Sky Likes the Brave Az ég a bátrakat szereti

The aim of the present publication is to familiarise the Reader with the everyday life of the soldiers of the HDF Pápa Air Base, and the military equipment available for task execution. The history of Hungarian military aviation demonstrates that the Hungarian military pilots and AVUM (Aviation Unit Maintenance) crews have served their homeland with outstanding commitment and professionalism during the storm of the world wars and in peacetime alike. The soldiers of Pápa AB today continue to enrich the long series of the predecessors’ dedicated work and great results. Over the years that included hardships and recommencements, the professional quality of military aviation at Pápa has been recognised at innumerable occasions. For example, Bertalan Farkas, the first Hungarian astronaut who flew in space in 1980, was a pilot from Pápa. Based on the spirit of the earlier formulated slogan “Our faith is our future”, today Pápa Air Base has to be ready to accomplish important tasks such as to provide host nation support to the multinational consortium of Strategic Capability (SAC) program and the C-17 aircraft that are based at Pápa as a Hungarian commitment within the NATO alliance, or to provide SAR alert duty service in the western region of Hungary and support it with airborne and parademic personnel. The results – which are based on knowledge of our days and the past decades – have not come free. Their achievement has involved not only joys, but also sacrifices, since many heroes lost their lives in the service of the homeland.