Hungarian WW2 military aviation received a significant boost with the addition of German Messerschmitt 109 fighter planes beginning with 1943. The first purchased planes were soon deployed on the Russian front, like at Kharkov and Kursk, as the unit being prepared for action shown above. Using some German-made components, later Hungary began to manufacture Bf-109's under license at the large industrial complex of Győr, reportedly keeping one plane from every ten produced, and shipping the rest back to the Reich.

Me-109 Fighter Planes in Hungarian Service

Shown above, Hungarian pilot Antal Szebeni's Bf-109 G-14 fighter, a model referred to as Gustav by Axis pilots, had suffered damage on its tail section during the closing weeks of the war, perhaps in a dog fight.

Damaged Me-109 Gustav, 1945

The key industrial city of Kharkov was a serious bone of contention during WW2.  György (George) Debrődy, an ace pilot of the RHAF with 26 enemy kills,  is shown here (middle) at a Kharkov railroad station during 1943, in the company of other Hungarian pilots and soldiers. Debrődy had not only accomplished six kills in the nearby Battle of Kursk, but eventually also acquired the label of &quot;survivor.&quot; 

For exmaple, during September, 1943, after being downed over Soviet territory, he managed to escape by swimming accross the Dnieper river back to Axis lines. In February, 1944, he was forced to crash land behind enemy lines after a dogfight, only to see his friend and colleague Kenyeres (19 kills) rescue him after having landed his Me-109 on a snow-covered field nearby. The two friends ended up in the USA after the war, where Debrődy died in 1982 in peactime conditions.