Croatia
at one time part of Yugoslavia


A brief history of the nation's air forces
You are encouraged to add to or correct historical information


WW2, Formation of the Nation
Yugoslavia was forced by its pro-Axis leader to join the Axis alliance on March 25th 1941, but two days later, its aiforce officers repudiated this pact. In retaliation, Hitler ordered Operation Punishment, the destruction and dismemberment of of Yugoslavia. German, Italian and Hungarian forces began bombing Belgrade on April 6th 1941. A Three-pronged blitzkrieg threw the million-man Yugoslavian armed forces into disaaray. The invaders captured Zagreb on April 10th and two days later the Yugoslavs surrendered.

On April 10th, militants known as "Ustashi", a secret rebel society, seized power and created "the Independent State of Croatia" and proclaimed that they were under the protection of the Italians. The Germans then asserted their influence and Italy withdrew gradually and then totally when it defected from the Axis side in the Fall of 1943. Germany dominated Croatia from then until the end of the war.

Croat leader Ante Pavelic joined his force of some 200,000 fighting men to the Germans.Their basic insignia was the red and white chequerboard pattern of Croatia with a Ustasha Nazi Party U in the middle; many of the badges also had the "NDH" lettering, standing for "Narodna Domovina Hrvatska" or National State of Croatia.

A Croatian Airforce was established in 1941. Some 75% of its personnel were Croat ex-members of the Yugoslavian Airforce. Headquarters were established in Zagreb and four Croat operational groups were set up: two comprising a Croat Airforce Legion which was sent to help the Axis forces on the Russian front and two were retained for home defence duties. The Croat fighter squadrons were equipped with Fiat G-50b's and very much later with Messerschmitt 109G-10's, bomber units flying Dornier Do-17's. The home units flew a miscellany of obsolescent aircraft including some French and Italian planes and remnants of the former Yugoslav Airforce.

In 1942, the Croat formations suffered heavy losses on the Russian front and by the end of 1943,many Croatian personnel were deserting to the Partisans and by the middle of 1944, the Croatian Airforce no onger possessed any effective strength.

thanks to and copyright of Russell Huff


WW2, Modern days: The Croatian Air Force
A new Yugoslavia formed after WW2, operating under a mild form of communist control under Marshall Tito. (Yugoslavia as a state is dealt with separately elsewhere.) Croatia was a constituent republic of the Yugoslavian Federation until 1991. The death of Tito brought about the dissolution of Yugoslavia and various wars on racial and religious lines.

Croatia declared its independence in 1991, initially using aircraft, which had been part of the Yugoslav airforce, remaining in its territory. Flying hours are very low and financial problems have made re-equipping very difficult. An Upgrade of Mig-21 in Israel was found to be too expensive and an offer of 14 ex-USAF F-16A/B was rejected because of cost. Mainstays of the force remain 2 squadrons with 24 Mig-21bis/Um augmented by Soko J1 Jastreb and J-20 Kragul ground attack aircraft. There are at least 10 Mi-24 Hind attack helicopters. Transport uses 4 An-2, 2 An-26, 2 An-32, 5 CN235, 5UTVA and 2 Do-28. There are 16 Mi-8/17 transport helicopters as well as 1 UH=1H, 9 Bell 206B and 2 MD-500. There are 2 CL215 and one CL415 fire bombing amphobians. Many light aircraft are used in communications and training roles, as well as sabreliner 75A and a CL601 Challenger for VIP use. Training uses some Mig-21u, but is mainly based on 17 PC-9 and a few surviving G-2 Galeb.