1941 Hungarian Air Force Tunic Tag help?

[rathbonemuseum]

Hello all,

I need help deciphering this tag. All I can make out is 1941 and Budapest.

Cheers,

Tod

[Csaba B. Stenge]

Tod,

it means approx:
National Institute of Clothes

Budapest, Eötvös square 1. (their address)

Ákos Keresztes (the owner)

Nr. 273
and the date

[rathbonemuseum]

OK,

Here are pics of the tunic with the tag. Let me start off by saying I started by purchasing this set (hat + tunic) to have an Hungarian NCO flight uniform. Some of the items on the set were fake, some were real but inaccurate. I am trying to restore what I can. I will not what I think is real or not, added or not as I go.

Let's start with the overall tunic. A standard NCO tunic in army color ranked to a Sgt. There was a wing on the right pocket but it was an NCO cap badge in silver stitched to make the wings straight vs. curved. The thing is, there was no NCO silver flight badge. There was only one pilot badge, in gold, and both officers and NCOs wore the same wing. Only their curved wing cap badges were gold or silver.



Next is the collars. When I bought the tunic, it had one collar device. I have since purchased a pair and sewn them on:








Now the ribbons. These came with the tunic. I think they are original to the period but not to the tunic based on the stitching:










Here is a shot of the right pocket where I removed the erroneous wing. There are two loops, but for what:



One final shot:

[rathbonemuseum]

Here is the board:

[rathbonemuseum]

And here is the hat that I was sold with the tunic:

Nice idea as a senior sgt. beret but I think with some "help". What do you think? I think the ribbon around the edge is completely false. I think the triangle is probably not the right fabric. The eagle device? I have no idea. I think the hat itself is perfectly fine...





Now the reverse of the eagle:





And the label inside the hat:

[Csaba B. Stenge]

Tod,

you can build a nice szakaszvezető (Senior Corporal) from this uniform, but not a Sergeant. This tunic and hat were not used by the Sergeants and above level NCO's, only by the Private-Senior Corporal grade. The situation is the same with the hat as well (the Sergeants used already an officer style hat)

The Signum was an officer award, not for NCO's. You should remove the replica ribbon of the 1941/42 Winterschlacht im Osten? medal as well.

IMHO the best if you are remove the Sergeant epaulettes and build a Senior Corporal from this stuff.

[Csaba B. Stenge]

Here is a picture from my new book about a MSgt, you can see the difference between the uniforms.

[Adriano Baumgartner]

Hello Csaba and Rathbone!
Have you got any information about the owner of the Tunic? I mean, you both discovered the true name of the pilot in question; but what about his flying career? claims? Awards?
This Museum of Mr. Rathbone and his Historical research are incredible and I am happy to read more about the owners of the Tunics he do preserve.
All the best for both of you and keep going on with those fantastic works.
Yours
Adriano

[Csaba B. Stenge]

Adriano,

I never stated, that he was a pilot. No pilot with this name in my database (and no claims with this name for sure). As you know well, most of the members of every air forces were not pilots and served on the ground.

[rathbonemuseum]

Dear Csaba,

Agreed. I would be able to create a senior corporal for this. What parts do I need to make this correct? What can I keep? Are the collar wings ok? How do I make the hat ok? Do you know where I can find correct shoulder boards? I understand about the ribbons. I will take off the officer ribbon and the replica Eastern front medal. I was using this period chart as my guide: