Almásy, László Ede

(August 22, 1895, Borostyánkő - March 22, 1951, Salzburg)

Overview of his life in flying Casually looking over the course of László Ede Almásy's life, one might come to the

conclusion that he was an obstinate adventurer.

This view is given considerable creedence by Michael Ondaatje's bestselling novel, The English Patient and in the identically titled movie based on this book, the latter being awarded with nine Oscars in 1997. Unfortunately the book and the film falsify Almásy's character and the story they present is fictitious. Studying his life more thoroughly, it transpires that the main characteristic for all of his actions and exploits was true professionalism, although he did have an adventurous frame of mind.

Those sides of his life which concern his travels and explorations in North-Africa, as well as his activity during WWII, have been widely discussed in books and on the internet. From these sources it is evident that he was either associated with or just hooked-up with aviation. This article will try to sum up of this side of his life.

The life of ”Teddy,” as he was called by all of his Hungarian friends, was influenced by

his two main fields of interest. The first was his attraction to mechanical devices in

general; automobiles and aeroplanes in particular. The second interest was his ambition to be a geographic explorer and to fill in white spots on the map. His life was motivated by the fact that he had to earn his living and find ways to finance and follow his interests, to fulfill his ambitions. The two vehicle types mentioned were the main instruments which allowed him the opportunity to follow his ambitions in exploration. He was in command of both vehicles from his early years (he drove his father's car at the age of 10 and he started flying in 1911, at the age of 16). Automobiles opened up the route for him to move into the field of expeditions and aircraft widened his opportunities in exploration.

His affection for exploration brought results with his cartographic works performed in Africa, and in his geographical as well as archaeological finds during expeditions to the Lybian Desert. Aeroplanes moved very early into his life and he was bitten by the flying bug proper. One of the outcomes of his love for flying was that he played a leading role in the development of gliding in Egypt. Background Teddy was born the second son of a Hungarian noble family, on August 22, 1895. His birthplace, Borostyánkő, is today called Bernstein and is now located in Burgenland, Austria. In his youth, Teddy enjoyed his family's wealth. His father, György, was a noted geographer and explorer of inner Asia, who financed his travels with income from the fairly large family estate.However, in 1912, his grandfather, the owner of the property, converted the estate under Hungarian law into an entailed property. This meant that the estate would be inherited by the grandfather’s first born son and subsequently always by the first born son of his descendants (primogeniture). When Teddy's father, György, died in 1933 the entire estate was inherited by Teddy’s elder brother, János. As a child of a wealthy family Teddy was enrolled to the local primary school as a private student.

He liked to play tricks on everybody around him including the schoolteacher. The school was rarely attended by the agile boy, but Borostyánkő’s large library was full of books on geography and accounts of journeys, and it was his favourite place. In spite of such behaviour, he earned good grades at the examinations. He began smoking at his 10th year of age. Over the years his lungs were fairly damaged and throughout his life, he suffered from his weak lungs. From childhood Teddy spoke Hungarian and German equally well. Due to a good governess he also learned French very early.

Since his mother was Italian by origin, he made himself master of the Italian language as well, and he communicated frequently with his mother and her relatives in this language. Between 1906 and 1908, young Russian speaking servants were living in Borostyánkő, temporarily brought there from Asia by his father, so Teddy attained some Russian as well. Completing primary school in 1904, the family sent him to a noted grammar-school in Kőszeg, an atmospheric old town in western Hungary. The school had a well equipped natural science laboratory, which became his favourite place. Among his teachers a more noted researcher could not have been found. During Teddy’s years in Kőszeg, his father made a great expedition to the Tien-San mountain range, in China. Teddy followed with rapt attention the every detail of preparation, particularly the equipment and the organization work. However his excellent grades of the first years started to deteriorate due to neglect by his parents as their relationship worsened. They finally separated in 1912. After the fourth year in Köszeg the family sent Teddy to another grammar-school in Graz.

The school saw him rarely as he spent his time tinkering with automobiles and motorbikes, and driving them around at break-neck speed. The first sign of his interest in aviation was in 1909 when he designed and built a glider in Graz on the basis of a picture he found in a newspaper. He tried to fly it by launching himself from the rim of a quarry, but after a couple of seconds, the experiment ended with a crash and he was seriously injured, three of his ribs were broken. His health deteriorated during his studies at Graz because of his hard smoking. Following medical advice, the family sent him to Arosa in Switzerland, where he spent the year of 1910 in a lung-sanatorium. Notwithstanding he was not able to give up smoking. Here he met a couple of young Englishmen who were recuperating from similar illness.

A result of these encounters was that he began learning English and decided to continue his studies in England. The family found a good private school in the South of England, at Eastbourne, where he spent the next four years studying mostly mechanical engineering. He even obtained a British driving licence, issued as No. 1865, in 1913. Certain sources state that in 1914, his last year in England, he enrolled in an University in London to study aircraft engineering, but his studies were interrupted by the outbreak of WWI. At any rate, his aviation military registry sheet, originating from 1917, shows that he graduated college as a mechanical engineer specialized in automobiles and that he was an expert on internal combustion engines. Here in Eastbourne, Teddy first met with the Boy Scout movement and joined it. His commitment for the movement was a dominating factor in his life.

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