1.
Yugoslavia
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Yugoslavia was a country in Southeast Europe during most of the 20th century. The Serbian royal House of Karađorđević became the Yugoslav royal dynasty, Yugoslavia gained international recognition on 13 July 1922 at the Conference of Ambassadors in Paris. The country was named after the South Slavic peoples and constituted their first union, following centuries in which the territories had been part of the Ottoman Empire, renamed the Kingdom of Yugoslavia on 3 October 1929, it was invaded by the Axis powers on 6 April 1941. In 1943, a Democratic Federal Yugoslavia was proclaimed by the Partisan resistance, in 1944, the king recognised it as the legitimate government, but in November 1945 the monarchy was abolished. Yugoslavia was renamed the Federal Peoples Republic of Yugoslavia in 1946 and it acquired the territories of Istria, Rijeka, and Zadar from Italy. Partisan leader Josip Broz Tito ruled the country as president until his death in 1980, in 1963, the country was renamed again as the Socialist Federal Republic of Yugoslavia. The constituent six socialist republics that made up the country were the SR Bosnia and Herzegovina, SR Croatia, SR Macedonia, SR Montenegro, SR Serbia, and SR Slovenia. Serbia contained two Socialist Autonomous Provinces, Vojvodina and Kosovo, which after 1974 were largely equal to the members of the federation. After an economic and political crisis in the 1980s and the rise of nationalism, Yugoslavia broke up along its republics borders, at first into five countries, eventually, Serbia and Montenegro accepted the opinion of the Badinter Arbitration Committee about shared succession. Serbia and Montenegro themselves broke up in 2006 and became independent states, the concept of Yugoslavia, as a single state for all South Slavic peoples, emerged in the late 17th century and gained prominence through the Illyrian Movement of the 19th century. The name was created by the combination of the Slavic words jug, Yugoslavia was the result of the Corfu Declaration, as a project of the Serbian Parliament in exile and the Serbian royal Karađorđević dynasty, who became the Yugoslav royal dynasty. The country was formed in 1918 immediately after World War I as the Kingdom of Serbs, Croats and Slovenes by union of the State of Slovenes, Croats and Serbs and it was commonly referred to at the time as the Versailles state. Later, the government renamed the country leading to the first official use of Yugoslavia in 1929, on 6 January 1929 King Alexander I suspended the constitution, banned national political parties, assumed executive power and renamed the country Yugoslavia. He hoped to curb separatist tendencies and mitigate nationalist passions and he imposed a new constitution and relinquished his dictatorship in 1931. None of these three regimes favored the policy pursued by Alexander I, Alexander attempted to create a centralised Yugoslavia. He decided to abolish Yugoslavias historic regions, and new internal boundaries were drawn for provinces or banovinas, the banovinas were named after rivers. Many politicians were jailed or kept under police surveillance, the effect of Alexanders dictatorship was to further alienate the non-Serbs from the idea of unity. During his reign the flags of Yugoslav nations were banned, Alexander was succeeded by his eleven-year-old son Peter II and a regency council headed by his cousin, Prince Paul
2.
Republika Srpska
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Republika Srpska is one of two constitutional and legal entities of Bosnia and Herzegovina, the other being the Federation of Bosnia and Herzegovina. The administrative centre is Banja Luka, in Serbo-Croatian, Republika Srpska means Serb Republic. The second word is an adjective derived by adding the suffix -ska to srb-. The -ps- sequence rather than -bs- is a result of voicing assimilation, in a session on 14–15 October 1991, the Peoples Assembly of Bosnia and Herzegovina approved the Memorandum on Sovereignty, as had already been done by Slovenia and Croatia. The Union of Reform Forces soon ceased to exist but its members remained in the assembly as the Independent Members of Parliament Caucus, on 9 January 1992, the assembly proclaimed the Republic of the Serb People of Bosnia and Herzegovina, declaring it part of Yugoslavia. The republic was part of Yugoslavia and could enter into union with political bodies representing other peoples of Bosnia, the referendum had a 64% turnout and 92. 7% or 99% voted for independence. On 6 March the Bosnian parliament promulgated the results of the referendum, the republics independence was recognized by the European Community on 6 April 1992 and by the United States on 7 April. On the same day the Serbs assembly in session in Banja Luka declared a severance of ties with Bosnia. The name Republika Srpska was adopted on 12 August 1992, the political controversy escalated into the Bosnian War, which would last until the autumn of 1995. The boundary lines between the entities were delineated in Annex 2 of the Agreement, between 1992 and 2008, the Constitution of Republika Srpska was amended 121 times. The war in Bosnia and Herzegovina resulted in changes in the country. Some two million people, about half the population, were displaced. In 1996 there were some 435,346 ethnic Serb refugees from the Federation in Republika Srpska, in 1991, 27% of the non-agricultural labor force was unemployed in Bosnia and this number increased due to the war. By 2009, the unemployment rate in Bosnia and Herzegovina was estimated at 29%, ethnic cleansing reduced the numbers of other groups. Serb police, soldiers, and irregulars attacked Bosniaks and Croats, though on the other side, Bosniaks and Croats did the same atrocities to the Serbian population in the region of Herzegovina and the villages surrounding Srebrenica. Some were killed on the spot, others were rounded up and killed elsewhere, the number of Croats was reduced by 135,386, and the number of Bosniaks by some 434,144. Some 136,000 of approximately 496,000 Bosniak refugees forced to flee the territory of what is now Republika Srpska have since returned home, in the early 2000s, discrimination against non-Serbs was alleged by NGOs and the Helsinki Commission. The International Crisis Group reported in 2002 that in parts of Republika Srpska a non-Serb returnee is ten times more likely to be the victim of violent crime than is a local Serb
3.
Yugoslav Air Force
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Not to be confused with the air force of the Kingdom of Yugoslavia, the Yugoslav Royal Air Force. The Yugoslav Air Force was the air force of Yugoslavia, the official name of the branch was Air Force and Anti-Air Defence. At its height, it was one of the largest air forces in Europe, the Yugoslav Air Force was disbanded following the war in Yugoslavia 1991-1995. By early 1945, Yugoslav Partisans under Marshal Tito had liberated a large portion of Yugoslav territory from the occupying forces, on 5 January 1945 the various air units of the NOVJ were formally incorporated into a new Yugoslav Air Force. At the same time, a Yugoslav fighter group which had been under Soviet instruction at Zemun airfield became operational, thus, when peacetime came, the JRV already possessed a strong and experienced nucleus of personnel. On 12 September 1945 the Military Aviation Academy in Belgrade was established to train future pilots, the development of the JRV was further helped in late 1945 with the creation of the Aeronautical Union of Yugoslavia. This comprised six aeronautical unions - one for each constituent republic - with the joint aim of promoting sport flying, in June 1947 the first VSJ flying school at Borongaj started training pupils. The organization of the post-war JRV was based on the Soviet pattern of divisions, regiments, virtually all of the initial equipment was supplied by the Soviet Union – the aircraft captured during the war had quickly been retired. By the end of 1947, the JRV had reached a strength of some 40 squadrons of aircraft, in June 1948 Yugoslavia broke off relations with the Stalinist Soviet Union. The country was subjected to extreme political pressure from the Soviet Union and its Balkan neighbors. The possibility of an invasion was taken seriously, the serviceability of JRV aircraft fell rapidly, with some aircraft being cannibalised to provide spares for the remainder. However, the strength of the JRV was still declining, so in 1951 the Yugoslav Chief of Staff, Colonel General Koča Popović. It was agreed that a shipment of aircraft would be forthcoming. In October 1951, the first de Havilland Mosquito F. B.6 fighter-bombers were supplied, the following year,150 Republic F-47D Thunderbolt fighter-bombers were delivered from the USA under a Mutual Assistance Pact. The first jet aircraft to be operated by the JRV, four Lockheed T-33A jet trainers, serials for the Thunderjets were from 10501 to 10729. The first eight Thunderjets, all former 48 TFW aircraft, arrived at Batajnica on June 9,1953, at the same time, a number of Yugoslav pilots underwent jet flying training in Germany. These deliveries substantially improved the effectiveness of the JRV. Ten Westland Dragonfly helicopters were obtained in 1954, and in 1956, in 1959 the JRV was merged with the air defence units operated by the Army and became known as the Air Force and Air Defence
4.
