Antal Bánhidi (23 December 1903 – 18 March 1994) was a Hungarian

aviator An aircraft pilot or aviator is a person who controls the flight of an aircraft by operating its Aircraft flight control system, directional flight controls. Some other aircrew, aircrew members, such as navigators or flight engineers, are al ...

. Antal Bánhidi was born in

Szatmárnémeti Satu Mare (; hu, Szatmárnémeti ; german: Sathmar; yi, סאטמאר or ) is a city with a population of 102,400 (2011). It is the capital of Satu Mare County, Romania, as well as the centre of the Satu Mare metropolitan area. It lies in the ...

, then part of the

Austro-Hungarian Empire Austria-Hungary, often referred to as the Austro-Hungarian Empire,, the Dual Monarchy, or Austria, was a constitutional monarchy and great power in Central Europe between 1867 and 1918. It was formed with the Austro-Hungarian Compromise of ...

. In 1920, he fled Romania by swimming across the Szamos river, and arrived in Hungary. He attended the Technical University of Budapest, where he assisted in establishing EMESE, the university's flight club. His piloting and engineering talent were recognized and Árpád Lampich taught him how to design airplanes. In 1929, Bánhidi flew a Lampich L-2 Róma ultralight plane on a 5,000 kilometer journey to Sweden and back for the annual world meeting of university aviators. The flight included 150 km legs over sea, the plane's 3-cylinder radial engine lacking the usual redundant set of spark magnets. In 1930, Antal Bánhidi designed the Bánhidi Gerle, a light, universal, two-seater

biplane A biplane is a fixed-wing aircraft with two main wings stacked one above the other. The first powered, controlled aeroplane to fly, the Wright Flyer, used a biplane wing arrangement, as did many aircraft in the early years of aviation. While ...

, which was powered by a 5-cylinder Genet-Major radial engine. The plane was suitable for flight schools, light aerobatics, air touring and sailplane towing. About 15 Gerle aircraft were built in Hungary before the outbreak of World War II. In 1931, Bánhidi was hired as Chief Technical Advisor for the successful USA - Hungary transatlantic flight of György Endresz and Sándor Magyar. He chose and prepared a modern

Lockheed Sirius The Lockheed Model 8 Sirius was a single-engined, propeller-driven monoplane designed and built by Jack Northrop and Gerard Vultee while they were engineers at Lockheed in 1929, at the request of Charles Lindbergh. Two versions of the same basic ...

8A plane named "Justice for Hungary" for the voyage.Justice for Hungary flight
/ref> During February and March 1933, Bánhidi and

floatplane A floatplane is a type of seaplane with one or more slender floats mounted under the fuselage to provide buoyancy. By contrast, a flying boat uses its fuselage for buoyancy. Either type of seaplane may also have landing gear suitable for land, ...

pilot Tibor Bisits became the first aviators to complete a roundtrip along the Mediterranean Sea. Flying "Gerle No. 13", it took 100.5 hours of flight time to complete the 12,500 kilometer journey. Due to sour economic effects of the

Great Depression The Great Depression (19291939) was an economic shock that impacted most countries across the world. It was a period of economic depression that became evident after a major fall in stock prices in the United States. The economic contagio ...

, the expedition was only made possible by the offer of free fuel from Shell and the hospitality of Italians in North Africa. Bánhidi's Gerle was filmed by famous desert aviator László Almásy while circling the Great Pyramids without permission. On his return, Bánhidi wrote and published a book to document the journey. In the autumn of 1933, Bánhidi made a one-man flight in "Gerle No. 13" from Debrecen to Finland, Sweden and London, aiming to set a touring record while taking advantage of an offer to have the plane's Genet-Major engine overhauled for free in Coventry. He was able to courier a state medal to

Lord Rothermere Viscount Rothermere, of Hemsted in the county of Kent, is a title in the Peerage of the United Kingdom. It was created in 1919 for the press lord Harold Harmsworth, 1st Baron Harmsworth. He had already been created a baronet, of Horsey in th ...

, a sponsor of the 1931 ocean flight, and then flew to Debrecen non-stop. In 1937 Antal Bánhidi was invited for a two-month South American expedition, where he flew 15,000 kilometers over uncharted Amazonas territory, documented in another book. On June 26, 1941, Antal Bánhidi, serving as a national guard reservist pilot at the time, became one of the few eyewitnesses to the mysterious bombing of Kassa. His

Fiat CR-42 The Fiat CR.42 ''Falco'' ("Falcon", plural: ''Falchi'') is a single-seat sesquiplane fighter developed and produced by Italian aircraft manufacturer Fiat Aviazione. It served primarily in the Italian in the 1930s and during the Second World W ...

biplane fighter was too slow to intercept enemy medium bombers, and he was unable to conclusively identify the three attackers from the distance of one kilometer. Blame for the aerial bombing attack was laid on the Soviet Union, and the next day Hungary joined Nazi Germany. After World War II, the USSR banned Hungary from building powered aircraft, thus the ageing Antal Bánhidi was put aside, working for decades as a blueprints' corrector for ground vehicle designs. After the fall of communism, he was recognized and honored for his achievements by the Hungarian government.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Banhidi, Antal 1903 births 1994 deaths People from Austria-Hungary Hungarian aviators People from Satu Mare