Hungarian Fighters on July 26 1944

[Michal]

Hello,

does somebody know something about losses and victories of MKHL on July 26 1944?

Thanks for help

Michal

[Csaba B. Stenge]

One P-38 was shot down near Vienna by 2nd Lt. László Molnár (as his 22nd personal kill)
One Bf 109 G-6 was shot down near Wiener Neustadt, its pilot, Ens. Leó Krizsevszky, killed.

[Michal]

Thanks. It was really quickly

[Csaba B. Stenge]

About Molnár's kill, everything was written in detais in my aces book. I tried to find the US pilot (Capt. Smyth), who baled out, but my attempts were unsuccesful (yet)

[Peter Kassak]

I have that book, nice piece of research, however all in Hungarian (so far )
BUt bio of Laszlo MOlnar has been in REVI magazine as well...check back issues..

[Stig Jarlevik]

Csaba

According to Györgi Punka and Osprey's Hungarian Aces book Molnar scored his only P-38 victory on June 14th, 1944.

On July 26th he is supposed to have shot down a Liberator

Comments please

Cheers
Stig

[Adriano Baumgartner]

Hello Csaba,
Please let us know when your books will be available in ENGLISH language, ok? I feel that´s there are a lot of people deeply interested in learning a bit more about the Eastern Front and unfortunately do not have access to Polish, Czech or other Eastern publications.
It is sad when a mervellous thread like this one get OUT of hand and hard words are exchanged...People like you should be encouraged to continue writing and digging out more facts and first hand accounts from the veterans themselves...
Yours sincere and friendly,
Adriano

[Dénes Bernád]

I was asked to voice my opinion on Osprey's series of aviation books.

I authored only one book for them, about the Rumanian fighter aces.
I was generally pleased with the work they've done, except for the colour profiles and the editing work on several paragraphs related to general history, which they have practically rewritten. However, through a careful, minutious proof reading of the finished text - which several other authors have apparently ommitted - I was able to "re-correct" those paragraphs, so they would be close(r) to historical truth.

As for the quality of their series, I cannot give a general opinion, as I have only about a dozen of their titles on my book shelf. What I can say though is that the quality greatly varies depending on the author and the chosen topic. Also, the uniform format (96 pages on A5+ size) clearly has its limitations on the amount of material that can physically be 'stuffed in' the book.

I believe one should not paint the whole series with a wide monocolour brush, but rather should judge individual titles according to their individual qualities and defects (bearing in mind that no historical book can be perfect). Myself I wouldn't mind a second, updated/corrected version of my book on Rumanian aces...

[Csaba B. Stenge]

Thanks, Adriano, but to me, it is important to publish these materials in Hungarian language at first (well, it was amazing to see on the old pilots, how proud the become after my aces book released, including the ones, who refused to talk about the war for decades, like Endre Németh).


Thanks, Dénes (it was me, who asked him to comment this topic).

It is true, of course, that there is a significant difference among the authors (i.e. basic quality of the materials), but according to my knowledge and experiences, the Osprey makes significant number of avoidable errors in these books (which is not nice to me).

But we should really forward this part of the discussion to this topic:
http://forum.12oclockhigh.net/showthread.php?t=10020

[Stig Jarlevik]

Csaba/Adriano/Denes

I am certainly not exchanging hard words. I am basically trying to get to the bottom of a problem. It is all too easy to refer to books or sources written in your own (odd) language that no-one except those few outside your own community understands. I am checking a statement by a well known Hungarian aviation writer now contested by Csaba. What is wrong with that?

Also when Csaba obviously talked about the WHOLE Osprey production, I was talking about the aces series of books, and especially those written about the Eastern European countries in WW 2, incidentally all of whom I find very interesting. I do agree with Csaba when he comments on the Osprey unit histories. I have seen a few and only bought those with odd topics, such as the one about USAAF transport units in the Far East. Most seems to be a re-hash of already published info. Probably pretty valid for those having nothing else on the subject.

Back to Molnar. It would be interesting to know why Punka continued to publish his error about Molnar's Lib/P-38 victory. First in a Hungarian book about the 109 and then in the Osprey aces book! Couldn't no one have told him? Was the discovery of the correct details so recent that it was unknown at the time the aces book was written?? Or, alas, is Punka a man difficult to correct???

Incidentally Csaba, I could not locate any attachment to your mail...

Cheers
Stig