Republika Srpska Air Force
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The Republika Srpska Air Force was the air force of Republika Srpska and was used primarily during the Bosnian war. In 2005, it was integrated into the Armed Forces of Bosnia, SFOR still plays a large role in Bosnia and Herzegovina, which consists of the Federation of Bosnia and Herzegovina and Republika Srpska. Under the leadership of one president, the ministry of defense of both merged into one single ministry of defense with one chief of joint staff commanding both Air Forces. In 2004 there was again a restructuring of the armed forces, in 2006 the Air Force of Republika Srpska was disbanded. The Air Force and Air Defense was established, and took over operations from the Yugoslav Air Force, the barracks at Zalužani became home to the Command and subordinated units of the newly created Air Force and Air Defence of the Army of the Republika Srpska. The official ceremony that was intended to mark the creation of the Bosnian Serb Air Force, on the night of 27 to 28 June 1991, following an attack by Slovenian forces,67 aircraft were flown out of Cerklje to Zadar-Zemunik air base in Croatia. Among others, the Yugoslav Peoples Army completely withdrew the 474th vazduhoplovna baza from Slovenia, during the withdrawal every movable object, including the runway lighting and ILS systems, were dismantled and removed. On 12 August 1991, the 474th Air Base was re-established in Banja Luka, finally, on 11 August 1991, the majority of the aircraft from the 82nd Aviation Brigade were once again relocated, but this time to their final destination, the Mahovljani airfield near Banja Luka. On 26 July 1992, just two months after the structure of the Bosnian Serb Air Force was established, the flying units were once again reorganized. The 111th Helicopter Regiment was disbanded, and a new unit designated 92nd Mixed Aviation Brigade was formed to control both fixed-wing and helicopter squadrons. Later, during the year, the 711th Anti-armour Helicopter Squadron. However, it is important to note that 18 percent of all the sorties conducted between 27 May 1992 and December 1995 were medical evacuation flights, a total of 3.179 sorties. Over the war years, the Republika Srpska Air Force has lost 18 aircraft, five J-22 Oraos, six J- 21Jastrebs, five Gazelles and two Mi-8s as a result of enemy fire or accidents. In March 1996 the entire Republika Srpska Army was reorganized and the Bosnian Serb air arm was renamed Aviation, the 27th and 28th Fighter-bomber Aviation Squadrons were merged to create the new unit that became known as 1st Fighter-Bomber Aviation Squadron. The 92nd Light Multi role Aircraft Squadron was disbanded and its aircraft were returned to their respective owners, however, the V i PVO VRS retained two UTVA-75 aircraft in order to secure regular training flights to its Air Force pilots. According to the Florence Agreement on Sub-Regional Arms Control, signed in June 1996, the entire branch has been downgraded to a regiment that consistent from two squadrons, and rocket-artillery air defense, air reconnaissance and logistics battalions. The personnel and some equipment have continued their service in new OSBiH, jet aircraft are put in storage because of the lack of spare parts and the high costs to operate them. Because of that, some jet pilots have be re-trained to helicopter pilots, Mixed Helicopter Squadron has become Helicopter Battalion, equipped with six overhauled Gazelle utility helicopters, while two Mi-8Ts will soon return from the overhaul
5.
Syrmian Front
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The Syrmian Front was an Axis line of defense during World War II. It was established as part of the Eastern Front in late October 1944 in Syrmia and east Slavonia, with help from their Soviet allies, the Partisans, joined by Bulgarian and Italian forces, fought a difficult winter campaign and finally broke through the front on 12 April 1945. After the Syrmian front was broken, occupied Yugoslavia was liberated, after the September advance through Romania and Bulgaria in October 1944, The Red Army, together with Yugoslav forces, took Belgrade in the Belgrade Offensive. The Red Army decided to exploit this delay and continued to advance with the 3rd Ukrainian Front from Belgrade to south-west Hungary, the aim of the advance was to separate and protect their main attack in Hungary from attacks on the flank by Army Group E from the south. For this reason, it was of significance for the Germans to defend the zone around Slavonski Brod. To prevent Army Group E from being cut off, the German South-East command prepared seven successive fortified defense lines between the Danube and Sava river from Ruma to Vinkovci, the Syrmian Front campaign consisted of Yugoslavian attempts to break through these lines of defense. The Syrmian Front saw some of the most difficult fighting in Yugoslavia in World War II and it lasted for almost six months. Although mostly stationary, the front moved several times, generally westward, the fighting started east of Ruma and stabilized in January 1945 west of Šid after the town changed hands due to Axis counterattacks. In late March and early April 1945, Yugoslav Army units mounted an offensive on all fronts. The third phase was a period from 26 January to 12 April 1945. In this period both sides only performed limited reconnaissance activities, the fourth phase began when Yugoslav forces broke through the German defense lines on 12 April, with heavy German losses and fierce battles and Army Group E retreating. Ljubivoje Pajović, Dušan Uzelac, Milovan Dželebdžić, Sremski Front 1944–1945, BIGZ, Belgrade 1979 Pavlowitch, S. K. Hitlers New Disorder, the Second World War in Yugoslavia
6.
Yugoslav Wars
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The Yugoslav Wars were a series of ethnically-based wars and insurgencies fought from 1991 to 2001 inside the territory of the former Yugoslavia. The wars are considered to be a series of separate but related military conflicts which occurred in. The wars ended through peace accords, involving full international recognition of new states, as a result, the JNA began to lose Slovenes, Croats, Kosovar Albanians, Bosniaks, and ethnic Macedonians, and effectively became a Serb army. According to the 1994 United Nations report, the Serb side did not aim to restore Yugoslavia, other irredentist movements have also been brought into connection with the wars, such as Greater Albania and Greater Croatia. Often described as Europes deadliest since World War II, the conflicts have become infamous for the war crimes involved, including cleansing, crimes against humanity. These were the first European conflicts since World War II to be formally judged genocidal in character, the International Criminal Tribunal for the former Yugoslavia was established by the UN to prosecute these crimes. According to the International Center for Transitional Justice, the Yugoslav Wars resulted in the deaths of 140,000 people, the Humanitarian Law Center estimates that in the conflicts in former Yugoslav republics at least 130,000 people lost their lives. The war have alternatively been called, Wars in the Balkans Wars/conflicts in the former Yugoslavia, third Balkan War, a term suggested by British journalist Misha Glenny in the title of his book, alluding to the two previous Balkan Wars fought 1912–13. In fact, this term has been applied by some historians to World War I. Yugoslavia Civil War/Yugoslav Civil War/Yugoslavian Civil War/Civil War in Yugoslavia, the nation of Yugoslavia was created in the aftermath of World War I, and was composed mostly of South Slavic Christians, but the nation also had a substantial Muslim minority. In the 1980s, relations among the six republics of the SFRY deteriorated, Slovenia and Croatia desired greater autonomy within the Yugoslav confederation, while Serbia sought to strengthen federal authority. As it became clearer that there was no solution agreeable to all parties, although tensions in Yugoslavia had been mounting since the early 1980s, it was 1990 that proved decisive. In the midst of hardship, Yugoslavia was facing rising nationalism among its various ethnic groups. By the early 1990s, there was no authority at the federal level. The Federal Presidency consisted of the representatives of the six republics, the communist leadership was divided along national lines. The representatives of Vojvodina, Kosovo and Montenegro were replaced with loyalists of the President of Serbia, Serbia secured four out of eight federal presidency votes and was able to heavily influence decision-making at the federal level, since all the other Yugoslav republics only had one vote. While Slovenia and Croatia wanted to allow a multi-party system, Serbia, led by Milošević, demanded a more centralized federation. This prompted the Croatian and Slovene delegations to walk out and thus the break-up of the party, the first of these conflicts, known as the Ten-Day War, was initiated by the JNA on 26 June 1991 after the secession of Slovenia from the federation on 25 June 1991
7.
