Demonstrating good flying characteristics and generally being considered an excellent design, the WM-23 was planned to enter mass production.

However, the prototype was destroyed on 21 April 1942, and by this time the MÁVAG Héja fighter was being used which acceptably filled the intended role of the WM-23.

After the end of the First World War, the Hungarians had serious restrictions placed on their military under the Treaty of Trianon.

In the 1930s, Hungary was more and more openly opposing this treaty and following the Bled agreement in 1938, the existence of the Royal Hungarian Air Force (Magyar Királyi Honvéd Légierő, MKHL) was made known.

[7] A new He 112B was then sent, but as the Hungarian pilots flew the aircraft, they soon noticed that the engine – a Junkers Jumo 210 – was underpowered, only allowing them to reach a top speed of 430 km/h.

From the initial order of 36, Hungary only received three He 112 B-1s (not including the demonstrator that crashed), and even these came with the 20 mm cannons removed and the underpowered engines.

In the first half of 1939, possibly as a result of the He 112B contract having difficulties, the Hungarians decided to produce a domestic fighter design.

[8] The WM-23 was powered by the Weiss Manfréd WM K-14B – a 1,030 hp (768 kW), 14-cylinder, two-row, air-cooled radial engine.

[13] The efficient cooling of the engine was ensured by the use of cowl flaps; these could be opened or closed by the pilot using manual controls.

[11] Originally Samu Béla had planned for the landing gear to fold inwards to lie within the fuselage, but factory manager Korbuly László insisted on the landing gear folding outwards – this was chosen to avoid the heat from the engine damaging the rubber of the tyres.

[19] Synchronised with the propeller, it is installed in pairs in the upper cowling and is driven via the crankshaft of the aircraft's engine.

[11] The prototype had a silver-grey colour with a smooth surface, and looked like a fast plane with an aerodynamic shape, hence it received the name "Ezüst Nyíl" ("Silver Arrow").

Boskovits landed safely thanks to his parachute, but the aircraft crashed into the Tököl forest and was completely destroyed.

Furthermore, Hungarian licence production of the more powerful Messerschmitt Bf 109 (F-4 and G series) was in sight, and now the only prototype of the WM-23 was lost.

It can be said that the WM-23 project was cancelled because the engineers took too long trying to find the causes of the vibrations and could not eliminate them fully.

[14] As such, the aircraft was never fully ready for mass production and had to keep being tested and investigated, eventually leading to its crash.

Since this occurred so late, similarly or more capable fighters were becoming available so the WM-23 was no longer a modern enough design to warrant more resources being invested into completing the project.

An all-metal fighter aircraft with a monocoque fuselage, the Ezüst Nyíl II would have a powerful 1475 hp (1100 kW) DB 605 engine and would be armed with cannons (most likely 20 mm MG 151s).

Two-seat reconnaissance, ground attack and training variants were also designed with the 870 hp (649 kW) WM K-14A engines being used instead.