Friedrich Hefty

Friedrich Hefty (also referred to as Frigyes Hefty){{cite book|url=https://edituravremea.ro/images/pdf/Aeronautica.pdf|title=Aeronautica română în Războiul de Întregire naţională 1916–1919|author1=Valeriu Avram |author2=Alexandru Armă |language=ro|publisher=Editura Vremea|date=2018|page=48}} was born on 13 December 1894 in Pozsony, Austria-Hungary (present-day Bratislava, Slovak Republic). Although entitled to be addressed as Count, he eschewed the term.{{sfn|Franks|Alegi|Guest|2008|p=182}} In his youth, he began to spend considerable time with aviation pioneers on the outskirts of Budapest. He found aviation so absorbing that he quit high school a year before graduation to devote his full attention to flying. In 1913, he tried his first flight, in a glider.{{sfn|O'Connor|1995|p=177}}

{{See also|Aerial victory standards of World War I#Austria-Hungary}}

When World War I began, Hefty elected to join the Austro-Hungarian Aviation Troops. In May 1915, he was posted to Flik 12 in northern Italy; he flew Albatros, Lohner, and Hansa-Brandenburg two-seaters during the Battles of the Isonzo.{{sfn|Franks|Alegi|Guest|2008|p=182}} As was customary, he had to complete 12 combat sorties before being awarded his pilot's badge on 2 July 1915.{{sfn|O'Connor|1995|p=177}}

On 7 October, both Hefty and his observer were wounded by antiaircraft fire while on an artillery spotting mission. Overcoming a foot wound, Hefty got his seriously wounded observer home via crash landing, and they reported to hospital. Soon after Hefty emerged from care, he returned in December{{sfn|Franks|Alegi|Guest|2008|p=182}} with a three-week case of typhus.{{sfn|O'Connor|1995|pp=177–178}}

Hefty would be detached from Flik 12 for test pilot duties in autumn 1916, but returned to the squadron after several months. He would be transferred in April 1917, posted to fly long-range reconnaissance sorties with Flik 44F on the Romanian Front. He scored his first victory on 23 August 1917.{{sfn|Franks|Alegi|Guest|2008|pp=182–183}}{{sfn|O'Connor|1995|p=177}}

Transferred to Flik 42J in October 1917, he flew fighters in the Battle of Caporetto.{{sfn|O'Connor|1995|p=178}} He scored his second victory on 27 October 1917, flying an Aviatik D.I. Thereafter, he flew an Albatros D.III. Often he flew with two other winners of the Gold Medal for Bravery, aces Ferdinand Udvardy and Johann Risztics. Hefty would stake a combat claim on 17 April 1918, followed by seven more in June 1918. While Hefty garnered five credited victories, five more went unconfirmed.{{sfn|O'Connor|1995|p=320}}

On 22 August 1918, for the first time, Hefty was ordered to fly with a parachute. When he was shot down in flames that day, he successfully bailed out, spraining an ankle.The Aerodrome website {{Cite web|url=http://www.theaerodrome.com/aces/austrhun/hefty.php|title=Friedrich Hefty}}{{sfn|Franks|Alegi|Guest|2008|pp=182–183}}

By war's end, Friedrich Hefty had received ten awards of the Medal for Bravery. He won three Bronze awards, two each of the Second and First Classes of the Silver award, and three awards of the most prestigious, the Gold

Medal for Bravery.{{sfn|Franks|Alegi|Guest|2008|p=183}} He was also proposed as a Offiziersstellvertreter (officer candidate). However, he was denied commissioning as an officer because he lacked the last year of high school that he had skipped because of his interest in aviation.{{sfn|O'Connor|1995|p=177}}

As low-level fighting continued immediately after war's end, Hefty flew for the Hungarian Red Air Arm, fighting units of Czechs, Romanians, and Serbs. He was captured on 1 July 1919 when his Fokker D.VII was damaged and forced to land near the Tisza river.{{cite magazine|title=Militaria magazine No.13|publisher=Kagero}} He was later released and awarded the Order of Vitéz.{{sfn|Franks|Alegi|Guest|2008|p=183}}

Following that, Hefty made his life in aviation. He was a commercial pilot for Malert Airlines and Air France for the next two decades. He also founded and advised gliding and flying clubs{{sfn|Franks|Alegi|Guest|2008|p=183}} worldwide. He founded the Ikaros Flying School in Hungary, and another flying school in Cairo.{{sfn|O'Connor|1995|p=179}}

During World War II, Friedrich Hefty served as an administrative officer in the Hungarian Air Force until captured by Americans. Once released, he returned to Hungary, only to resent obtrusive communist domination. He emigrated to Detroit to continue as an aviation enthusiast. He died there on 20 January 1965.{{sfn|Franks|Alegi|Guest|2008|p=183}}{{sfn|O'Connor|1995|p=179}}

{{reflist}}

• {{citation |first1=Norman |last1=Franks |author-link1=Norman Franks |first2=Gregory |last2=Alegi |first3=Russell |last3=Guest |date=2008 |title=Above the War Fronts: A Complete Record of the British Two-seater Bomber Pilot and Observer Aces, the British Two-seater Fighter Observer Aces, and the Belgian, Italian, Austro-Hungarian, and Russian Fighter Aces, 1914–1918 |location=London |publisher=Grub Street |isbn=978-1898697565}}

• {{citation |first=Dr. Martin |last=O'Connor |date=1995 |title=Air Aces of the Austro-Hungarian Empire 1914-1918 |publisher=Flying Machines Press |isbn=978-0-9637110-1-4}}

{{wwi-air}}

{{aircontent}}

{{Authority control}}

{{DEFAULTSORT:Hefty, Friedrich}}

Category:1894 births

Category:1965 deaths

Category:Military personnel from Bratislava

Category:Austro-Hungarian World War I flying aces

Category:Immigrants to the United States