Croatian Aces of World War 2Initially flying Italian-supplied Fiat G.50s, the Croat forces suffered heavy losses during 1942 whilst flying alongside JG 52 in the southern sector of the Russian front. Despite this, a significant number of kills fell to future aces such as Cvitan Galic and Mato Dubovak during this time, and when the units re-equipped with Bf 109G-10s in 1943, battle-seasoned Croat pilots started to rack up impressive scores. This book reveals how, by 1944, Croat air groups were defending Yugoslavia from British and American air raids, and in the final months of the war a handful of surviving pilots fought on until final defeat in May 1945. |
Other editions - View all
Common terms and phrases
Air Force Airacobra aircraft airfield Albin Starc April attacked August Avdic Bartulovic Belgrade bombers Borongaj claimed combat confirmed crash-landed crashed Croat Croat pilots Cvitan Galic damaged days later destroyed Dragutin Eastern Front Emils escorting Eskadrila Feldwebel fighter pilot flew flown flying force-landed Franjo Dzal Freie Jagd Gazapi German Gustavs Hauptmann Ivan joined the ZNDH Josip Helebrant July June Kertch klase Kranjc Kres LaGG LaGG-3s Lasta Leutnant Ljudevit Bencetic Lovacka Lucko Luftwaffe Mariupol Mato Culinovic Mato Dukovac Mihelcic mission Mostar narednik Nikola Novak November NOVJ Novorossiysk Oberfeldwebel Oberleutnant Oberstleutnant October Ostric Rata returned to Croatia score September shot sorties Soviet fighters Spitfire Stabsfeldwebel Staffel Stjepan Martinasevic Stjepan Radic Stormovik Tomislav Kauzlaric Tuapse unconfirmed kills unconfirmed victories unit unit’s Unteroffizier Ustasa Veca Mikovic Vladimir Ferencina VVKJ whilst wings Wk-Nr Yellow Yugoslav Yugoslavia Zagreb Zemun Zlatko Stipcic ZNDH Zrakoplovna