Serbo-Croatian language
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It is a pluricentric language with four mutually intelligible standard varieties. South Slavic dialects historically formed a continuum, the turbulent history of the area, particularly due to expansion of the Ottoman Empire, resulted in a patchwork of dialectal and religious differences. Due to population migrations, Shtokavian became the most widespread in the western Balkans, Bosniaks, Croats and Serbs differ in religion and were historically often part of different cultural circles, although a large part of the nations have lived side by side under foreign overlords. Serbo-Croatian was standardized in the mid-19th-century Vienna Literary Agreement by Croatian and Serbian writers and philologists, from the very beginning, there were slightly different literary Serbian and Croatian standards, although both were based on the same Shtokavian subdialect, Eastern Herzegovinian. In the 20th century, Serbo-Croatian served as the language of the Kingdom of Yugoslavia. The breakup of Yugoslavia affected language attitudes, so that social conceptions of the language separated on ethnic, since the breakup of Yugoslavia, Bosnian has likewise been established as an official standard in Bosnia and Herzegovina, and there is an ongoing movement to codify a separate Montenegrin standard. Serbo-Croatian thus generally goes by the ethnic names Serbian, Croatian, Bosnian, like other South Slavic languages, Serbo-Croatian has a simple phonology, with the common five-vowel system and twenty-five consonants. Its grammar evolved from Common Slavic, with inflection, preserving seven grammatical cases in nouns, pronouns. Verbs exhibit imperfective or perfective aspect, with a complex tense system. Serbo-Croatian is a language with flexible word order, subject–verb–object being the default. It can be written in Serbian Cyrillic or Gajs Latin alphabet, whose thirty letters mutually map one-to-one, throughout the history of the South Slavs, the vernacular, literary, and written languages of the various regions and ethnicities developed and diverged independently. Prior to the 19th century, they were collectively called Illyric, Slavic, at that time, Serb and Croat lands were still part of the Ottoman and Austrian Empires. Officially, the language was called variously Serbo-Croat, Croato-Serbian, Serbian and Croatian, Croatian and Serbian, Serbian or Croatian, Croatian or Serbian, today, use of the term Serbo-Croatian is controversial due to the prejudice that nation and language must match. Old Church Slavonic was adopted as the language of the liturgy and this language was gradually adapted to non-liturgical purposes and became known as the Croatian version of Old Slavonic. The two variants of the language, liturgical and non-liturgical, continued to be a part of the Glagolitic service as late as the middle of the 19th century, the earliest known Croatian Church Slavonic Glagolitic manuscripts are the Glagolita Clozianus and the Vienna Folia from the 11th century. Serbo-Croatian competed with the established literary languages of Latin and Old Slavonic in the west and Persian. Old Slavonic developed into the Serbo-Croatian variant of Church Slavonic between the 12th and 16th centuries, the Baška tablet from the late 11th century was written in Glagolitic. It is a stone tablet found in the small Church of St. Lucy
8.
Novi Sad
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Novi Sad is the second largest city of Serbia, the capital of the autonomous province of Vojvodina and the administrative center of the South Bačka District. According to the 2011 census, the city has a population of 250,439, the population of the administrative area of the city stands at 341,625 people. Novi Sad was founded in 1694, when Serb merchants formed a colony across the Danube from the Petrovaradin fortress, a Habsburg strategic military post. In the 18th and 19th centuries, it became an important trading and manufacturing centre, as well as a centre of Serbian culture of that period, the city was heavily devastated in the 1848 Revolution, but it was subsequently restored. Today, along with the city of Belgrade, Novi Sad is the industrial and financial center of the Serbian economy, also. The name Novi Sad means New Plant in Serbian and its Latin name, stemming from establishment of city rights, is Neoplanta. The official names of Novi Sad used by the administration are. Historically, it was also called Neusatz in German, in its wider meaning, the name Grad Novi Sad refers to the City of Novi Sad, which is one of the city-level administrative units of Serbia. Novi Sad could also refer strictly to the part of the City of Novi Sad, as well as only to the historical core on the left Danube bank. Human dwelling on the territory of present-day Novi Sad has been traced as far back as the Stone Age, several settlements and necropoleis were unearthed during the construction of a new boulevard in Avijaticarsko Naselje, and were dated to 5000 BC. A settlement was located on the bank of the river Danube in the territory of present-day Petrovaradin. In antiquity, the region was inhabited by Illyrian, Thracian and Celtic tribes, celts were present in the area since the 4th century BC and founded the first fortress on the right bank of the Danube. Later, in the 1st century BC, the region was conquered by the Romans, during Roman rule, a larger fortress was built in the 1st century with the name Cusum and was included in the Roman province of Pannonia. In the 5th century, Cusum was devastated by the invasion of the Huns, by the end of the 5th century, Byzantines had reconstructed the town and called it by the names Petrikon or Petrikov after St. Peter. Slavic tribes such as the Severians, Obotrites and Serbs, with its subgroup tribes Braničevci and Timočani, the Serbs absorbed the aforementioned Slavs as well as the Paleo-Balkanic peoples in the region. In the Middle Ages, the area was controlled by the Ostrogoths, Gepids, Avars, Franks, Great Moravia, Bulgaria, again by Byzantines. It was included into the medieval Kingdom of Hungary between the 11th and 12th centuries, in the same year, several other settlements were mentioned to exist in the territory of modern urban area of Novi Sad. Some other settlements existed in the area of Novi Sad, Mortályos, Csenei, Keménd
9.
Soviet Air Forces
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The Soviet Air Forces was the official designation of one of the air forces of the Soviet Union. The other was the Soviet Air Defence Forces, the Air Forces were formed from components of the Imperial Russian Air Service in 1917, and faced their greatest test during World War II. The groups were involved in the Korean War, and dissolved along with the Soviet Union itself in 1991–92. Former Soviet Air Forces assets were divided into several air forces of former Soviet republics. March of the Pilots was its anthem, the All-Russia Collegium for Direction of the Air Forces of the Old Army was formed on 20 December 1917. This was a Bolshevik aerial headquarters initially led by Konstantin Akashev and it became the Directorate of the USSR Air Forces on 28 March 1924, and then the Directorate of the Workers-Peasants Red Army Air Forces on 1 January 1925. Gradually its influence on aircraft design became greater, from its earliest days, the force mimicked ground forces organization especially in the 1930s, by which time it was made up of air armies, aviation corps, aviation divisions, and aviation regiments. At first, the I-16 proved superior to any Luftwaffe fighters, however, the Soviets refused to supply the plane in adequate numbers, and their aerial victories were soon squandered because of their limited use. Later, Bf-109s delivered to Francos Spanish Nationalist air forces secured air superiority for the Nationalists, on 19 November 1939, VVS headquarters was again titled the Main Directorate of the Red Army Air Forces under the WPRA HQ. Between 1933 and 1938, the Soviet government planned and funded missions to break numerous world aviation records, not only did aviation records and achievements become demonstrations of the USSRs technological progress, they also served as legitimization of the socialist system. With each new success, Soviet press trumpeted victories for socialism, furthermore, Soviet media idolized record-breaking pilots, exalting them not only as role models for Soviet society, but also as symbols of progress towards the socialist-utopian future. The early 1930s saw a shift in focus away from collectivist propaganda. In the case of aviation, the government began glorifying people who utilized aviation technology instead of glorifying the technology itself. Pilots such as Valery Chkalov, Georgy Baydukov, Alexander Belyakov, in May 1937, Stalin charged pilots Chkalov, Baydukov, and Belyakov with the mission to navigate the first transpolar flight in history. On 20 June 1937, the aviators landed their ANT-25 in Vancouver, a month later, Stalin ordered the departure of a second crew to push the boundaries of modern aviation technology even further. The public reaction to the flights was euphoric. The media called the pilots Bolshevik knights of culture and progress, Soviet citizens celebrated Aviation Day on 18 August with as much zeal as they celebrated the October Revolution anniversary. Literature including poems, short stories, and novels emerged celebrating the feats of the aviator-celebrities, feature films like Victory, Tales of Heroic Aviators, and Valery Chkalov reinforced the positive hero imagery, celebrating the aviators individuality within the context of a socialist government
10.
