For Fify Years Over The Speed Of Sound

Those who were involved in the event that happened fifty years ago, the pilots, air controllers, and the ground crew were present at the celebration in Kecskemét – more than sixty of them came. Mr András Nyitrai, the local MP and member of Parliament’s Defence and Internal Security Committee also attended the reunion.

The guests were greeted by Colonel Tibor Zsámboki, Deputy Commander of the Aviation Base, then Major General Zoltán Orosz, Chief of Staff of HDF Joint Forces Command forwarded the greeting words of General (Eng.) László Tömböl, Chief of Defence Staff, MoD.

Maj.Gen. Orosz said: the first successful attempt to break the sound barrier happened in 1947 in the United States of America with an experimental aircraft. Only few years later, there were other successful experiments in the Soviet Union and in Hungary as well.

– The generation you represent was active in such a determining period of Hungarian aviation when you switched from air-propelled aircraft to jet engines. The road you had paved was productive and successful. I think the fact that we are here today proves it better than anything else – emphasized Maj.Gen. Zoltán Orosz in his address, also mentioning that in 2009, Hungarian troops will be celebrating more than one anniversary: not only the sixtieth anniversary of NATO and the tenth anniversary of our country’s NATO accession, but also the fifth anniversary of the establishment of voluntary armed forces. In addition to these events, we have every reason to mention the half-a-century jubilee of the beginning of Hungarian supersonic aviation as well.

Retired colonel Gyula Knoll, the commander of the first MiG-19 fighter squadron recalled the historic events that happened fifty years ago. He told us: the maiden flight of the fighter jets arriving from the Soviet Union was on 20 April 1959, and the sound barrier was crossed on 16 May. The former fighter pilot also spoke about the minor accidents of MiG-19s and the tragedies that had taken the lives of their comrades. The attendees of the meeting stood in silence for one minute in remembrance of those who had died.

– We pilots took off thousands of times knowing that death was near us and can strike down on us any time – said Gyula Knoll, and also noted that the life of military aviators was never easy. Nevertheless, he firmly believes that it was worth and it is still worth protecting and serving the country from the air.

Colonel Zoltán Berec, Chief of Staff of ‘Dezsõ Szentgyörgyi’ Aviation Base informed the participants of the meeting about the structure of the Ministry of Defence and the Hungarian Defence Forces. He also spoke about the history and tasks of the base, the aircraft used in Kecskemét, that is the L–39 Albatroses, MiG–29s, the Gripens, and the AN–26 transport airplanes.

The program continued with an aerobatics display of a Gripen fighter. The pilot, Captain Attila Ványik demonstrated the program he had prepared for the Air Show. The guests could also see the Albatroses, MiG–29s and Jas–39 Gripen fighters on the ground – the former fighter pilots were especially interested to see this so-called static display, for they wanted to know how the cockpit of a modern fighter plane looks like compared to what they had fifty years ago.

One of the participants, retired Colonel László Makk told honvedelem.hu: he was one of the first twelve pilots who were re-trained to fly MiG–19s in the Soviet Union, even before the planes arrived to Hungary. We have also learned about the ex-fighter pilot that he is a relative, more precisely the uncle of Major General (Eng.) László Makk, Head of NATO’s Military Liaison Mission in Moscow.

– After the maiden flights, I also held a supersonic demonstration for the defence minister in Taszár. I had to cross the sound barrier right above the airport. I did not feel anything special inside the plane, I just saw the displays on the control panel indicating: I crossed the sound barrier. But the people on the ground could really hear the sonic boom, they were joking me after landing telling me that even the leaves of grass had bent because of the explosion – remembers László Makk.

The retired colonel also told us that besides his MiG–19 training, he was also trained to fly the MiG–21 fighter. He flew more than 2,800 hours with these two types. He finished his active career in the military in 1976, when he started to work for MALÉV, the national airlines, and after completing a training he flew Tu–134 passenger transport airplanes as a test pilot and instructor. Moreover, he had also flown together with Dezsõ Szentgyörgyi, the son of the pilot the Kecskemét military airport is named after. He was his permanent navigator for years. As a civil pilot, he flew another ten years, and during his military and civil career he has spent 6,800 hours in the air.

The Kecskemét reunion celebrating the fiftieth anniversary of supersonic aviation in Hungary ended with a friendly discussion that lasted until late in the afternoon, during which the participants recalled old memories and stories.