Flying the Futár 45 years later.

In July, 2000 I was the guest of the Aeroclub of Borsod County (BAA) in Hungary, where I used to fly from 1953 through 1956. The reception I received there was magnificent! There were still old friends who remembered me, and of course, several new generations of the most courteous and capable aviators, who are now the instructors and members of BAA.

To me, personally, the greatest treat was to meet people like László Csorba, once an instructor there, today, in his seventies still in magnificent shape; or Bálint Sally, who must not be much younger, yet "did not change at all". But, that's personal. As a glider pilot, I need to report on the magnificent surprise of being able to fly what was clearly one of the great sailplanes of the late forties-early fifties, with absolutely delightful flying qualities. This is Ernö Rubik's R-22 Futár.

In 1988, the BAA has re-built Futár HA-4059, which I used to fly in the 1950s. Not just the same type - the same actual aircraft! When I showed up at Miskolc Airport - voilà - there was the Futár, the members were assembling it! It has been sitting in the hangar for two years (too sacred to fly!) - but now they put it together for me to fly it! It did not make much difference that it was overcast, with gentle rain here and there. This was the real thing! After and 800m (2600 ft) tow it was mostly just a gentle glide down. I now had 44+ years more experience since my last flight in a Futár, so I can now state with some authority what all Hungarian pilots in the late 40s and early 50s knew: this is the absolutely nicest-flying machine of all. It still is!

Let me also present here two of my old friends (who of course way out-ranked me when I flew there):

László Csorba, Bálint Sally in AD 2000

Let's start with Sally, since until now I always mentioned Csorba first. In my time, Sally was the hangármester at Sajókápolna (our slope-soaring and summer camp field), and at Miskolc. The closest in English would be perhaps hangarmeister - the hangar master. This was a paid, professional position, and similar positions still exist in the French aeroclubs. Bálint was also an instructor of superb qualities. He had straw blonde hair then, and still does today (if you did not know him in his youth, you might think it's gray). In the 1950s he was the fastest speaker of Hungarian (at about 250% of the average words per second of the avarage Hungarian auctioneer) - well, he still is. His greeting to me was: Jaszlics the lasttimeIsawyouwaswithapistolswingingbroad onyourarmandasubmachineguninyourneck - or the rough equivalent in Hungarian, all pronounced in 1.34 seconds flat. I suppose he was referring to an incident during the Hungarian revolution in 1956, which I was conveniently forgetting until now (the incident, not the revolution), when I was looking for an airplane to leave the country (eventually I did it on foot). I suppose I was accompanied by the only superb-looking second-year female engineering student at the University of Miskolc (there was only one, so I am not terribly a male chauvinist) who was also a pilot. I now remember, but she, who must be a respectable grandmother today, shall be nameless on these pages.

Csorba Laci (to refer to him in Hungarian) was a superb gentleman then, as he is now. Rail-thin today, too. He organized this whole visit, and was a guest at his home for the night of my stay at Miskolc...