Every war the Hungarian Air Force has fought
The record includes 26 October 1956, when fighters fired on demonstrators around Kecskemét on an army commander’s order. Where a consolidated sortie or loss figure exists in the official record it is given here; where accounts disagree, the range is shown and the disagreement named. Blank cells are blank because no figure could be verified, not because the fighting was small.
From the Red Air Force of 1919 to NATO air policing today.
| Conflict | Years | Against | Main aircraft | Sorties | Aircraft lost | |
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| Hungarian–Czechoslovak and Hungarian–Romanian wars of 1919the Red Air ForceHungarian Red Air Force | 1919 | Czechoslovakia and Romania | Ex-Austro-Hungarian types | |||
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The air arm of the Hungarian Soviet Republic, formed from surviving Austro-Hungarian aircraft and schools. After the Austro-Hungarian Monarchy dissolved in 1918, Hungary formed a small air arm from the aircraft that survived in Hungarian factories and training schools. Under the Hungarian Soviet Republic of 1919 it became the Hungarian Red Air Force, and the sources checked say only that it was disbanded when the regime fell. The Treaty of Trianon of 1920 then banned Hungarian military aviation outright, which is why the next Hungarian air force had to be built in secret. Outcome The Soviet Republic fell in August 1919 and its air force was disbanded. Unit strengths, sorties and losses for 1919 were not found in sources that could be checked, and are left out.
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| Slovak–Hungarian Warthe Little WarRoyal Hungarian Air Force | 1939 | Slovakia | Fiat CR.32, Junkers Ju 86K-2 | 1 | ||
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Air superiority and bombing in support of the Hungarian advance into eastern Slovakia. The war lasted from 23 to 31 March 1939, days after Slovakia declared independence and Hungary occupied Carpatho-Ukraine. The key air action came on 24 March, when the Hungarians sent bombers escorted by fighters against the Slovak airfield at Spišská Nová Ves. Wikipedia’s account says 36 bombers and 27 fighters were assigned but only about ten bombers actually took part; the airfield was damaged but kept operating. In air combat that day the Hungarian Fiat CR.32s shot down several Slovak Avia B-534s and Letov Š-328s. The sole Hungarian aircraft lost in the whole war was a Fiat hit by Hungarian anti-aircraft fire. Both sides published conflicting claims; Wikipedia attributes the contradictions to the fog of war and propaganda. Outcome Hungary kept the disputed strip of eastern Slovakia; hostilities ended on 31 March 1939. Slovak and Hungarian accounts differ on aircraft shot down; exact Slovak air losses are therefore not given as a single figure.
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| Invasion of YugoslaviaApril WarRoyal Hungarian Air Force | 1941 | Yugoslavia | ||||
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Supported the Hungarian advance into Yugoslav territory alongside the German invasion. Wikipedia records that in April 1941 the Royal Hungarian Air Force carried out operations in support of the German invasion of Yugoslavia. The sources checked for this page give no reliable figures for sorties, losses or the types used, and a widely repeated story of a transport crash at Veszprém that killed Hungarian paratroops on the first day could not be confirmed, so it is left out. Outcome Yugoslavia capitulated on 17 April 1941; Hungary annexed Bácska and other districts. Details UNVERIFIED and dropped: the Veszprém paratroop transport crash and its casualty figure.
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| War against the Soviet Unionthe Eastern FrontRoyal Hungarian Air Force | 1941–1945 | Soviet Union | Fiat CR.32, Reggiane Re.2000 Héja, Messerschmitt Bf 109F/Gand 1 more | |||
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Flew fighter, bomber and reconnaissance missions, from 1942 as an air brigade attached to the Luftwaffe’s VIII Fliegerkorps. On 26 June 1941 three unidentified aircraft bombed Kassa (Košice). The Hungarian government called it Soviet aggression; theories since have included a Soviet navigation error, a German false flag, and Czechoslovak, Romanian or Slovak crews, and the attacker has never been established. Hungary declared war on the Soviet Union on 27 June, and at dawn that day Hungarian aircraft bombed Stanislav. In 1941 seven Héja fighters flew with the CR.32s and claimed eight kills for one loss. In summer 1942 an air brigade went east with the Hungarian Second Army and was attached to VIII Fliegerkorps; the 1/1 Fighter Group reached Kursk on 2 July with 13 Héjas, and the last unserviceable ones were blown up at Ilovskoye in January 1943 as the Red Army broke through on the Don. Messerschmitt Bf 109Fs and Gs then became the standard fighters, and Hungarian-built Me 210Ca-1s flew as fast bombers and night fighters until their crews destroyed them at Parndorf in March 1945. Outcome Soviet forces took Hungary; fighting ended on 16 April 1945 and the air force was demobilised. The responsibility for the Kassa bombing is disputed and unresolved; this page takes no view. Sortie and loss totals for the Hungarian air brigade were not found in checkable sources.
