Stamps That Tell a Story
A tribute to Ernö Rubik’s classic Futár and Cimbora designs.
A set of two stamps was issued by the Hungarian Post Office, honouring the 17th Old Timer Rally in Europe and the 60th anniversary of glider flying in Hungary. A total of 267,300 sets of perforated stamps were printed, with an additional 4,700 sets of unperforated stamps.
The Hungarian gliding movement began in 1929 at the Farkashegy gliding site and the 17th International Old Timer Rally was held from July 22 to 30, 1989 at the Budakeszi Farkashegy Airport, about one mile from the original site and some seven miles outside Budapest. About 800 participants from 15 nations came with 85 beautifully restored antique and vintage sailplanes.
The 3Ft (Forint) stamp shows the R-22 Futár sailplane. This single-seater, designed by Ernö Rubik, was built in 1944 by the Aero Ever Kft Airplane Factory in Esztergom. At the time it was a very modern, high performance sailplane of wooden construction, incorporating many innovative ideas.
It reportedly has excellent flying characteristics and good manoeuvrability. The view from the cockpit was unparalleled at the time, however for today’s pilots it almost gives the impression of flying a two-seater.
Eight of these sailplanes were produced. A restored version, as shown on the postage stamp, participated in the rally and many vintage glider pilots were allowed to fly this machine.
To broaden a stamp collection, one could add ‘glider flown mail’. Fred Hefty (son of Frederick V. Hefty, test pilot of all the Rubik designed sailplanes) from California, carried 450 pieces of souvenir mail in the Futár. These envelopes (see key photo above title) use one of these colourful stamps as postage, and they also bear a special postmark and a cachet (the imprinted logo on the left hand side of the envelope).
The second stamp in this set, the 5Ft stamp, shows the open cockpit two-seater R-11B Cimbora sailplane. This machine was also designed by Ernö Rubik in 1941, also built by the Aero Ever Kft (in 1944).
It was the first Hungarian two-seater built for training purposes only. The nicely restored Cimbora, coming in to land at the glider port of Farkashegy, with the administration building in the background, is shown.
During the 1989 Old Timer Rally it was used for winch check flights and passenger rides. The owners are now taking it to Old Timer Rallies throughout Europe.
It may be of interest to know that in 1948 Géza Vass, with Endre Lacza as passenger, set a Hungarian duration record of 25 hours and 7 minutes in a Cimbora.
Input for this article came from Linn Buell, Fred Hefty and Jan Scott, who were participants at the Rally.
©2002, 2022 Simine Short
Resources
- The World’s Sailplanes — Published by Organisation Scientifique et Technique Internationale du Vol a Voile (OSTIV) in 1958, Berne Switzerland.
- Magyar Vitorlázó Repülögépek by Jereb Gábor — Published by Müzaki Könyvkiadó, Budapest in 1988.
- A Magyar Vitorlázórepüles Képes Története by Imre Mitter — Published in 1999 by the author.
This article first appeared in the April, 2002 issue of Gliding magazine. Simine Short is an aviation researcher and historian. She has written more than 150 articles on the history of motorless flight and is published in several countries around the world as well as the United States. She is also the editor of the Bungee Cord, the quarterly publication of the Vintage Sailplane Association.
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