Alex in Wonderland: A Life of High Adventure from War-Torn Europe to the World of Aviation

Hungary, justly proud of its rich heritage, may boast of at least one legendary icon in the arts, science, technology and other fields of endeavor. But not until Alex Kvassay came along did a native son achieve such universal renown in the fast-moving world of corporate aviation.Here in a free-flowing style, Kvassay writes lucidly of his most memorable, often terrifying experiences. They range from his youth in a Budapest under siege to his extraordinary success as an international marketer of business jets and, ultimately, to his exciting life in retirement. An entertaining, enlightening book, his words are witty, insightful, compelling.Alex was still in high school when the horrors of World War II stormed across the Hungarian border in 1944. How he outwitted the Nazi invaders and their Soviet conquerors, whom he describes as an even worse enemy, is the stuff of Hollywood, though peppered with typical Kvassay humor. Despite the ever-present threat of death or imprisonment, the author always found something funny in the way German and Russian soldiers waged war.And here, for the first time, he reveals his secret work for military intelligence in Hungary and Turkey and why, as a refugee immigrant, the U.S. Army brought him to America for a classified defense post in the Pentagon.Following a three-year hitch in the U.S. Army, he became a naturalized American citizen in 1952 and soon embarked on a long and productive career in aviation, an industry about which he knew absolutely nothing. A quickstudy, self-assured, multilingual, he started at Beech in Wichita, Kansas, where he was low man on a very tall totem pole. However, he soon established himself as one of the most effective international sales reps in the company.Believing he was at a dead end at Beech, he joined Bill Lear as head of export for the brand new Learjet. The high performance Learjet revolutionized executive air travel; the high performance Kvassay revolutionized corporate aircraft marketing.