Yugoslavian Combat Aircraft of WWII 1/72 Scale

After Yugoslavia surrendered in April, 1941, Hitler divided the country into several zones of occupation, granting some areas to his Italian, Hungarian, and Bulgarian allies. He also carved out the Independent State of Croatia (NDH), a fascist puppet state, in a further attempt to minimize the need for occupation forces. The Croatian nationalist Roman Catholic Ustashe party, which had been working for independence from the Eastern Orthodox Serb-dominated Yugoslavian government for several years, became the rulers of the NDH. Almost immediately, the Ustashe militia began a ruthless campaign of extermination against local Serbs. Their atrocities gave rise to the Yugoslavian resistance movement, which was divided into two main groups - the Partisan Communists led by Tito, and the Royalist Chetniks. The Croatian air force (ZNDH) was formed to attack the Yugoslavian resistance in the summer of 1941. It used a motley collection of mostly obsolete aircraft provided by the Germans, and later the Italians. The NDH also formed the Croatian Air Force Legion (HZL) in July, 1941, to supply volunteer pilots to the Luftwaffe. The Germans put these Croatian pilots to good use flying against the Soviets on the Eastern Front. In the summer of 1944 most of the HZL's pilots returned to Croatia to fly for the ZNDH to help protect their country from the growing Allied bombing campaign. To improve the ZNDH's effectiveness in this effort, the Germans began to supply them with the latest Messerschmitt Bf 109 fighters.

In early 1944 the Allies recognized the Partisans as the official Yugoslavian resistance organization and quit supporting the Chetniks. When Italy surrendered in September, 1943, the Partisans had captured a significant number of warplanes, and they were obtaining more from a growing stream of defecting Croatian pilots. Also, they captured some German planes as they liberated regions of Yugoslavia. In the fall of 1944 the British RAF activated two squadrons manned by Yugoslavian pilots as part of the Allied Balkan Air Force. RAF 351 Squadron used Hurricane Mk.IVs fitted with rockets, and 352 Squadron used Spitfire Mk.Vs to fly missions in support of the Partisans until the end of the war. The Soviets subsequently created two air force divisions manned by Yugoslavian pilots. The Soviet air force's 42 Assault Division flew Il-2 Stormoviks, and its 11 Fighter Division flew Yak fighters. They went into action in January, 1945, and also flew missions supporting the Partisans until the end of the war. These RAF and Soviet planes, along with the planes the Partisans had captured, were the basis for the postwar Yugoslavian air force.