Dezső Szentgyörgyi

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Ensign Dezső Szentgyörgyi (16 January 1915 - 28 August 1971) was the highest scoring Hungarian fighter ace of the Royal Hungarian Honvéd Air Force in World War II. Between 1939 and 1945 he accrued 1400 hours of combat time in 220 missions, flying Fiat CR.32, MÁVAG Héja and Messerschmitt Bf 109 fighters. He was credited with 29 aerial victories over Soviet and American aircraft. After the war he worked for MASZOVLET as civil airliner pilot, logging 12334 flight hours and covering more than 5 million kilometres in the air. Szentgyörgyi lost his life in a crash near Copenhagen while flying an Ilyushin Il-18.

The MH 59th "Szentgyörgyi Dezső" Air Base of the Hungarian Air Force in Kecskemét (equipped with MiG-29 and JAS 39 Gripen fighters) is named in honor of the officer.

[edit] References

Császár Ottó: Élet-halál a levegőben: vitéz Szentgyörgyi Dezső életrajzi regénye, Budapest, 1994.
György Punka: Hungarian Aces of World War 2, Osprey Publishing, Oxford, England, 2002.
Becze Csaba: Elfelejtett hősök a Magyar Királyi Honvéd Légierő ászai a II. világháborúban, Puedlo, Budapest, 2006.