GC*

Found where now corn grows..

Trud! July 24, 1990.

Reviews and on the top, left a drawing found in the school..

The review down-left has no name, the one on the right shows in details the Moscow-Lisbon car trip of some Soviet motorists.

VDV!

Airforce.

Gentlemen,

I would like to share with you all the photos of some of my most relevant findings coming from former Soviet Airbase in Kunmadaras, Hungary.

I recently ended a 5-months long stay in Budapest and during that time I had the chance to visit two former Soviet bases, the one in Kiskunlachasa (not far from Budapest itself) and the one in Kunmadaras (..nearer to Rumania than to Budapest! Three changes to reach it by train!).

These experiences have been both great and I am still astonished by how some places I visited there looked like if nobody changed anything since 1991.

Kunmadaras was one of the biggest Soviet Airbases outside the SU; bunkers for fighters and bombers cover a 7x7 km area and in the former "village" you can still find everything.. The hospital, the school, the gymnasium, with its swimming pool, the theatre..and so many blocks that it would have taken ages to visit them all. Then of course all airport facilities.

Luckily or sadly (make your own decision) the base in Kunmadaras is currently being used in summer for motorcycle races and there are 2-3 private small planes. Some buildings are still in use and some have been used as dump for trash.

But in the deepest part of the blocks, where only the asphalt is free from trees and briars you can still ask yourself wether you are in Pripyat or not. This is not a funny joke, but a real description of how those places look. In the Kiskunlachasa base me and my colleagues found a Serbian film crew which was shooting a movie about Chernobyl..

Anyway. The experience was great and in Kunmadaras we also met the very nice guardian, which welcomed us with a loud "Здравствуйте!". We managed to have a nice conversation in Russian, being both our and his Russian definitely not so good.

He explained us that before the end of WWII the area was used by the Wehrmacht, he gave us indications about twhere to find what and gave us a map (I will post a photo of it..as soon as I will find it in the mess I am living in right now..).

Now, Gents, the photos of what I found. These things you will se might have a great value, but since years I have a special passion for field research..and the one I had the chance to accomplish in Kunmadaras was definitely great!

Some measurements. The USSR Coat of Arms measures nearly 3 feet / half-a-meter and the Soviet Airforce logo 1-and-a-half-foot tall.

I am particularly proud of these two things and of the VDV photo (found in the destroyed armchair of a paratrooper).

Regards

GC

Gentlemen,

Thank you very much for these very valued informations.

Gordon, actually looking at the details of my badge and at the one you posted I came to the conclusion that probably they are of the same type. All the elements coincide: the two crossed submachine guns PPSH-41, the two little hungarian flagsright over their barrels, the larger "rainbow-style" hungarian flag right under the star and partially on the light-blue color centre, the little white qsquares, then enclosed by the green leaves wreath.

I would say that the particular colour of the hat badge you posted might be the result of age (I am asserting that due to the fact that the little white squares - on this hat badge nearly invisible - and the white stripe of the hungarian glag look quite gold as well, a thing that makes me think that originally the badge probably looked exactly as mine).

Moreover Gordon, thanks for the detailed pictures of the uniform.

Finally, combineus, thanks for having provided us an historical background for this before quite unknown type of units.

Regards,

GC*

The color of the pictures of my cockade is actually different than the one showed by the first two photos. My star's color looks exactly like the one of the other one, showed in the thirs picture.

I am sorry, but I just noticed this difference now.

Regards

GC

Good afternoon to everybody dear fellow collectors.

Once more I submit to you a possible Yugoslav partisan WWII-post war cockade, this time a star.

I bought the star that you can see in this message (first two images) some times ago, believing it was a Soviet WWII one. Given the big amount of- "non-textbook" stars I just thought this was the umpteenth atypical Soviet star I found.

But since that moment many collectors questioned the origin of the star and some said they were quite sure it was actually not Soviet, or, to be more precise, it was not in use in the RKKA.

Then a friend told me he saw a similar star on sale as "Yugoslav partisan star". Since I know, if I am not mistaken, that in the last 40s the USSR supplied Yugoslavia with various types of military gears..the topic started to interest me a lot!