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| Air defence of Hungarythe Puma group against the bomber offensiveRoyal Hungarian Air Force (101st Fighter Group ‘Puma’) | 1944–1945 | United States and Soviet Union | Messerschmitt Bf 109G | |||
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Intercepted American bomber raids from spring 1944, then fought Soviet aircraft as the front reached Hungary. Allied bomber raids on Hungary began in March 1944 and grew in intensity. The 101st Fighter Group, formed on 1 May 1944 and later expanded into a wing, became the elite unit of the Royal Hungarian Air Force. Its pilots flew Bf 109Gs, many of them built at Győr, against American formations escorted by P-38s and P-51s; Dezső Szentgyörgyi, of the 101/2 ‘Retek’ squadron, scored his first American kill, a P-38, on 14 June 1944. When the American campaign ended, Soviet fighters became the main enemy. Szentgyörgyi finished with 30 credited victories, the highest Hungarian score; the 59th Szentgyörgyi Dezső Air Wing at Kecskemét carries his name today. He died on 28 August 1971 as captain of a Malév Il-18 that crashed near Copenhagen. Outcome The Puma group fought until the end of the war in Hungary on 16 April 1945. Victory claims for Axis units are notoriously hard to reconcile with Allied loss records; the 30 is the figure credited by Wikipedia.
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| Hungarian Revolution of 1956the air force and the uprisingHungarian People’s Army Air Force | 1956 | MiG-15, Il-28 | ||||
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Split: some aircraft fired on demonstrators on government orders, while other units resisted Soviet attempts to seize their bases. The revolution that began on 23 October 1956 divided the air force as it divided the army. Wikipedia’s article on the revolution states that on 26 October, on the order of the regional army commander Lajos Gyurkó, fighter aircraft fired on demonstrators with cannon in several towns around Kecskemét. The Hungarian Air Force article records that other sections attacked Soviet forces and resisted Russian attempts to occupy their bases, and that the resistance was short-lived. After the second Soviet intervention on 4 November, Marshal Zhukov reported the disarming of twelve divisions, two armoured regiments and the entire Hungarian air force. The service that re-formed on 1 April 1957 started with one mixed squadron each at Pápa, Taszár and Kecskemét. Outcome Soviet forces disarmed the entire Hungarian air force between 4 and 9 November 1956; it was reformed on 1 April 1957. The 1956 air actions are politically sensitive and thinly documented in checkable sources; each claim is attributed. Casualty figures from the strafing were not confirmed. |
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| NATO and national air policingBaltic Air Policing and Hungarian QRAHungarian Air Force | 2015– | JAS 39C Gripen | 0 | |||
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Guards Hungarian airspace with Gripens on alert at Kecskemét and flies NATO Baltic Air Policing rotations. Gripens at Kecskemét hold Hungary’s quick reaction alert; the ministry reports alerts regularly, including scrambles against a small aircraft and an unusual target in late August 2026, after the flying ban imposed following the Szolnok crash had been lifted. Abroad, Hungary first led NATO’s Baltic Air Policing from Šiauliai in Lithuania from 31 August 2015 with four Gripen Cs, led again from 1 May 2019, augmented the mission from 1 August 2022 and deployed for a fourth time from 30 July 2025, each time with four Gripen Cs. Outcome Continuing. Scramble totals and rotation end dates were not confirmed on official pages.
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Nothing matches that search.
Every figure, checked
- Honvédelem.hu: Magyar Honvédség Légierő Parancsnokság (unit page)Official name, HQ Veszprém, re-established 1 November 2022, acting commander Col. Ferenc Könczöl, subordinate units, history (28 December 1938; 1 January 1939).
- Honvédelem.hu: Gripen tag pageAugust 2026 crash follow-ups, alerts of 28 and 29 August 2026, night flying July 2026.
- BAON: Újra lesz repülőnap Kecskeméten (September 2026)Air show returns August 2027; pilot operated on 25 August and home; recorder to Sweden; flying ban lifted.
Figures verified 2026-09-29. Back to the Hungarian Air Force.