An amazing thing was found in the "Hungarian sea", several people drowned for it.
The recovery of the Hungarian fighter plane that crashed into Lake Balaton during the Second World War has begun in the Balatonakarattya area. The Messerschmitt built in the Győr aircraft factory is priceless from a military history point of view. About six hundred such planes were produced, the Me 109 was considered the most suitable fighter.
This copy was shot down on July 2, 1944, when the American army launched its largest air attack on Hungary.
The Royal Hungarian Air Force was able to send 18 fighter planes into battle against the United States' formation of 620 four-engine bombers and 300 accompanying fighters. Three Hungarian pilots died a heroic death in the air battle that unfolded that day.
The body of the pilot, platoon leader Sándor Beregszászi, who crashed at Balatonakaratty, had already been exhumed, but his plane had been lying in the wave grave ever since.
In 2020, the divers of the brave Árpád Bertalan 1st Special Operations Brigade of the Hungarian Armed Forces carried out practice dives at the presumed site of the accident and found the plane lying under 70-80 centimeters of mud.
In October of this year, the divers went under the water again to remove the wreckage, and according to the report of the National Defense, the first major element has now come to the surface.
The pieces of wreckage, which were covered by four and a half meters of water and eighty centimeters of mud, are continuously cleaned at the MH Recreational Training and Conference Center at the control point of the operation, Balatonakaratty.
Ensign Károly Magó, the person responsible for the protection of the military historical heritage of the excavation, emphasized: cleaning is the first and most important thing, so that everything is in the right condition by the end of the excavation, and also that the numbers suitable for identification can be determined as precisely as possible.
The military historian added that, although the weather was not favorable for the work processes in recent days, they continued to map the wreckage, and the first major element came to the surface: the propeller hub, with two propeller blades.
The MH brave Bertalan Árpád 1st Special Operations Brigade is participating in the works, as well as the MH II. The 14th Technical Regiment of Ferenc Rákóczi, the 86th Helicopter Brigade of the MH József Kiss, and the staff of the 1st Fire Engineer and Stream Guard Regiment of the MH. The removal of the entire wreck is expected to take place on October 16.
