Messerschmitt Bf.G - Hungarian users, part one

By 1943 the Royal Hungarian Air Force realized that the locally licensed-built Reggiane Re.2000 Héja fighters were obsolete and weren't up to the task and, therefore, began to equip their home defence squadrons with Bf.109s. During April and May 1944 the Bf.109Gs were concentrated in the 101. Honi Légvédelmi Vadaszrepülö Osztály (101st Home Air Defence Wing) and many were produced by the Hungarian Messerschmitt factory at Györ. This unit was commanded by the Eastern Front veteran Örnagy (Major) Heppes Aladár and was commonly known as the "Red Pumas" due to their insignia.
During the "American Season", the period between May and August 1944 when the USAAF bombed Hungary, the unit had claimed 15 P-51s, 33 P-38s and 56 four-engined bombers. However Hungarian losses were high too, 18 fighter pilots lost their lives with the heaviest losses taking place on 7th August 1944 whe 18 Bf.109 from the 101st Home Group, escorting another Luftwaffe's Bf.109Gs armed with underwing cannon gondolas, took-off to intercept 357 four-engined American bombers which were escorted by 117 fighters. The Messerschmitts were intercepted by the P-51 Mustangs that shot down eight Hungarian and at least nine German Bf.109s, losing just two of their members.
Among the killed Hungarian pilots was Lt. László Molnár Lukács who was the top scoring Hungarian ace to the date with 25 kills, with seven Americans among them. By November 1944  the 101st Home Defence Wing was reformed into a fighter regiment and received the latest Bf.109G-10 and Bf.109G-14 and, by the end of December they were handed to the pilots at Wiener-Neustadt and were later transferred to the Kenyeri airfield.
Early in February, the wing received brand new Bf.109G-10/U4 with instructions that their engines had to be changed after 30-40 operating hours. Anyway, as the USAAF's bombing campaing came to an end and now they had to face against the Soviet Air Force, where the Hungarian pilots were numerically far inferior but they attacked nevertheless. On 9 March 1945 a formation of 8 Bf.109G-10 from 101/3 fighter squadron intercepted a formation of 25 Soviet Douglas Boston bombers escorted by 16 Yak-9s and shot down three. Two weeks later, close to the end of the war, eight Hungarian fighters attacked 26 Soviet bombers south of Lake Balaton and shot down five of them without a single loss.
At the end of March 1945 the Royal Hungarian Air Force had to leave Hungary. The Red Pumas were rebased first to Petersdorf, Wiener-Neudstadt, Tulln and finally to Raffelding, in Austria. Operating from there, Hungarian fighters carried out many reconnaissance and attack missions on ground targets. They had to cope with high losses as in just two days they lost ten fighters and four pilots. On 17th April 1945 the last Royal Hungarian Air Force kill of the war was achieved when Lt. Kiss shot down a Soviet Yak-9. The unit set their remaining Bf.109Gs on fire on 4th May 1945 at Raffelding airfield to prevent them to be taken by the advancing American troops.
However, one of them, a Bf.109G-10/U4 was saved from the fire and it's exposed nowadays at the Planes of Fame museum in Chino, California.

Sources:
1. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Messerschmitt_Bf_109_operational_history#Combat_service_with_Hungary
2. Salamander Books - The Complete Book of Fighters
3. Hikoki - Hungarian Eagles - The Hungarian Air Forces 1920-1945