Laszlo Almásy (1895-1951) was a Hungarian desert researcher, aviator and soldier.

Ladislaus "Lazslo" Ede Almásy was born in Borostyánkõ in Hungary (modern-day Bernstein in Austria). He was born into a non-titled noble family. He also might have been homosexual or bisexual. He studied in a boarding school in Eastbourne, England, where he also received his first pilot's license. During the World War I he served with Austro-Hungarian royal air force.

After the war Almasy continued to support the king Karl and in two occasions drove him to Budapest when he tried to get his throne back. It may be that Karl bestowed him with the title of count that Almasy only used out of Hungary.

After 1921 Almasy worked as a representative of an Austrian car film Steyr in Szombathely, Hungary, and won many car races in their colors. He also organized hunting trips to Egyptian luminaries. During his drive from Egypt to Sudan along the Nile in 1926 he developed an interest in the area and later returned there to drive and hunt. He also demonstrated Steyr vehicles in desert conditions in 1929 with two Steyr lorries and led his first expedition to the desert.

By the 1930's Almasy had developed intense interest of the desert and acquainted with other desert researchers. In 1932 he left for seek for legendary Zerzura , The Oasis of the Birds, with three Britons, Sir Robert Clayton , commander Penderel and Patrick Clayton , sponsored by prince Kemal el Din . The expedition used both cars and aeroplanes. They discovered prehistoric rock art in Uweinat and Gilf Kebir and Almasy claimed that that he found Zerzura in Wadi Talh . The following year Clayton and prince Kemal died and the expedition ended.

In the following years Almasy led other expeditions with German ethnographer Leo Frobenius. He also worked in Egypt at Al Maza airfield as a flying instructor . After the outbreak of World War II in 1939, he had to return to Hungary. British suspected that he spied for Italians - and vice versa.

Abwehr recruited him in Budapest. He was assigned to Luftwaffe, was raised to a rank of hauptmann and assigned to Afrika Korps. In 1941-1942 he worked with German troops of Erwin Rommel using his desert experience and led military missions, including Operation Salaam to infiltrate two German spies through enemy lines using his own sketch maps. Rommel promoted him to major. Almasy also deliver German spy Hans Eppler to Cairo the same way.

After the end of the desert Warm Almasy worked for Abwehr in Turkey. At the end of the war he began to deliver information to British intelligence. After the war he was deported back to Hungary and ended up into a Soviet prison camp.

After communists took over in Hungary, Almasy was tried for treason in the Communist People's Court but was eventually acquitted. He escaped the country reputedly with the aid of British intelligence. He returned to Egypt where he worked selling Porches. He, however, could not return to desert to continue his expeditions.

Almasy got ill in 1951 during his visit in Austria. He died of dysentery in a hospital in Salzburg, where he was also buried.

Michael Ondaatje's 1992 novel The English Patient and the movie of the same name are only peripherally based on Almasy's life.

Books

• John Bierman - The Secret Life of Laszlo Almasy: The Real English Patient (2004)