Warrant Officer Dezső Szentgyörgyi (16 January 1915 – 28 August 1971) was the highest scoring Hungarian

fighter ace A flying ace, fighter ace or air ace is a military aviator credited with shooting down five or more enemy aircraft during aerial combat. The exact number of aerial victories required to officially qualify as an ace is varied, but is usually co ...

of the Royal Hungarian Honvéd Air Force in World War II.

Early life/Royal Hungarian Honvéd Air Force

Dezső Szentgyörgyi was born in 1915 in

Kőkút Kőkút is a village in Somogy county, Hungary Hungary ( hu, Magyarország ) is a landlocked country in Central Europe. Spanning of the Carpathian Basin, it is bordered by Slovakia to the north, Ukraine to the northeast, Romania to the ...

. He finished his studies in Enying, and was 18 years old when he volunteered for the Royal Hungarian Air Force. Initially he was an aircraft-mechanic, but later received pilot training. He finished the aviation school in

Székesfehérvár Székesfehérvár (; german: Stuhlweißenburg ), known colloquially as Fehérvár ("white castle"), is a city in central Hungary, and the country's ninth-largest city. It is the regional capital of Central Transdanubia, and the centre of Fejér ...

with excellent ratings. He was trained as a fighter pilot, and took part in 1/2 FS's operations in northern Hungary with the

Fiat CR.32 The Fiat CR.32 was an Italian biplane fighter used in the Spanish Civil War and the Second World War. Designed by the aeronautical engineer Celestino Rosatelli, it was a compact, robust and highly manoeuvrable aircraft for its era, leading to i ...

. In summer 1942 he was transferred with the 1/1 "Dongó" (Bumblebee) Fighter Squadron to the Soviet front. He flew the

Reggiane Re.2000 The Reggiane Re.2000 ''Falco'' I was an Italian all metal, low-wing monoplane developed and manufactured by aircraft company Reggiane. The type was used by the ''Regia Aeronautica'' (Italian Air Force) and the Swedish Air Force during the first p ...

Falco (MÁVAG Héja), then the

Messerschmitt Bf 109 The Messerschmitt Bf 109 is a German World War II fighter aircraft that was, along with the Focke-Wulf Fw 190, the backbone of the Luftwaffe's fighter force. The Bf 109 first saw operational service in 1937 during the Spanish Civil War an ...

G. He shot down his first aircraft on 7 August 1942 in a friendly fire accident, while flying a Re.2000. The victim being a German

Heinkel He 111 The Heinkel He 111 is a German airliner and bomber designed by Siegfried and Walter Günter at Heinkel Flugzeugwerke in 1934. Through development, it was described as a "wolf in sheep's clothing". Due to restrictions placed on Germany after th ...

bomber that opened fire on him during while Szentgyörgyi was trying to identify the aircraft. His first victory over an enemy fighter was almost a year later, 26 June 1943, a Soviet fighter, a

Yak-1 The Yakovlev Yak-1 (russian: Яковлев Як-1) was a Soviet fighter aircraft of World War II. The Yak-1 was a single-seat monoplane with a composite structure and wooden wings; production began in early 1940.Angelucci and Matricardi 1978, ...

or Yak-7 , on Gresnoje.Punka 2002, p. 84. His record on the Eastern Front was 142 sorties and 6 kills.

In the Puma Group

The 101. Honi Légvédelmi Vadászrepülő Osztály (101st "Puma" Fighter Group) was formed on 1 May 1944. Szentgyörgyi was transferred to the 101/2 "Retek" (Radish) Fighter Squadron. He continued to score his kills among the Pumas, and shot down 6 American planes. By the summer of 1944 he was a flight leader. He was promoted to Ensign on 16 November 1944. After the "American Season" ended, once again Soviet fighters became the main enemy. Dezső scored an additional 17 kills. He achieved his last air victory on 16 April 1945: a Yak-9 on Guttenbrunn.Punka 2002, p. 84. He never crashed a plane due to pilot error, and he was never shot down. By the end of the war he had completed more than 220 sorties, and had 30 confirmed kills; the most successful Hungarian fighter pilot.

After the war

After the war, he returned home and became a pilot of the MASZOVLET (Hungarian-Soviet Airlines) between 1946 and 1949. Between 1950 and 1956 he spent several years in Communist prisons, before becoming a pilot of the renamed Malév Hungarian Airlines again, logging 12,334 flight hours and covering more than 5 million kilometres in the air.

Death

On 28 August 1971 Szentgyörgyi was the pilot of MALEV Hungarian Airlines Flight 731, and was among the 32 people killed when the

Ilyushin Il-18 The Ilyushin Il-18 (russian: Илью́шин Ил-18; NATO reporting name: Coot) is a large turboprop airliner that first flew in 1957 and became one of the best known and most durable Soviet aircraft of its era. The Il-18 was one of the world ...

crashed into the sea during a storm on its approach to a landing in Copenhagen in Denmark. Szentgyörgyi and the other eight members of his crew died, and only two of the 25 passengers survived.Aviation Safety Network
/ref> died in a crash near Copenhagen while flying an

(HA-MOC). He was due to retire in less than three weeks. The MH 59th "Szentgyörgyi Dezső" Air Base of the Hungarian Air Force in Kecskemét (equipped with

MiG-29 The Mikoyan MiG-29 (russian: Микоян МиГ-29; NATO reporting name: Fulcrum) is a twin-engine fighter aircraft designed in the Soviet Union. Developed by the Mikoyan design bureau as an air superiority fighter during the 1970s, the Mi ...

and JAS 39 Gripen fighters) is named in his honour.

Victories

References

;Notes ;Bibliography * Becze Csaba – Elfelejtett Hősök – A Magyar Királyi Honvéd Légierő ászai a II. világháborúban, Puedlo Kiadó, 2006, * Becze Csaba – Elfelejtett Hősök – A Magyar Királyi Honvéd Légierő ászai a II. világháborúban, Zrinyi Kiadó, 2016, second, extended edition * Császár Ottó – Élet és Halál a Levegőben – vitéz Szentgyörgyi Dezső életrajzi regénye, Malév Kiadó, 1994, * Pataki I./Rozsos L./Sárhidai Gy. – Légi Háború Magyarország Felett I., Zrínyi Kiadó, 1992, * Pataki I./Rozsos L./Sárhidai Gy. – Légi Háború Magyarország Felett II., Zrínyi Kiadó, 1993, * Punka György – Hungarian Aces of World War 2, Osprey Publishing, Oxford, England, 2002. * Punka György – A "Messzer" – Bf 109-ek a Magyar Királyi Honvéd Légierőben, OMIKK, 1995, * Punka Gy./Sárhidai Gy. – Magyar Sasok – A Magyar Királyi Honvéd Légierő 1920 – 1945, K.u.K. Kiadó, 2006, * Tobak Tibor – Pumák Földön-Égen, Lap és Könyvkiadó Kft., 1989,

External links

Second World War uniforms of the Royal Hungarian Honvéd Air Force
{{DEFAULTSORT:Szentgyorgyi, Dezso 1915 births 1971 deaths Aviators killed in aviation accidents or incidents Hungarian World War II flying aces Victims of aviation accidents or incidents in Denmark Victims of aviation accidents or incidents in 1971