Aeronautics: For Hungary

In the home of Emil Szalay, sausage maker of Flint, Mich., hangs a framed certificate testifying that Emil Szalay's father served two years in the Hungarian army after rebellious Hungary had been subdued by Austria with the help of Nicholas I of Russia, in 1849. As the elder Szalay had been a rebel, had served after his capture only to evade imprisonment, that diploma remained his "shame." To his sons he used to say, pointing to the document, "You must do something good for the Hungarian people to wipe out my disgrace."

A year ago Emil Szalay, middleaged, plump, walrus-moustached, met George ("Yurga") Endres and Alexander Magyar in the office of the Detroit Hungarian News. Captain Endres, a Wartime flyer of the Austro-Hungarian army, and Captain Magyar (real name: Wilchak), his pupil, wanted to fly from the U. S. to Budapest. The flight would be a great demonstration of protest against the division of Hungarian territory by the Treaty of Trianon after the War. Sausagemaker Szalay (pronounced sah-la-ee) saw his chance. He mortgaged his salami factory for $20,000, turned the money over to Endres & Magyar to buy a plane. Some 8,000 other compatriots (mostly in Michigan) contributed more, bought 5,000 postcards to be carried in the plane which was named Justice for Hungary.

Last week the sleek, fast, red & black plane darted from Roosevelt Field up to Harbor Grace, N. F. Forecast was poor visibility but favorable winds. Unafraid of blind flying, Endres & Magyar took off.

They scarcely saw the ocean during the 16-hour crossing. It was as predicted, a struggle with fog, rain & low clouds the whole way. But Navigator Magyar caught many radio bearings; the monoplane, another Lockheed, hit the coast of France only a trifle off course. They had estimated 26 hours flight to Budapest with two hours fuel to spare. But headwinds over Europe upset that. Just 25 miles short of the goal, at 12 minutes past the 26th hour, the Wasp motor gasped for gas. Endres landed the plane in a rough field, damaging the undercarriage and propeller. Thence another ship whisked the flyers to Budapest's Matjasfoeld airdrome where, amid a great throng, waited Premier Stephen Bethlen & Cabinet, U. S. Minister Nicholas Roosevelt and Backer Szalay who had arrived from the U. S. a few days earlier with Endres' wife and small son; and Capt. Magyar's mother, an aged villager who had not seen her son for five years.

Viscount Rothermere, London publisher who had posted a $10,000 prize for the first flight from the U. S. to Hungary, promptly telegraphed the money to Premier Bethlen with a request to hand it to the flyers.