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  #1  
Old 6th June 2016, 15:04
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Csaba B. Stenge Csaba B. Stenge is offline
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Forgotten Heroes - Aces of the Royal Hungarian Air Force in WWII (second revised, expanded edition)

Gentlemen,

my Hungarian book about the aces of the RHAF in WW II has been released a month ago. It is a heavily upgraded version of the 2006 edition (A/4 size hardcover book with 402 numbered pages, incl. 722 endnotes). The text contains the very detailed military biography of every aces (not just the fighters, but assault, bomber and recce aces too). The book contains 350 illustrations (not just photos, incl. a number of colour ones, but drawings and important document scans too). It also contains several colour profiles.

The 2006 edition lacked the English version - in this case there will be an English edition for sure (but I don't know when, it depends always on the publisher).

Some additional info available here (not just about this book, but about my other academic works too):
https://www.facebook.com/B-Stenge-Cs...5972450531930/
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  #2  
Old 6th June 2016, 18:26
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Re: Forgotten Heroes - Aces of the Royal Hungarian Air Force in WWII (second revised, expanded edition)

congrats, mr. Stenge
the last work of yours "Baptism of Fire" gave me detailed accounts of a less-known conflict, so just hope the english version of your new book could get out asap ))
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  #3  
Old 7th June 2016, 01:13
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Re: Forgotten Heroes - Aces of the Royal Hungarian Air Force in WWII (second revised, expanded edition)

Hi Csaba!
Never got any response for your questions... A pity I could not help you.
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  #4  
Old 7th June 2016, 10:29
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Csaba B. Stenge Csaba B. Stenge is offline
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Re: Forgotten Heroes - Aces of the Royal Hungarian Air Force in WWII (second revised, expanded edition)

stukapilot,

thank you. You will find in the book very detailed military biographies, the most detailed available info on the Hungarian ace kills (including their possible or directly identified opponents), important additional info on unit histories and many extra details on their German brother in arms and Soviet and US opponents too.

Sergio,

thank you, never mind.
For the ones, who does not know, what we are talking about - a Hungarian ace (whose family died out) passed away in a São Paulo suburb and despite of my frantic efforts, I was not able to clear his very exact passing date (at the end of the '80's), mostly because the lack of any will to help by the local authorities. Sergio also tried to help me, but he was also unsuccessful.
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Old 7th June 2016, 15:06
Frank Olynyk Frank Olynyk is offline
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Re: Forgotten Heroes - Aces of the Royal Hungarian Air Force in WWII (second revised, expanded edition)

Csaba,

Where can one purchase this revised edition? Even/especially if one does not read Hungarian? I eagerly await the English language edition as well. I hope the publisher will bring it out soon,.

Enjoy!

Frank.
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Old 7th June 2016, 16:08
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Csaba B. Stenge Csaba B. Stenge is offline
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Re: Forgotten Heroes - Aces of the Royal Hungarian Air Force in WWII (second revised, expanded edition)

Frank,

your complimentary copy is on the way to you (I shipped it last week - I hope you will receive it soon).

Making the English edition is definitely time consuming, since the length of the text (I am more busy than ever, so a translator needed). I don't have a signed contract yet, just an agreement with a publisher (who has a good, solid Hungarian-English military translator, which is a rare breed). But I don't know the timetable of the publisher and the translator, so I have no approximate release date of the English edition yet.


I have few copies for foreigners, who are interested in the Hungarian edition (due to its size and weight, which is around 1,8 kgs, shipping can be costly and many Hungarian distributors do not ship abroad)
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Old 8th June 2016, 12:55
Stig Jarlevik Stig Jarlevik is offline
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Re: Forgotten Heroes - Aces of the Royal Hungarian Air Force in WWII (second revised, expanded edition)

Csaba

Out of interest, how many victories were claimed by the Hungarians during WW 2?
After a quick glance it seems the aces claimed appx 312 victories (take or give a few depending on how one counts). It would be interesting to know how that amount corelate to the total.

Also what makes your book (English version) different with regard to the fighter pilots than the one written by György Punka some 14 years ago? I understand you have expanded the topic 'ace' and no doubt the number of photos as well.

Cheers
Stig
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Old 8th June 2016, 15:31
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Re: Forgotten Heroes - Aces of the Royal Hungarian Air Force in WWII (second revised, expanded edition)

Quote:
Originally Posted by Stig Jarlevik View Post
After a quick glance it seems the aces claimed appx 312 victories

Also what makes your book (English version) different with regard to the fighter pilots than the one written by György Punka some 14 years ago? I understand you have expanded the topic 'ace' and no doubt the number of photos as well.
The 38 Hungarian aces of WWII scored over 370 air victories. Everything (including statistics) are described in deep detail in the book.

As for the Osprey book, these projects are uncomparable. Punka's Osprey book is actually another edition of his 'Messer', under a new title (the text is approximately the same). That book contains no info about the aces, their military and civilian careers and many important questions. That follows general time and few units and shows general combat. It also contains high number of serious errors related to individuals, dates and events.

My book contains the very detailed military career all of the aces. Since 99,8% of the RHAF's wartime material was lost, it was not a small challenge and a result of a 23 year-long extremely intensive and careful research, during which I left no stones unturned related to these pilots.

It contains several chapters prior the ace biographies about general statistics and fates of them, about the RHAF air victories during WWII in general, about the air victory concept in Hungary itself, about the confirmation system in Hungary (compared to others), about the tactic and combat methods in air combat, about the awards, and there is a rank comparison table (Hungarian/German/Soviet/USA). After that, the very detailed bio of all 38 aces, including their combat performanace, flight hours, awards (with exact dates), air victories (with very exact details), with flown aircraft as an introductory. Then comes the very detailed military biography of the actual pilot (basic details from the family, the cause, why the choose the military flying if it is known), training, service at home and at the front units with the very details of his combats (including many named opponents, so details about their victims and victors as well). Very details of their death (if they died), and if survived the war, their military/aviation related fate after 1945 etc etc etc. The most successful ace's bio (Dezső Szentgyörgyi) is 22 page-long, but the shortest one is still 5 page-long. And of course it is a serious academic work (with 722 endnotes).

But if you seriously think, that an A/4 size, 402 page-long book contains no more info compared to a B/5 size, 96 page-long one, you should ask a more mathematical related individual about these dimensions, not me.
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  #9  
Old 8th June 2016, 15:54
vvkj41 vvkj41 is offline
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Re: Forgotten Heroes - Aces of the Royal Hungarian Air Force in WWII (second revised, expanded edition)

It seems my friend that you are "hunting" another PhD...
Congratulations!

Aleks
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  #10  
Old 8th June 2016, 16:31
Stig Jarlevik Stig Jarlevik is offline
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Re: Forgotten Heroes - Aces of the Royal Hungarian Air Force in WWII (second revised, expanded edition)

Thanks Csaba

Interesting answer.
Looks like Punka has missed out a couple of aces in 'his' book.

Is the figure of total claims by Hungarians among the 99.8% details which is lost? It would also have been interesting to see a list of all claimed victories by Hungarians during WW 2....

Hopefully you will give us a hint when the English edition gets published.

Cheers
Stig
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