Ilyushin Il-2
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The Ilyushin Il-2 Sturmovik was a ground-attack aircraft produced by the Soviet Union in large numbers during the Second World War. To Il-2 pilots, the aircraft was simply the diminutive Ilyusha, to the soldiers on the ground, it was the Hunchback, the Flying Tank or the Flying Infantryman. Its postwar NATO reporting name was Bark, the Il-2 aircraft played a crucial role on the Eastern Front. The idea for a Soviet armored ground-attack aircraft dates to the early 1930s, however, Soviet engines at the time lacked the power needed to provide the heavy aircraft with good performance. Il-2 was designed by Sergey Ilyushin and his team at the Central Design Bureau in 1938, TsKB-55 was a two-seat aircraft with an armoured shell weighing 700 kg, protecting crew, engine, radiators, and the fuel tank. Standing loaded, the Ilyushin weighed more than 4,700 kg, the prototype TsKB-55, which first flew on 2 October 1939, won the government competition against the Sukhoi Su-6 and received VVS designation BSh-2. The prototypes - TsKB-55 and TskB-57 - were built at Moscow plant #39, the BSh-2 was overweight and underpowered, with the original Mikulin AM-351,022 kW engine designed to give its greatest power outputs at high altitude. Because of this it was redesigned as the TsKB-57, a lighter design, with the more powerful 1,254 kW Mikulin AM-38 engine. The TsKB-57 first flew on 12 October 1940, the production aircraft passed State Acceptance Trials in March 1941, and was redesignated Il-2 in April. Deliveries to operational units commenced in May 1941, the 23 mm armament of Il-2 was subject to a competition. One of the first 1940 photographs of the Il-2 show it equipped with two MP-623 mm autocannons developed by Yakov Taubin at OKB-16, the MP-6 gun weighed 70 kg and developed an initial muzzle velocity of 900 m/s. It operated on the short recoil principle and had a rate of fire of about 600 rpm, factory trials of the MP-6 gun on the Il-2 were conducted in August 1940. In the early Il-2 prototypes, these guns were fed by 81-round clips, in flight, these clips sometimes became dislodged because of their large surface, which caused them to experience significant aerodynamic pressure. The VYa-23 was declared the winner at this trial, subsequently, in May 1941, development of the MP-6 gun was terminated and Taubin was arrested and summarily executed in October that year. The Il-2 is a single-engine, propeller-driven, low-wing monoplane of mixed construction with a crew of two, specially designed for assault operations and its most notable feature was the inclusion of armor in an airframe load-bearing scheme. Production early in the war was slow because after the German invasion the aircraft factories near Moscow, Ilyushin and his engineers had time to reconsider production methods, and two months after the move Il-2s were again being produced. The tempo was not to Premier Stalins liking, however, and he issued the following telegram to Shenkman and Tretyakov, As a result, the production of Shturmoviks rapidly gained speed. Stalins notion of the Il-2 being like bread to the Red Army took hold in Ilyushins aircraft plants, the first use in action of the Il-2 was with the 4th ShAP over the Berezina River days after the invasion began
11.
Attack aircraft
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This class of aircraft is designed mostly for close air support and naval air-to-surface missions, overlapping the tactical bomber mission. Designs dedicated to non-naval roles are often known as ground-attack aircraft, Strike fighters, which have effectively replaced the fighter-bomber and light bomber concepts, also differ little from the broad concept of an attack aircraft. The dedicated attack aircraft as a separate class existed primarily during, the precise implementation varied from country to country, and was handled by a wide variety of designs. In the US and UK, attack aircraft were based on light bombers, sometimes carrying heavier forward-firing weapons like the B-25G. In Germany and USSR, where they were known as schlachtflugzeug or sturmovik, in the late-war era, the fighter-bomber began to take over many attack roles, a change that continued in the post-war era. Jet powered examples were relatively rare, but not unknown, like the Blackburn Buccaneer, the US Navy continued to introduce new aircraft in their A-series, but these were purely light and medium bombers. Since the 1960s, only two dedicated attack aircraft designs have been introduced, the US A-10 Thunderbolt II and Soviet Sukhoi Su-25 Frogfoot. One oddity belonging to class is the AC-130, which features as its primary armament high-caliber artillery guns adapted for aircraft use. A variety of attack aircraft exist, usually based on adapted trainers or other light fixed-wing aircraft. Presently, U. S. attack aircraft are identified by the prefix A-, as in A-6 Intruder, however, until the end of World War II the A- designation was shared between attack planes and light bombers for the Army aircraft. The US Navy used a separate system and at the time preferred to call similar aircraft scout bombers or torpedo bombers. For example, Douglas SBD Dauntless scout bomber was designated A-24 when used by the USAAF. It was not until 1946, when the US Navy and US Marine Corps started using the attack designation, as with many aircraft classifications, the definition of attack aircraft is somewhat vague and has tended to change over time. Current U. S. military doctrine defines it as an aircraft which most likely performs an attack mission, Attack mission means, in turn, specifically tactical air-to-ground action—in other words, neither air-to-air action nor strategic bombing is considered an attack mission. In United States Navy vocabulary, the designation for the same activity is a strike mission. Attack missions are divided into two categories, air interdiction and close air support. In the last several decades, the rise of the ubiquitous multi-role fighter has created confusion about the difference between attack and fighter aircraft. According to the current U. S. designation system, an aircraft is designed primarily for air-to-surface
12.
World War II in Yugoslavia
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Simultaneously, a multi-side civil war was waged between the Yugoslav communist Partisans, the Serbian royalist Chetniks, Croatian fascist Ustaše and Home Guard, as well as Slovene Home Guard troops. Both the Yugoslav Partisans and the Chetnik movement initially resisted the occupation, however, after 1941, Chetniks extensively and systematically collaborated with the Italian occupation forces until the Italian capitulation, and thereon also with German and Ustaše forces. The Axis mounted a series of offensives intended to destroy the Partisans, coming close to doing so in the winter, despite the setbacks, the Partisans remained a credible fighting force, gaining recognition from the Western Allies and laying the foundations for the post-war Yugoslav state. The human cost of the war was enormous, the number of war victims is still in dispute, but is generally agreed to have been at least one million. Non-combat victims included the majority of the countrys Jewish population, many of whom perished in concentration and extermination camps run by the client regimes, the Croatian Ustaše regime committed genocide against Serbs, Jews, Roma and anti-Fascist Croats. The Serbian Chetniks pursued genocide against Muslims and Croats and Partisan Serbs, the Wehrmacht carried out mass executions of civilians in retaliation for resistance activity e. g. the Kragujevac massacre. In the same time, the country was destabilized by internal tensions, however, rather than reducing tensions, the agreement only reinforced the crisis in the countrys governance. These events resulted in Yugoslavias geographical isolation from potential Allied support, Air force officers opposed to the move staged a coup détat and took over in the following days. These events were viewed with great apprehension in Berlin, and as it was preparing to help its Italian ally in its war against Greece anyway, the plans were modified to include Yugoslavia as well. On 6 April 1941 the Kingdom of Yugoslavia was invaded from all sides by the Axis powers of Germany, Italy, during the invasion, Belgrade was bombed by the German air force. The invasion lasted little more than ten days, ending with the surrender of the Royal Yugoslav Army on 17 April. Besides being hopelessly ill-equipped when compared to the German Army, the Yugoslav army attempted to defend all borders, also, large numbers of the population refused to fight, instead welcoming the Germans as liberators from government oppression. Two of the constituent national groups, Slovenes and Croats, were not prepared to fight in defense of a Yugoslav state with a continued Serb monarchy. The only effective opposition to the invasion was from units wholly from Serbia itself, the Serbian General Staff was united on the question of Yugoslavia as a Greater Serbia ruled, in one way or another, by Serbia. On the eve of the invasion, there were 165 generals on the Yugoslav active list, of these, all but four were Serbs. The terms of the capitulation were extremely severe, as the Axis proceeded to dismember Yugoslavia, mussolinis Italy gained the remainder of Slovenia, Kosovo, and large chunks of the coastal Dalmatia region. It also gained control over the Italian governorate of Montenegro, and was granted the kingship in the Independent State of Croatia, Hungary dispatched the Hungarian Third Army to occupy Vojvodina in northern Serbia, and later forcibly annexed sections of Baranja, Bačka, Međimurje, and Prekmurje. The government in exile was now recognized by the Allied powers
13.
Zagreb Airport
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Franjo Tuđman Airport, also known as Zagreb Airport, is the largest and busiest international airport in Croatia, commonly referred to as Pleso. It handled 2,776,087 passengers in 2016, named after Franjo Tuđman, the first President of Croatia, the airport is located some 10 km south-east of Zagreb Central Station at Velika Gorica. It is the hub for the Croatian flag carrier Croatia Airlines as well as Trade Air, a base of the Croatian Air Force and Air Defence is located within the airport complex, in barracks called Colonel Marko Živković. Also, there is a centre of the Croatian Air Traffic Control. The airport was awarded to the ZAIC consortium in a 30-year concession under the terms of a signed by the Government of Croatia with the aforementioned. The contract includes financing, designing and the construction of a new passenger terminal, for the purpose of managing the airport ZAIC registered a company MZLZ d. d. that is now the operator of the Airport. The history of Zagreb civil aviation begins in 1909 when the first airfield was built close to the city neighbourhood of Črnomerec. Following Word War II commercial services were moved to a military airbase near the village of Lučko south-west of the city in 1947. JAT Yugoslav Airlines took the role of Aeroput and made Zagreb its second hub, at its peak in 1959 Lučko served 167,000 passengers. The current location of the airport at Pleso in the south-east of Lučko opened in 1962 with a 2,500 m long runway and 1,000 m2 terminal, by 1966 Zagreb Airport got a new 5,000 m2 state-of-the-art passenger terminal. The runway capacity was lengthened to its current 3,252 m in 1974, in the 1980s Zagreb Airport was the second largest in Yugoslavia by passenger and aircraft movements. Following an increase in numbers and the necessity to upgrade its infrastructure the airport installed a CAT-IIIb instrument landing system in 2004. In 2008 a new VIP terminal was added and the terminal extended for extra amenities, restaurants, the terminal was expanded to 15,500 m2 By 2010 the old terminal has been nearing its maximum annual capacity. That year the terminal received a major face lift in the course of which a viewing platform with a bar was added. On 12 April 2012, consortium ZAIC received a 30-year concession of the airport from the Government of Croatia, the concession includes financing, designing and constructing a new passenger terminal. It has an annual capacity of 5.5 million passengers in the first phase and was officially completed in October 2016. The official inauguration of the terminal began on 28 March 2017, ZAIC now operates the entire airport for 30 years including the runways, the current passenger terminal, the cargo terminal, car parks and future property developments. The current terminal building was opened to the public on 28 March 2017, furthermore, the apron has three remote stands next to the terminal, while stands at the old passenger building are also to be used if the need arises
14.
