Új Szárnyak, 1990 (1-9. szám)
1990-10-01 / 7. szám
SIGNIFICANT STAGES Air transport and aerial works in Hungary Difficult beginnings In 1912, three years after that Blériot had crossed the Channel, the primitive flying machines were able to cover 70-80 kilometres in an hour, at low level, carrying one venturesome passenger on board now and then. Therefore two rumours caused great surprise in the world press nearly in the same time. One had it that Igor SIKORSKY, a Russian engineer made experiments with a huge passengers-plane, the other, that two Hungarian engineers: Aladár ZSELYI and Tibor MELCZER had plans for a 500 HP Aerobus carrying 34 passengers. Unfortunately the ZSELYI - MELCZER airplane come to nothing, while SIKORSKY’S plane climbed up to 300 meters with 15 persons on board in 1914. WWI brought up speedy development in the aircraft industry, but certainly in the interest of applicability of the airplanes for military purposes. The armistice of Brest-Litowsk, which threw Ukraine on the mercy of the Central Powers, induced the Austro-Hungarian Monarchy to establish fast communication between Ukraine and Vienna. On 20th March 1918 the first aeropostal service of the Dual Monarchy was airborne and depending on the weather conditions it was operated daily. On 4th July 1918 the BUDAPEST/Mátyásföld Vienna - BUDAPEST/Mátyás - föld aeropostal service was launched and also these airplanes were operating every day. On 11th February 1920 the first Hungarian air transport undertaking was established, named MAEFORT (Magyar Aeroforgalmi Részvénytársaság). In April 1920 the first postal plane left Budapest for Újvidék (Novi Sad), but after the Serbian troops had invaded Újvidék this service was terminated. On 12 May 1920 between Budapest and Szombathely as well as between Budapest and Szeged aeropostal services were inaugurated. The Trianon treaty-signed on June the 4th 1920 at the Petit Trianon Palace, Versailles treated Hungary very hard. Pursuant to the peace-dictate all of the aeropostal services had to be terminated together with the aviation industry. Our every aircraft were ravaged, broken into pieces. On 27th January 1921 the Hungarian State concluded a contract with CFRNA (Compagnie Franco - Roumanie de Navigation Aérienne). On the itinerary Paris-Strasbourg -Prague - Vienna - Budapest - Bel grade - Bucharest - Konstanti - naple (Istanbul) the air traffic was set up. This airlines operated the services - partly with Hungarian pilots on board - well organized untill 1925. The first modern airline On 19th november 1922 MALERT (Magyar Légiforgalmi Rt.) was founded. The first type of its fleet was the fiveseater Fokker F-III. The company got air operator’s certificate at first for the Vienna- Budapest - Belgrade leg and some years after it was able to extend the network to other European cities, too. On 22nd December 1922 another air transport company was formed by the name of AEROEXPRESS RT. It operated fiveseater Junkers F13 hydroplanes. It was given authorization to fly the Budapest-Bucharest, the Prague - Budapest - Zagreb routes and over the Lake Balaton as well as over the Hungarian reach of the River Danube. This company existed until 1925. In 1928 MALERT replaced its old, out-of-date fleet, putting into operation FokkerF- VII and F-VIII airplanes, then th eF-IX in 1930. These airplanes had two pilot seats and were equipped with instruments and radio sets for flight operations by night. Our country became one hub of the European air traffic of that time. The traffic grew out of the BUDAPEST/Mátyásföld airfield. From mid 1937 air traffic have concentrated already to Budaörs aerodrome, situated Southwest of Budapest City. Also domestic services were launched en-route Budapest - Pécs-Kaposvár and Budapest- Nyíregyháza-Debrecen. In the year 1937 the fleet of passenger planes increased. Three more three-motors, 17 seater Junkers Ju-52 were put into operation, then in 1938 five of the Italian Savoia - Marchetti SM-75, which could carry already 24 passengers. Further Ju-52s, then Focke - Wulf FW-58s were purchased, these later ones were flown on domestic lines. At the beginning of WWII the construction works of a modem new airport were started Southeast of Budapest town at Ferihegy, but MALERT gave the new aerodrome to the Hungarian Royal Honvéd Air Force for war use. During the war until Summer of 1944 the airplanes arriving from abroad were handled by this aerodrome. At the end of the war Hungarian air transport was entirely destroyed. MASZOVLET - ■■■■■■■■■■■■■■■■■■■■■■■■■■ MALÉV The reorganization was started by the agreement signed on 29 March 1946 by the representatives of the Hungarian and the Soviet Governments, which agreement declared the forming of MASZOVLET (The Hungarian-Soviet Air Transport Co.). The domestic (Budapest - Debrecen and Budapest-Szombathely) and international (Budapest - Bucharest, Prague, -Belgrade, -Warsaw,