Yugoslav Royal Air Force
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| Yugoslav Royal Air Force | |
|---|---|
| Active | 1918 - 1941 |
| Country | Kingdom of Yugoslavia |
| Battles/wars | WWII |
| Insignia | |
| Roundel |
 |
| Fin Marking |
 |
| Aircraft flown | |
| Bomber | Bristol Blenheim, Dornier Do 17, Junkers K 30 Potez 630, Savoia-Marchetti SM.79 [1] |
| Fighter | Hawker Hurricane, Ikarus IK 2 Messerschmitt Bf 109, Rogožarski IK-3 |
| Trainer | Fizir FN[2] (assumption that it was a trainer) |
| Transport | Fieseler Fi 156, Messerschmitt Bf 108[3] |
The Yugoslav Royal Air Force or Jugoslovensko Kraljevsko Ratno Vazduhoplovstvo (JKRV) in Serbo-Croatian was formed upon the creation of the Kingdom of Serbs, Croats and Slovenes that year later renamed the Kingdom of Yugoslavia existed from 1918 to Royal Yugoslavia's capitulation in the Second World War in 1941. The remaining aircraft were used in conjunction with the British Royal Air Force and the Yugoslav Partisans of communist Josip Broz Tito which served alongside the British Royal Air Force after 1943.
Contents |
[edit] Beginning of a Yugoslav Air Force
Upon its creation it originally composed the aircraft which previously made up the Serbian Air Force thwn known as the Serbian Military Air Service, was one of the earliest air forces in existence and the one of the first to engage in battle in the Balkans Wars of 1912 to 1913. The Serbian Air Force survived occupation by Austria-Hungary by being based in exile in neutral Greece during the First World War where its pilots were serviced and trained with the help of the French Air Force.[4] In 1918, with the creation of a united Yugoslav state, then called the Kingdom of Serbs, Croats and Slovenes, the new government began to expand the air force across the new territories of the kingdom.
[edit] Consolidation and Modernization of the Air Force
In 1923, the Yugoslav government began to modernize its air force and established contracts within the country and abroad which contributed to their large variety of aircraft in service at the time of the Second World War. In 1923, the government consolidated the bureaucracy for the air force by joining their Aviation Command with the Ministartstvo vojske i mornarice (Ministry of War and Marine).
[edit] World War II
By the outbreak of the Second World War, Yugoslavia had a substantial air force with their own aircraft, aircraft from Allied countries like Britain and aircraft from Axis countries like Germany and Italy. In 1940, Britain attempted to bring Yugoslavia to the Allied side by supplying military aide to the Yugoslav Royal Air Force, including new Hawker Hurricane fighter aircraft. However Germany sold a large number of Messerschmitt Bf 109 fighters to Yugoslavia and in early 1941, and German dismay towards a Balkans campaign convinced Yugoslavia to join the Axis forces.
Shortly after Yugoslavia joined the Axis powers however, Fascist Italy demanded that their ally Nazi Germany help their faltering military campaign in Greece and demanded that invade Yugoslavia in order to reach Greece and give over long-demanded territory from Yugoslavia. The German Luftwaffe then began to mass at the borders of Yugoslavia from allied Axis nations. The JKRV was forced to stretch out to defend Yugoslavia from an apparent invasion and iminent air war. [5]
In April 1941, Germany and Italy invaded Yugoslavia and Yugoslavia immediately joined the Allies. Despite having superior aircraft to some of the previously German-occupied eastern European nations like Poland or Czechoslovakia, the Yugoslav Royal Air Force could simply not match the numbers of the German Luftwaffe and could not defend all of Yugoslavia resulting in the devastating Luftwaffe bombings of Belgrade.
Yugoslavia capitulated later in the spring of 1941, with its aircraft either being destroyed, captured, or Yugoslav pilots fleeing the country in them to later regroup with the RAF to battle their German occupiers. The mainstay of the rest of aircraft used by the Yugoslav resistance was within Tito's communist Yugoslav Partisans which continued a steady war with the German occupiers for the remainder of the war.