Yugoslav People's Army
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The Yugoslav Peoples Army, also referred to as the Yugoslav National Army or simply by the initialism JNA, was the military of the Socialist Federal Republic of Yugoslavia. The origins of the JNA can be found in the Yugoslav Partisan units of World War II, after the Yugoslav Partisans liberated the country from the Axis Powers, that date was officially celebrated as the Day of the Army in the Socialist Federal Republic of Yugoslavia. In March 1945, the NOVJ was renamed the Yugoslav Army and, on its 10th anniversary, on 22 December 1951, the JNA consisted of the ground forces, air force and navy. The regions were, Belgrade, Zagreb, Skopje and Split Naval Region, of the JNAs 180,000 soldiers, more than 100,000 were conscripts. In 1990, the army had completed a major overhaul of its basic force structure. It eliminated its old divisional infantry organization and established the brigade as the largest operational unit, the army converted ten of twelve infantry divisions into twenty-nine tank, mechanized and mountain infantry brigades with integral artillery, air defense and anti-tank regiments. One airborne brigade was organized before 1990, the change created many senior field command positions that would develop relatively young and talented officers. The brigade structure had advantages at a time of declining manpower, the arms industry was dominant in the Yugoslavian economy. With annual exports of $3 billion, it was twice as large as the second largest industry and it had modern infrastructure with underground air bases and control centres in several mountains. The biggest and best known installation was the Željava Air Base, also known as the Bihać Underground Integrated Radar Control and Surveillance Centre and Air Base, in Bosnia, another important manufacturer was Utva in Serbia. The Yugoslav military-industrial complex produced tanks, armored vehicles, various pieces, anti-aircraft weapons, as well as various types of infantry weapons. The ground forces led in number of personnel, in 1991 there were about 140,000 active-duty soldiers, and over a million trained reservists could be mobilized in wartime. Each of the Yugoslav constituent republics had its own territorial defence forces which in wartime were subordinate to supreme command as an part of the defence system. The territorial defence was made up of conscripts, they were occasionally called up for war exercises. The ground forces were organised into infantry, armour, artillery, the Yugoslav Air Force had about 32,000 personnel including 4,000 conscripts, and operated over 400 aircraft and 200 helicopters. It was responsible for transport, reconnaissance, and rotary-wing aircraft as well as the air defence system. The primary air force missions were to contest enemy efforts to establish air supremacy over Yugoslavia and to support the operations of the ground forces. Most aircraft were produced in Yugoslavia, missiles were produced domestically and supplied by the Soviet Union
15.
Cerklje ob Krki Airport
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Cerklje ob Krki Airport is the only military airport in Slovenia, and a civilian airport. The Cerklje ob Krki Air Base operates at it, the airport is in the midst of an enlargement and restructuring. The earliest existence of the airport in Cerklje ob Krki was in the 1930s, the military authorities of the Kingdom of Yugoslavia decided to build an airport in the location due to technical data based on favorable weather and geographical conditions. Whilst there were several airports in Slovenia at the time, only Cerklje was used strictly for military purposes, due to this, less archival material exists to testify the airports construction and development, though it is known to have taken place after larger facilities in Ljubljana and Maribor. Permanent infrastructure was built following the grass runway was established. In 1941 the Axis forces unexpectedly attacked the Kingdom of Yugoslavia, in April War, the air forces of the axis in a few days destroyed Kingdom of Yugoslavia Army Aviation. At the airport was then housed unit 6th air patrol group of Army Aviation, Army aviation units were on combat operations very poorly equipped for combat with their opponents. The German occupying forces in the Autumn of 1941 carried out further consolidation, expanded and extended the landing-runway, construction was completed in spring 1942. German occupying aviation is through the act of war against the rebels in battle facts, reconnaissance, very important is the role of play in the German operation Roselsprung and landing on 25th Drvar May 1944. As an extremely strategic position was also attractive to partisans attacks by war twice in the attack, at the end of the war, however, attacked the partisan, the airport was liberated 9 May 1945. In April 2013 a mass associated with the Second World War was discovered at the airport. It contained the remains of 10 victims liquidated during or after the war, after the Second World War, the airport was taken over by the Yugoslav Peoples Army. The airfield was modified only by updating the runway during the Trieste riots in November 1953 and that year the Yugoslav air force increased the number of aircraft and troops. At the end of the crisis, the airport remained key for defense of the northwest airspace of Yugoslavia, during the events of 1991, all Yugoslav units withdrew to Bosnia and Herzegovina and Serbia. The airport has been a base for the aircraft, Messerschmitt Bf 109, Ilyushin Il-2 šturmovik, P-47 Thunderbolt, F-84G Thunderjet, J-20 Kraguj. During the summer of 1991 the deep rooted grievances that had been threatening the unity of the Federal state for some time came to a head when Slovenia initiated moves towards independence. At the end of June 1991 the JRViPVO was tasked with transporting soldiers, the Slovenes resisted this re-imposition of central control, which rapidly escalated into an armed conflict. Two air force helicopters were shot down, while the JRViPVO launched air strikes on TV transmitters, after a political agreement, the federal forces left Slovenia and took all JRViPVO equipment with them
16.
Republic P-47 Thunderbolt
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The Republic P-47 Thunderbolt was a World War II era fighter aircraft produced by the United States between 1941–1945. Its primary armament was eight. 50-caliber machine guns and in the fighter-bomber ground-attack role it could carry five-inch rockets or a load of 2,500 pounds. When fully loaded the P-47 weighed up to eight tons making it one of the heaviest fighters of the war. The P-47 was designed around the powerful Pratt & Whitney R-2800 Double Wasp engine which was used by two U. S. Navy fighters, the Grumman F6F Hellcat and the Vought F4U Corsair. The Thunderbolt was effective as a short-to-medium range escort fighter in high-altitude air-to-air combat, the P-47 was one of the main United States Army Air Forces fighters of World War II, and served with Allied air forces including France, Britain, and Russia. Mexican and Brazilian squadrons fighting alongside the U. S. were equipped with the P-47, the armored cockpit was relatively roomy and comfortable, offering good visibility. A modern-day U. S. ground-attack aircraft, the Fairchild Republic A-10 Thunderbolt II, both had fled from their homeland to escape the Bolsheviks. In 1939, Republic Aviation designed the AP-4 demonstrator powered by a Pratt & Whitney R-1830 radial engine with a belly-mounted turbocharger. While the resulting Republic P-43 Lancer was in limited production, Republic had been working on an improved P-44 Rocket with a powerful engine. The latter was an aircraft powered by the Allison V-1710 liquid-cooled V-12 engine. The United States Army Air Corps backed the project and gave it the designation XP-47, as the war in Europe escalated in spring 1940, Republic and the USAAC concluded that the XP-44 and the XP-47 were inferior to the Luftwaffe fighters. Republic unsuccessfully attempted to improve the design, proposing the XP-47A, kartveli then designed a much larger fighter, which was offered to the USAAC in June 1940. The Air Corps ordered a prototype in September, to be designated the XP-47B, the XP-47A, which had little in common with the new design, was abandoned. The XP-47B was of construction with elliptical wings, with a straight leading edge that was slightly swept back. The air-conditioned cockpit was roomy and the seat was comfortable—like a lounge chair. Main and auxiliary self-sealing fuel tanks were placed under the cockpit, the cowling admitted cooling air for the engine, left and right oil coolers, and the turbosupercharger intercooler system. At full power, the pipes glowed red at their forward ends, the complicated turbosupercharger system with its ductwork gave the XP-47B a deep fuselage, and the wings had to be mounted in a relatively high position. This was problematic since long-legged main landing gear struts were needed to provide clearance for the enormous propeller
17.
