Broken Wings, Encounters: Explorations in Folklore and Ethnomusicology

This “outstanding piece of research” on Hungary’s secret air force program “fills a critical gap in our understanding” of pre-WWII military advancement (John H. Morrow Jr., author of The Great War).

In the aftermath of World War I, Hungary was officially banned from maintaining a military air service. Despite this mandate, however, the embattled nation was determined to rearm itself. Drawing upon a wealth of previously untranslated documents, this fascinating history reveals the story of how Hungary secretly built an entire air force during the interwar years.

In the early 1920s, Hungarian officials managed to evade and obstruct Allied inspectors at every turn. Unable to pursue domestic manufacturing, the clandestine rearmament program secretly bought planes from Italy and Germany. Great efforts were made to stockpile equipment from the Great War, and the Hungarian government promoted the development of commercial aviation—partly as a front for military flight operations.

During the late 1930s, the Hungarian air force went from a secret branch of the army to an independent modernizing force in its own right. But this success came at a heavy cost: increasing German support brought a growing Nazi influence over the country. Hungary entered the Second World War on the side of the Axis in 1941, with its air force soon becoming little more than a Luftwaffe auxiliary force. Besieged by Allied bombings, the Hungarian air force ended the Second World War much as they had the First—salvaging aircraft parts from downed invaders and fighting until they no longer had airfields from which to operate.