I finally found an ebay auction where a similas star is on sale as Yugoslav.

What is your opinion about that?

The first two photos show my star, the third one the one listed on ebay.

Thanks and regards,

GC*

And finally here a more detailed photo.

Here the back of the Eagle.

Good afternoon dear fellow collectors.

I would like to submit to you one of my last findings. Actually this eagle is my first Imperial Russian find, as I am a collector of Soviet-modern Russian hat badges.

I bought this eagle just because I found it beautiful and I wanted to give it a closer look. I am planning to resell it, but before I would like to be sure about what it actually is!

Thank you.

GC*

Gordon,

A great city indeed! In terms of militaria then, I was astonished by the number on militaria shops, but also by the fact that various sellers at flea markets do sell absolutely interesting militaria, original and cheap (for cheaper prices than in shops I had the chance to buy a number of hat badges, medals and other very intereting militaria and memorabilia).

Then of course I found also tons of replicas, high and low quality, but in some time I made it to star some kinf of relation with two sellers, hungarian and russian, who never disappointed me.

Finally, in Hungary, as I am sure you know, there are also a big number of former soviet bases that I had the chance to explore..also finding several very interesting things! I will show them soon here on the forum.

I do hope than soon I will be able to enrich my collection with a Hungarian Sovietr Republic cockade like yours, Gordon!

Regards,

GC

Oh Gordon, what a wonderful hat star!

I always loved the hammer and plough design and it took me definitely some time to find an RKKA star which I can be quite sure is an original (the one showed in my profile pic). So many copies are circulating of it and so many actually original types and variants of that star have been produced that nearly everybody told me it is quite impossible to be 100% about the originality of such a star..

Anyway, your cockade is truely amazing. I recently spent 5 months in Budapest and I did search for such a star, meeting however poor results.

My compliments for it, definitely a great piece. Hope one day I will find one as well to add to my collection!

Thanks for having shared these pictures.

GC

Dear Valter, thank you very much for your comment!

I'm happy that my opinion about the hat nadge was correct.

Now that I think about that I really think I saw a badge like mine, but in a far better (near mint) condition, on the German ebay.

It got sold for 190 euro...

I also think that both the star and the flag were enameled..but time did its job and now not so much is left.

Anyway I really like the hat badge itself and I am happy to put it with a correct description in the Yugoslav section of my collection.

Thanks again

GC*

Thank you very much OC and to you Gordon as well.

I was really convinced that the unknown badge at issue was not a cap badge..and I am actually really happy to discover it is!

Factory Security Force you said, very good; I'll add this description to the badge.

Thanks again!

GC

Good afternoon dear fellow collectors.

I would like to share with you the photo of a cockade I bought in recent times. The seller had no idea of its origins and actually sold it to me for cheap.

Since the first moment I saw it I thought I never saw something like that before; given the fact I am collecting Communist era hat badges since some time the hat badge interested me a lot.

I came to the conclusion that it could have been a Yugoslav partisan hat badge and the element which brought me to this cnocnlusion is the flag in the lower part of the cockade. I believe the red color is missing, and the red color itself together with white and blue makes the Yugoslav flag.

Could absolutely be that I am terribly wrong..

The cockade is made of brass and is quite flat; on the reverse it shows the two prongs you can see on its right side.

Opinions?

Thank you very much!

GC

Here a better photo of the badge at issue!

Good afternoon to everybody dear fellow collectors! I am new on this forum although I followed many conversations and had the chance to study amazing images posted in this forum.

I am a collector of hat badges, from the USSR, following CIS countries and former Warsaw Pact countries.

Here my hat badges collection with on the right a badge I received as present from a friend who believed it was a hat badge. I am quite sure it is not, even if I am no expert about badges. Somebody could help me in defying it?

(I can post better pictures of the hat badges, with measurment and details of the reverse).

Since the only badges I collect are the USSR Guard's ones I think that without offending my dear friend I will sell this.

Thank you very much.

GC