Lisunov Li-2
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The Lisunov Li-2, originally designated PS-84, was a license-built version of the Douglas DC-3. It was produced by Factory #84 in Moscow-Khimki and, after evacuation in 1941, the project was directed by aeronautical engineer Boris Pavlovich Lisunov. The Soviet Union received its first DC-2 in 1935, although a total of 18 DC-3s had been ordered on 11 April 1936, the government of the USSR purchased 21 DC-3s for operation by Aeroflot before World War II. A production license was awarded to the government of the USSR on 15 July 1936, Lisunov spent two years at the Douglas Aircraft Company, between November 1936 and April 1939 translating the design. One of the engineers who accompanied him to Douglas was Vladimir Mikhailovich Myasishchev, design work and production were undertaken at State Aviation Factory 84 in Khimki. The Soviet version was given the designation PS-84 - Passazhirskiy Samolyot 84, customary units to suit Soviet standards. No small task for Vladimir Myasishchev to accomplish, the Russian standard design practice also usually mandated fully shuttered engines in order to cope with the extreme temperatures. A slightly shorter span was incorporated but many of the alterations were less evident. The passenger door was moved to the side of the fuselage. The structural reinforcement included slightly heavier skins necessitated since the metric skin gauges were not exact duplicates of the American alloy sheet metal. Standard Russian metric hardware was different and the various steel substructures such as engine mounts and landing gear, wheels, later modifications allowed the provision of ski landing gear in order to operate in remote and Arctic regions. The first PS-84s began to emerge from the GAZ-84 production line by 1939, by the time Germany invaded the USSR on 22 June 1941,237 PS-84s had been built at GAZ-84, all in civil passenger configuration. After a monumental struggle, the factory was producing PS-84s again by January 1942, some military versions of the Li-2 also had bomb racks and a dorsal turret, unlike the military C-47 development of the DC-3. The PS-84 had flown with Aeroflot primarily as a passenger transport before World War II, when Germany attacked the Soviet Union in 1941 many of the PS-84s were taken into military use and redesignated the Lisunov Li-2 in 1942. The military models were equipped with a 7.62 mm ShKAS machine gun, the aircraft were used for transport, partisan supply, bombing, and as ambulance aircraft. A version designated Li-2VV had a nose for extra defensive armament. Smaller bombs could be carried inside the fuselage and thrown out of the hatch by the crew. A total of 4,937 aircraft were produced of all Li-2 variants between 1940 and 1954 and it saw use in Eastern Europe until the 1960s
18.
Mil Mi-4
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The Mil Mi-4. was a Soviet transport helicopter that served in both military and civilian roles. The Mi-4 was designed in response to the American H-19 Chickasaw, while the Mi-4 superficially resembles the H-19 Chickasaw, it is a larger helicopter and is able to lift more weight. The first model entered service in 1952, and replaced the Mi-1, the helicopter was first displayed to the outside world in 1952 at the Soviet Aviation Day in Tushino. One Mi-4 was built with a jettisonable rotor and it served as an experimental vehicle for future pilots means of safety and ejection designs. The Mi-4 went out of service with the development of the Mi-8 and it is not used by the Russian Air Force anymore, though it remained in service in some countries as a utility helicopter or as a military transport a while longer. Albania was thought to be the country using the helicopter. The Mi-4 played an important role in Bangladesh liberation war of 1971. The Mi-4 was the workhorse of the Indian Army at the time, a highly successful heli-borne operation, the Meghna Heli Bridge, using Mi-4s helped the Indian Armys 57 Mountain Division clear the Meghna River. The helilift of a battalion of Indian troops to the outskirts of Sylhet was the first heli-borne operation of the Indian army, an official video of a North Korean Air Force combat flying skills competition released in 2014 shows that the Mi-4 is still in limited service in North Korea. Mi-4AV Armed versions based on the Mi-4A, mi-4GF Factory designation for demilitarised Mi-4 for use in the Civil Air Fleet. Mi-4L Lyukes Six-seat VIP transport version, sometimes converted into an air ambulance helicopter, Mi-4M Armed close-support helicopter, fitted with a gun turret. Designation alternatively applied to the Mi-4VM, and also reused for ambulance variant for the Soviet Ministry of Health, mi-4P / Mi-4VP Civil transport helicopter, with accommodation for between 8 and 11 passengers, plus eight stretchers and a medical attendant for air ambulance duties. Mi-4Skh Multi-role agricultural helicopter, with a large container in the main cabin. Also used as a fire-fighting helicopter, mi-4T Major military production version, equipped with a large diameter main rotor and bulged windows. Mi-4RI Mi-4M equipped with the Rion experimental sonar, mi-4MT Torpedo-carrying ASW attack aircraft derived from Mi-4M. Mi-4MO Search helicopter with Oka sonar, mi-4MS Search helicopter with Soora infra-red sensor. Mi-4Schch Polar version of Mi-4FV for working at the Soviet Arctic and Antarctic research stations, mi-4PG Experimental version equipped with an external load sling system. Mi-4SV Mi-4 with improved heat insulation for working in the Far North, mi-4N Filin Experimental reconnaissance version intended for night-time use
19.
Mil Mi-8
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The Mil Mi-8 is a medium twin-turbine helicopter, originally designed by the Soviet Union, and now produced by Russia. In addition to its most common role as a helicopter, the Mi-8 is also used as an airborne command post, armed gunship. Along with the related, more powerful Mil Mi-17, the Mi-8 is among the worlds most-produced helicopters, as of 2015, it is the third most common operational military aircraft in the world. Due to the position of the engine, this enabled Mikhail Mil to justify redesigning the front half of the aircraft around the single engine. The prototype, which was named V-8, was designed in 1958, powered by an AI-242,010 kW Soloviev turboshaft engine, the single engined V-8 prototype had its maiden flight in June 1961 and was first shown on Soviet Aviation Day parade in July 1961. During an official visit to the United States in September 1959, on Khrushchevs return, he ordered the creation of a similar helicopter, which was to be ready for the return visit by the American president, to save face. A luxury version of the Mi-4 was quickly created and Khrushchev took an inspection flight, however, it would be necessary to have a second engine for reliability. In May 1960, the order was given for Mikhail Mil to create his twin engine helicopter, the Sergei Isotov Design Bureau accepted the task of creating the engines. The second prototype flew in September 1961, the aircraft completed its factory based testing in February 1963. The fifth and final prototype was a production prototype for the passenger market. In November 1964, all joint testing had completed and the soviet government began mass production. Production started in the Kazan Production Plant, with the first aircraft completed by the end of 1965 and it was only then that the Soviet military rushed a troop-carrying variant of the Mil Mi-8 into production. By 1967, it had introduced into the Soviet Air Force as the Mi-8. There are numerous variants, including the Mi-8T, which, in addition to carrying 24 troops, is armed with rockets, the Mil Mi-17 export version is employed by around 20 countries, its equivalent in Russian service in the Mi-8M series. The only visible difference between the Mi-8 and Mi-17 is that the rotor is on the starboard side of the Mi-8. Also Mi-17 also has some improved armour plating for its crew, the naval Mil Mi-14 version is also derived from the Mi-8. The Mi-8 is constantly improving and the newest version still remains in production in 2016, the Mi-8 family of helicopters became the main Soviet and later Russian helicopter covering a large range of roles in both peace time and war time. Large fleets of Mi-8 and its derivatives are employed by military and civil operators
20.
