Friedrich Hefty

Friedrich Hefty
Born	(1894-12-13)13 December 1894 Pozsony, Austro-Hungarian Monarchy
Died	20 January 1965(1965-01-20) (aged 70) Detroit, Michigan, United States
Allegiance	Austro-Hungarian Empire
Service / branch	Austro-Hungarian Aviation Troops
Rank	Offiziersstellvertreter (officer candidate)
Unit	Flik 12, Flik 44F, Flik 42J
Awards	Three Bronze awards, two each of the First and Second classes of the Silver award, and three awards of the Gold Medal for Bravery (ten awards total); Order of Vitéz
Other work	Airline pilot; WWII service

Friedrich Hefty (13 December 1894 – 20 January 1965), also referred to as Frigyes Hefty,^[1] was a World War I Austro-Hungarian flying ace credited with five confirmed and five unconfirmed aerial victories. His early interest in aviation led him to drop out of school in 1913 and become a glider pilot. When World War I began, he served first as an aerial observer, then as a pilot. He scored his first aerial victory as an observer, on 7 October 1915. Once he became a pilot, he claimed nine other victories, four of which were verified. On 22 August 1918, he became one of the first combat pilots to bail out using a parachute. Hefty ended the war with ten awards of the Medal for Bravery.

After a short stint in the Hungarian Red Air Arm, Hefty settled into a civil aviation career. He was a pioneering pilot for Malev and Air France; he also ran flying clubs in both Hungary and Cairo, as well as gliding clubs elsewhere. After serving as an administrator in World War II, he fled communist domination of Hungary. He became an American citizen, eventually dying in Detroit, Michigan.