front.  In March 1944, Allied bomber raids began on Hungary and progressively increased in intensity.  Late in 1944 all efforts were redirected towards countering the advancing Red Army, but to no avail.  All fighting in Hungary ended on 16 April 1945.  Following the end of the war, a small air arm was organised along Soviet lines in 1947.

The Museum of Hungarian Aviation displays old military and civilian aircraft and aircraft engines in Szolnok, Hungary.  It is located next to the “Lt. Ittebei Kiss József” Helicopter Base of the Hungarian Air Force.  The museum started out as the aircraft and technical peripherals collection of the “Kilián György Flight Technical College” in 1973.  This museum stores the remains of a number of Second World War warplanes shot down over Hungary and it plays a leading role in salvaging and conservation of such wrecks.  As result of these efforts the museum recovered an Il-2, two Bf 109s and a LaGG-5.[7]

During the war, Hungary produced 1,182 aircraft and 1,482 aircraft engines.  Among the aircraft were 488 Bf 109s and 279 Me 210s.  158 of these aircraft were taken on strength of the RHAF.  Aircraft used by the Royal Hungarian Air Force included the Arado Ar 96 trainer; Bücher Bü 131 flown as a courier aircraft; Caproni Ca 135bis bomber; Fiat CR 32; Dornier Do 215 bomber; Fiat CR.42; Fiat G.12 transport; Fieseler Fi 156 Storch; Focke-Wulf Fw 56 Weihe used as a courier/liaison aircraft; Focke-Wulf Fw 189 Uhu; and Focke-Wulf Fw 190F; Heinkel He 46; Heinkel He 112; Junkers Ju 86K-2 flown as a bomber; Junkers Ju 88A-4; Messerschmitt Bf 109G-6, Bf 109G-14 and Bf 109F-4; Messerschmitt Bf 110G-4; Messerschmitt Me 210Ca-1 (Licence-built in Hungary); Nardi FN 305 used as an advanced trainer; PZL P.11; Regianne Re.2000 Falco I (licence-built in Hungary as the Héja); and Savoia-Marchetti SM.79 bomber.

Royal Hungarian Air Force records claim 126 victories were achieved by the 101st Fighter Regiment/Battalion during the ten months between 14 June 1944 and 14 April 1945.  On 4 May 1945, with the end of the war closing in on the them, the surviving staff of the regiment set the remaining aircraft (recorded as 47 by one source and 70 by another) on fire at Raffelding airport.  (Wikipedia)

Aviation Museums in Hungary

A Szovjet Repuloter Titkai, Secrets of the Soviet Air Base, Berek tér, Berekfurdo, Hungary, 5309.

Budapest Ferihegy Airport Museum, Ferihegy Repuloterre Vezeto Ut, Budapest Ferihegy Airport.

Pinter Muvek Military Museum, Military Technology park, Rakoczy F. Street, Kecel, H-6237 Hungary.

Repulomuzeum Szolnok, Szolnok Aviation Museum, Kilian Gyorgy utca 1, 5000 Szolnok.

Haditechnikai Park, Route 71, H-8251 Zánka.

(Varga Attila Photo)

Il-2M3, found in Balaton lake in Hungary (Museum of Hungarian Aviation, Szolnok).

(Varga Atilla Photo)

Yakovlev Yak-11 (LET C-11) trainer aircraft, at the Museum of Hungarian Air Force (Szolnok, Hungary), sold in 2006.