Antonov An-26
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The Antonov An-26 is a twin-engined turboprop civilian and military transport aircraft, designed and produced in the Soviet Union from 1969 to 1986. After successful operations of the An-24T tactical transport in austere locations, Initial studies for the retractable ramp were carried out as part of the projected An-40 medium transport. When given the go-ahead for the An-26 in March 1968 the Antonov OKB adapted the design of the An-40 to the An-24 fuselage. Particular attention was given to the mission and the majority of early An-26 production was delivered to the VTA. The An-26 made its debut at the 27th Paris Air Show at Le Bourget where the second prototype. The An-26 is also manufactured without an agreement in China by Xian Aircraft Factory as the Y-14. The An-26 has a secondary role with underwing bomb racks. In the bombing role it was used by the Sudanese Air Force during the Second Sudanese Civil War. Also Russian Forces train with the An-26 as a bomber, An-26 Curl-A, Twin-engine tactical transport aircraft. An-26-100 Convertible passenger/cargo aircraft modified from An-26 aircraft at the Kiev plant from 1999, An-26 Nelmo An arctic surveillance and reconnaissance aircraft retrofitted with the Nelmo equipment. An-26 Pogoda Another aircraft for weather control duties, similar to the An-26 Tsiklon, An-26 Sfera A single production aircraft built as laboratory for atmospheric research. An-26 Shtabnoy some An-26s delivered to the Soviet and DDR air forces for use as staff transports/mobile command posts, An-26 Vita A single mobile operating room, surgery and intensive care unit, for the Ukrainian Air Force. An-26A A one-off assault transport prototype with higher performance due to removal of military equipment. An-26ASLK, A modern flight control and monitoring system equipped with automatic calibration and navigation system, recognizable by the distinctive pod low on the forward fuselage side. An-26B A civil cargo version equipped with roller gangs which can be swung up against the walls when not in use. It was also equipped with two ZMDB Progress Al-24VT turboprop power plants to higher thrust. An-26B Mobile Hospital, The prototype An-26B retrofitted as a civilian emergency hospital. An-26B Tsiklon A weather research/control and cloud-seeding aircraft for the Central Aerologic Laboratory and this aircraft was used for rain induction and protection using cloud-seeding chemicals dropped from slab sided pods hung from pylons
21.
Ten-Day War
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The Ten-Day War or the Slovenian Independence War, also the Weekend War was a brief war of independence that followed the Slovenian declaration of independence on 25 June 1991. It was fought between the Slovenian Territorial Defence and the Yugoslav Peoples Army and it lasted from 27 June 1991 until 7 July 1991, when the Brioni Accords were signed. It marked the beginning of the Yugoslav Wars, following the death of Yugoslav president Josip Broz Tito in 1980, underlying political, ethnic, religious, and economic tensions within Yugoslavia surfaced. A series of disagreements among delegates persisted until four of the six republics each made the decision to secede from Yugoslavia, supported by Germany and the Vatican, Slovenia was among those republics aiming for independence. In April 1990, Slovenia held its first democratic multi-party elections, on 23 December 1990, Slovenia held a referendum, which passed with 88. 5% of overall electorate supporting independence, with a turnout of 93. 3%. The Slovenian government was aware that the federal government in Belgrade might seek to use military force to quash Slovenias move towards independence. Immediately after the Slovenian elections, the Yugoslav Peoples Army announced a new doctrine that would apply across the country. The Tito-era doctrine of General Peoples Defence, in each republic maintained a Territorial Defence Force, was to be replaced by a centrally directed system of defence. The republics would lose their role in matters, and their TOs would be disarmed and subordinated to YPA headquarters in Belgrade. The Slovenian government resisted these moves, and successfully ensured that the majority of Slovenian Territorial Defence equipment was out of the hands of the YPA. It also declared in an amendment passed on 28 September 1990 that its TO would be under the sole command of the Slovenian government. At the same time, the Slovenian government set up a secret alternative command structure and this was an existing but antiquated institution, unique to Slovenia, which was intended to enable the republic to form an ad hoc defence structure, akin to a Home Guard. It was of importance prior to 1990, with antiquated weapons. However, the DEMOS-led government realised that the MSNZ could be adapted to provide an organisation to the TO that would be entirely in the hands of the Slovenian government. When the YPA tried to control of the Slovenian Territorial Defence. The Slovenes were aware that they would not be able to deter the YPA forces for a period of time. Under Defence Minister Janez Janša, they adopted a strategy based on an asymmetric warfare approach, TO units would carry out a guerrilla campaign, using anti-tank weapons and anti-aircraft missiles to ambush YPA units. Hit-and-run and delaying tactics were to be preferred and frontal clashes were to be avoided since in such situations the YPAs superior firepower would have been difficult to overcome
22.
Slovenian Territorial Defence
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The Territorial Defense of the Republic of Slovenia, also known as the Territorial Defense of Slovenia was the predecessor of the Slovenian Armed Forces. It was named after the Yugoslav Territorial Defense, after the 1968 Soviet invasion of Czechoslovakia, the Yugoslav political Summit adopted the doctrine of General Peoples Defence and established the Territorial Defence Forces. After the victory of the political party in Slovenia in 1990, the central government in Belgrade ordered disarmament of TO Slovenia. Many weapons subsequently disappeared from supply depots and were issued to the initial territorial defence units of the Republic of Slovenia. TO headquarters were established on November 20,1968, the early development of this military command was almost exclusively in the hands of Slovenian officers. In 1990, the Territorial Defence Republic Headquarters was violently occupied by the federal army, after this incident, Slovenia designated a new headquarters, who took command of the Slovenian Army. May 1991 marked the opening of the first military training centres in Ig, Ljubljana, the first draftees were sworn in on June 2. The command language in TO was Slovenian, and this itself was organized in the form of an ancillary impact force to the JNA. After 1990 it was organized as a army, which was finally formed in the months before independence, in accordance with the Slovenian Constitution
23.
Croatian War of Independence
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In Croatia, the war is primarily referred to as the Homeland War and also as the Greater-Serbian Aggression. In Serbian sources, War in Croatia and War in Krajina are used, Croatia declared independence on 25 June 1991, but agreed to postpone it with the Brioni Agreement and cut all remaining ties with Yugoslavia on 8 October 1991. The JNA initially tried to keep Croatia within Yugoslavia by occupying all of Croatia, after this failed, Serb forces established the self-proclaimed Republic of Serbian Krajina within Croatia. During that time, the RSK encompassed 13,913 square kilometers, in 1995, Croatia launched two major offensives known as Operation Flash and Operation Storm, which would effectively end the war in its favor. The remaining United Nations Transitional Authority for Eastern Slavonia, Baranja, the war ended with Croatian victory, as it achieved the goals it had declared at the beginning of the war, independence and preservation of its borders. 21–25% of Croatias economy was ruined, with an estimated US$37 billion in damaged infrastructure, lost output, a total of 20,000 people were killed in the war, and refugees were displaced on both sides. The Serb and Croatian governments began to cooperate with each other but tension remains, in part due to verdicts by the ICTY. Between 2008 and 2012, the ICTY had prosecuted Croatian generals Ante Gotovina, Mladen Markač, Čermak was acquitted outright, and the convictions of Gotovina and Markač were later overturned by an ICTY Appeals Panel. The International Court of Justice dismissed Croatia and Serbia genocide claims in 2015, the Court reaffirmed that serious crimes against civilians had taken place, but ruled that specific genocidal intent was not present. From 1967 to 1972 in Croatia and 1968 and 1981 protests in Kosovo, nationalist doctrines, the suppression by the state of nationalists is believed to have had the effect of identifying nationalism as the primary alternative to communism itself and made it a strong underground movement. A crisis emerged in Yugoslavia with the weakening of the Communist states in Eastern Europe towards the end of the Cold War, in Yugoslavia, the national communist party, officially called the League of Communists of Yugoslavia, had lost its ideological potency. SR Slovenia and SR Croatia wanted to move towards decentralization, the rhetoric was approved by the Serbian political leadership, and accused the Croatian leadership of being blindly nationalistic when it objected. In 1989, political parties were allowed and a number of them had been founded, including the Croatian Democratic Union, led by Franjo Tuđman, who later became the first president of Croatia. In January 1990, the League of Communists broke up on ethnic lines, with the Croatian, at the congress, Serbian delegates accused the Croatian and Slovene delegates of supporting separatism, terrorism and genocide in Kosovo. The Croatian and Slovene delegations, including most of their ethnic Serb members, eventually left in protest, January 1990 also marked the beginning of court cases being brought to Yugoslavias Constitutional Court on the matter of secession. The first was the Slovenian Constitutional Amendments case after Slovenia claimed the right to unilateral secession pursuant to the right of self-determination, the Constitutional Court ruled that secession from the federation was only permitted if there was the unanimous agreement of Yugoslavias republics and autonomous provinces. On 4 March 1990,50,000 Serbs rallied at Petrova Gora, and shouted negative remarks aimed at Tuđman, chanted This is Serbia, the first free elections in Croatia and Slovenia were scheduled for a few months later. The first round of elections in Croatia were held on 22 April, the HDZ based its campaign on greater sovereignty for Croatia, fueling a sentiment among Croats that only the HDZ could protect Croatia from the aspirations of Milošević towards a Greater Serbia
24.
