Fighters
Experimental and Prototype
Trainers
A Brief History and Development
After the defeat of the Central Powers in the First World War, the geopolitical situation in Europe changed significantly. From the remains of the Austro-Hungarian, German, and Russian empires, new countries were created. One of these new countries was the Kingdom of Serbs, Croats, and Slovenians, or simply known as SHS. It was formed on the 1st of December 1918, and later became the Kingdom Of Yugoslavia in 1929.
The air force of this new kingdom was primarily formed using the older aircraft and pilots belonging to the former Kingdom of Serbia. The Serbian Air Force was initially very small, but was greatly reinforced by the Allies during the formation of the Salonika Front during the Great War. In March 1919, the first Air Force Command was formed by the Department of Aviation. Initially, the SHS Air Force consisted of surviving Serbian aircraft, those captured by the Austrians, and Germans, and some supplied by the French in the early 1920s. Around 124 aircraft were operated in this early stage, some of which were UFAG C.I, Albatros D.III, and Rumpler. C biplanes.
As these were soon obsolete or rendered unusable due to a lack of spare parts and age, another source for new aircraft was needed. The economic situation in this newly-born country was very bad, mostly due to the devastation caused by the Great War. Large-scale domestic aircraft production was almost impossible in these early years. The only way to acquire new aircraft was to buy them abroad. Initially, the Kingdom’s Air Force relied on the French military industry. France and the SHS had a good relationship and thus it was chosen to expand military ties. Larger contingents were ordered, including some 140 Breguet 19. Over the years this cooperation would lead to the introduction of rather large orders of aircraft and parts, most notably engines. That cooperation would last up to early 1930, before being replaced with Czechoslovakia, from which they purchased Avia BH-33 and F.39, Italy, which supplied SM 79, Ca 310, Germany which provided Do Y, Junkers G. 24, Do 17, and Me 109, and Great Britain which sold them Hawker Hurricanes.
Domestic production
Ikarus was one of the first Yugoslavian domestic aircraft manufacturers. It was formed in 1923 by a group of businessmen from the city of Novi Sad. The company did well during the 1920s and got a series of new orders for aircraft production, mostly for training. In 1927, thanks to increasing revenue, Ikarus opened a new production plant located in Zemun near the capital of Belgrade. Ikarus would join in cooperation with another company, Rogožarski in 1924. Both would be involved in the production and development of domestic and licensed aircraft.
In 1927, another company named Zmaj was formed at Zemun. It was mainly involved in the production of license-built aircraft but also involved in the development of some domestic projects. A series of smaller companies would also be formed over time, some of which were Albatros, Aeroput, and FAK.
In total from 1918 to 1945, the Kingdom of Yugoslavia operated some 2740 aircraft of which some 569 were domestically built, 987 were built under license, and the remainder were brought abroad. The majority of which were of French,478, and German origin, 383.
Navy Air Force
The Navy Air Force was formed in April 1921 and was part of the SHS navy command. During its operational service, only slightly more than 200 aircraft would be used. Of these, some 123 were domestically built aircraft while the remainder were mostly German-brought aircraft.
Fighter aircraft
Up to 1930, The Yugoslav Air Force mainly was equipped with older biplanes. During the 1930’s some attempts were made to domestically develop fighters which would lead to a small production of the IK-2 and IK-3. New Foreign fighters were obtained to replace the older designs. This included the more modern Me 109 and the Hawker Hurricane.
Bombers
The Kingdom of Yugoslavia was equipped with a series of rather modern bombers. For example, for example, Germany, and the Kingdom of Yugoslavia Air Force acquired some 37 Do 17 bombers. An additional 36 would be built under license in Yugoslavia. From Italy, 45 SM.76 were acquired. Some 63 Bristol Blenheims were purchased from Great Britain.
Training
Training aircraft were supplied mainly by domestic projects. The most commonly used types were the Fizir FN and Fizir Prelazni FP-2.
Experimental designs
Like many other nations, the Yugoslavian aircraft industry tested and developed a series of prototype aircraft, intended to perform specialized roles. While some were of more traditional designs like the Zmaj (Dragon) P-1 heavy fighter, others tested less conventional constructions, like the Ikarus B-5 which had an unusually prone position for the pilot.
During the Second World War 1941-1945
After the Italian defeats in North Africa and Greece, Mussolini had no choice but to seek help from his German ally. Hitler reluctantly decided to send German military aid to help the Italians. For the planned occupation in Greece, Hitler counted on the neutrality of the Kingdom of Yugoslavia. The government of the Kingdom of Yugoslavia signed the Tripartite Treaty on the 25th of March 1941. Two days later, Air Force General Dušan Simović, with the support of other military officers, mostly from the Yugoslav Royal Air Force, staged a coup d’etat and overthrew the government (the so-called Cvetković-Maček government) that had intended to join the Axis forces. Due to these events, and in preparation for the attack on Greece and the Soviet Union, the German High Command decided to occupy Yugoslavia. The invasion (also referred to as April War) began on the 6th of April 1941. This operation also marked the start of the Second World War for the Kingdom of Yugoslavia.
By the beginning of the war, the Yugoslav Air Force, had over 400 operational combat aircraft. Of these, some 149 were fighter aircraft. The Yugoslavian Air Force operated modern fighters such as the Me 109, Hurricane, and a few domestically developed IK-3. While the Air Force offered stiff resistance it could not delay the Axis advance and by the 18th of April, the war was lost. The Axis losses were over 110 planes lost, and around 70 damaged. After the end of the April war, Yugoslavia was divided among Axis forces.
At first, it seemed that there would be a no greater need for the engagement of larger Axis military units and that that part of Europe was secured. However, an uprising that had started in Serbia only a few months after the invasion forced the Germans to re-introduce more and more units in this region. There were two resistance groups, the Royalist Chetniks and the communist Partisans. The Chetniks were led by General Draža Mihailović and the communist Partisan movement was led by Josip Broz Tito.
From these two groups, only the Partisans would operate a growing Air Force by 1944 and 1945. During the war, there were many cases when the Axis pilots would join the Partisans. In one case, on May 1942, two Croatian pilots defected to Partisans by flying to them in their Potez 25 and Breguet 19. The first larger Aviation unit was formed on 18th August 1944 on the island Vis. This unit was equipped with 4 Soviet Po-2, but would later also include many captured or supplied, such as the G.50, Fi 167, Ju 52, and FP-2.
In Allied Service
Those pilots that did manage to escape from Yugoslavia during the April war, would join the Allies. Over 40 pilots would be used to form the Royal Yugoslavian Air Force Detachment which was part of the American 14th Air Force Army. These pilots would operate the B-24 bomber and saw extensive service during the war.
Source:
- Č. Janić i O. Petrović (2011) Kratka istorija vazduhoplovstva u Srbiji, Aero Komunikacije
- D.Babac Elitni vidovi Jugoslovenske vojske u Aprilskom ratu.
- Z. Rendulić (2014) Lovačka Avijacija 1914-1945, Teovid
- B. Dimitrijević, M. Micevski and P. Miladinović (2016) Kraljevstvo Vayduhoplovstvo 1912-1945
- T. Likos and D. Čanak (1998) The Croatian Air Force In The Second World War, Nacionalna i Sveučilišna Knjižnica Zagreb
- V. V. Mikić (2000) Zrakoplovstvo nezavisne države Hrvatske 1941-1945, Target Beograd
- http://www.vazduhoplovnetradicijesrbije.rs/index.php/istorija/565-ikarus-ik-2