The 101st Home Air Defence Fighter Group later Wing (unit definition by US style) (101.

Honi Légvédelmi Vadászrepülő Osztály later Ezred) was an elite fighter-group of the Royal Hungarian Air Force in World War II.

Analogue to Jagdverband 44, many of the highest scoring and most experienced Hungarian fighter pilots served in the unit, including the top scoring Hungarian ace of World War II, Szentgyörgyi Dezső.

Two squadrons of Bf 109s and Messerschmitt Me 210 together with some other units from the Royal Hungarian Air Force took part in the defence claiming five bombers (only three was confirmed) for three losses.

“Puma” Honi Légvédelmi Vadászrepülő Osztály was created from several existing Hungarian fighter units on 1 May 1944.

): Major Aladár Heppes, the "Old Puma" Second-in-command: Captain Gyula Horváth 101/1.

The howling red puma head of the unit first appeared in the Royal Hungarian Air Force in 1938.

Heppes Aladár designed it, and Baráth László drew the original graphic.

The losses were, however, heavy, and the unit was pulled out for rest and refit for a brief period during the autumn.

On 19 September 1944, the osztály (group) was increased to the size of a fighter wing, with Aladár Heppes in command.

It was re-equipped with the latest Messerschmitt Bf 109G-10/U4 and G-14/U4 types equipped with MW-50 boost and the 3 cm MK 108 cannon.

In the meantime the Russian troops stepped into Hungarian territory and the 101st's main adversary was the Red Air Force.

The Red Air Force used smaller units, usually in low or lower level as the USAAF.

The last confirmed kill was achieved by Lieutenant Elemér Kiss on April 17 in the Milowitz area over a Jak-9.

The squadron laid down its arms before the commander of the U.S. 206th Engineering Battalion and went to the POW camp near Wels.

They were credited with 64 American four-engined bombers, and 47 fighters of the USAAF Fifteenth Air Force in 1944–45.

Between its creation in the spring of 1944 and the end of the war, the group (and later, wing) suffered 51 killed, 30 wounded, 21 of them become MIA; 7 pilots become POW.

One example of a Hungarian Bf 109 from the 101. vadászezred, a G-10/U4 Werknummer 611943 however survives to this day at the Planes of Fame Museum in Valle, Arizona.

The image of Hungarian fighter pilots and aces, most of them very successful on the Eastern front, was politically unacceptable to the communist leadership.

Consequently, the unit's story was largely forgotten until the 1980s, when the Royal Hungarian Air Force's legacy and history began to be revealed.