Batajnica Air Base
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Batajnica Air Base is a military air base in Serbia. The airport is located between Batajnica and Nova Pazova, about 25 km northwest from the center of Belgrade, Batajnica is the only airport in Serbia with two runways. Construction of the started in 1947 and was completed in 1951. The purpose of the airbase was to protect the capital from attack, one grass and two asphalted runways are used. It was known as 177th Air Base, which was its name until the 2006 reorganization, Batajnica was home of 204th Fighter-Aviation regiment, 138th Transport-Aviation Regiment and other units of Yugoslav Air Force. During the 1999 NATO bombing of Yugoslavia the airbase was bombed for 25 days. In June 2006, two USAF F-16 fighter jets, visited Batajnica airbase and it was the first official visit of USAF aircraft in more than 20 years and the first since the bombing. Civil aviation authorities in Serbia have speculated about the possibility to transform Batajnica to accept commercial flights from low-cost carriers at some point in the future. Under the proposal, the airbase would serve a purpose and continue to serve its military purpose. Serbian Air Force units operating outside of Batajnica Air Base, 204th Air Brigade, composed of, 101st Fighter Aviation Squadron with Mikoyan-Gurevich MiG-21s, data current as of October 2006. Batajnica Airport map* Batajnica Airbase pre-strike with visible control tower
25.
Combat search and rescue
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Combat search and rescue are search and rescue operations that are carried out during war that are within or near combat zones. A CSAR mission may be carried out by a force of helicopters, ground-attack aircraft, aerial refueling tankers. The USAF HC-130, which was introduced in 1965, has served in the two roles. The First World War was the background for the development of combat search and rescue doctrine, especially in the more fluid theaters of war in the Balkans. When trench warfare made this impossible the cars were transferred to other theatres, in 1915, during the First World War, Squadron Commander Richard Bell-Davies of the British Royal Naval Air Service performed the first combat search and rescue by aircraft in history. He used his single-seat aeroplane to rescue his wingman who had shot down in Bulgaria. Like the search and rescue efforts of the future, Davies action sprang from the fervent desire to keep a compatriot from capture or death at the hands of the enemy. It was during the Mesopotamian campaign that British and Commonwealth forces began to use similar tactics on a larger scale, shot down aviators in hostile Bedouin territory were often located by search parties in the air and rescued. During World War II, the Luftwaffe operated armed camouflaged air-sea rescue aircraft, during the Vietnam War the costly rescue of Bat 21 led the US military to find a new approach to high-threat search and rescue. As a result of the Vietnam CSAR experience, the US military also improved the capability of helicopters. During the Vietnam War, U. S. SAR forces saved 3,883 lives at the cost of 71 rescuers and 45 aircraft, on 21 April 1917, Captain Richard Williams of the Australian Flying Corps landed behind enemy lines to rescue a downed comrade. He eluded capture by North Vietnamese forces until his rescue 11½ days later, during the rescue operation, five US military aircraft supporting the CSAR effort were shot down, eleven US servicemen were killed and two men were captured. The rescue operation was the largest, longest, and most complex search-and-rescue operation during the entire Vietnam War and it has been the subject of two books and the largely fictionalized film Bat*21. The United States Air Force 24th Special Tactics Squadron was involved in the 1993 Battle of Mogadishu, timothy Wilkinson, a Pararescueman, was awarded the Air Force Cross for his heroic actions during the battle. During the opening moments of Operation Desert Storm, an MH-53 Pave Low crew from the 20th Special Operations Squadron recovered an F-14 Tomcat pilot who was shot down over Iraq. On June 2,1995, a USAF F-16C was shot down by a Bosnian Serb Army SA-6 surface-to-air missile near Mrkonjić Grad, Bosnia, the American pilot, Scott OGrady, ejected safely and was rescued six days later. The operation became known as the Mrkonjić Grad incident, in 1999, members of the United States Air Force Pararescue unit successfully rescued the pilot of an F-117 stealth attack aircraft who was shot down over Yugoslavia while on a NATO-led mission. The pilot was retrieved 6 hours after the incident, joint Personnel Recovery Agency Non-combatant evacuation operation United States Air Force Pararescue Leave No Man Behind, The Saga of Combat Search and Rescue
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Medical evacuation
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Examples include civilian EMS vehicles, civilian aeromedical helicopter services, and Army air ambulances. The first medical transport by air was recorded in Serbia in the autumn of 1915 during First World War, one of the ill soldiers in that first medical transport was Milan Stefanik, a Slovak pilot-volunteer, whom French aviator Louis Paulhan flew to safety. The United States Army used this technique in Burma toward the end of World War II. The first medivac under fire was done in Manila in 1945 when five pilots evacuated 75-80 soldiers one or two at a time, aeromedical Evacuation Air ambulance Casualty evacuation Medivac Shock Trauma Air Rescue Society Global Rescue, provider of medical evacuation services. Association of Air Medical Services Landing in Hell, Army Medevac Today - slideshow by Life magazine
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Morava Airport
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Morava Airport, also known as Lađevci Airport, is a part public and part military airport in Lađevci near the city of Kraljevo, Serbia. Upon construction of the new terminal, the airport has been divided into two distinct parts. The airbase for the Serbian Air Force has kept the name Lađevci whereas the new civilian terminal bears the name Morava Airport, the airport is currently home to the 98th Air Base of the Serbian Air Force. After the breakup of Yugoslavia, Lađevci airbase became more active when the 98th Fighter-Bomber Aviation Regiment was transferred from Petrovac to Kraljevo. 342L Gazelle Gama attack helicopters, during 1999 NATO bombing of Yugoslavia, the airport and runway were badly damaged. On September 9,2010 Government of Serbia decided to prepare the airport for civilian traffic, Morava Airport was expected to finish construction of its terminal building in 2011, so it can service passenger and, more importantly, cargo flights. Total investment in the airport will be 2 billion dinars, in the first phase that began in June 2006, the construction commenced of the new control tower at the airport. The investment was expected to cost approximately 3.5 million euros, once completed, Morava Airport would be able to receive smaller civilian aircraft with up to 100 seats. Serbian airline Jat Airways planned to introduce regular traffic between Kraljevo and Istanbul in June 2012, currently, there are no flights operating out of Morava Airport
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Antonov An-2
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The Antonov An-2 is a Soviet mass-produced single-engine biplane utility/agricultural aircraft designed and manufactured by the Antonov Design Bureau beginning in 1946. Its remarkable durability, high lifting power, and ability to take off, the An-2 is still produced and remains in service with military and civilian operators around the world. In certain wind conditions it can hover or even fly backwards, the An-2 is used as a light utility transport, parachute drop aircraft, agricultural work and many other tasks suited to this large slow-flying biplane. Its slow flight and good field performance make it suited for short, unimproved fields. Antonov designed a single bay biplane of all-metal construction, with an enclosed cockpit. The first prototype, designated SKh-1 and powered by a Shvetsov ASh-21 radial engine, initial Soviet production was at State Factory 473 in Kiev, Ukrainian SSR where the bulk of up to 5,000 units had been produced by 1960. Later Soviet production was at State Factory 464 at Dolgoprudniy, Russian SFSR, after 1960, however, most An-2s were built at Polands WSK factory in Mielec, with over 13,000 made there before full production ended in 1991. Limited production from parts stocks, as well as spares and maintenance coverage continued until 2001, China also builds the An-2 under licence as the Shijiazhuang Y-5. It has been occasionally and erroneously reported that there was East German production of the An-2, while An-2s were extensively refurbished in East Germany, there were no new aircraft built there. The An-2 was designed as a utility aircraft for use in forestry, however, the basic airframe is highly adaptable and numerous variants have been developed. The most common version is the An-2T 12-seater passenger aircraft, all versions are powered by a 750 kW nine-cylinder Shvetsov ASh-62 radial engine, which was developed from the Wright R-1820. It uses 43 gallons of avgas per hour, the An-2 has design features which make it suitable for operation in remote areas with unsurfaced airstrips, It has a pneumatic brake system to stop on short runways. It has an air line fitted to the compressor, so the pressure in the tires, the batteries are large and easy to remove, so the aircraft does not need a ground power unit to supply power. There is no need for a fuel pump to refuel the aircraft. It has a minimum of complex systems, the crucial wing leading edge slats that give the aircraft its slow flight ability are fully automatic, being held closed by the airflow over the wings. Once the airspeed drops below 64 km/h, the slats will extend because they are on elastic rubber springs, take-off run,170 m, landing run,215 m. A note from the pilots handbook reads, If the engine quits in instrument conditions or at night, the An-2 indeed has no stall speed quoted in the operating handbook. Pilots of the An-2 say one can fly the aircraft in control at 48 km/h
