<p>During the late 1980s, the former Socialist Federal Republic of 
Jugoslavia (SFRJ) – a country dominating the Balkans – experienced a 
period of major crisis. Led by the Communist Party, the nation’s 
leadership failed to understand the depth of political changes all over 
Eastern Europe, and then split along ethic lines. In 1988-1989, ethnic 
Albanians in the autonomous province of Kosovo began demanding 
independence: the authorities of the SFRJ reacted by suppressing the 
resulting demonstrations. In the Federal Republic of Serbia, public 
opinion slid into nationalism, which the local communist leadership 
exploited to maintain itself in power. By 1990, nationalistic leaders 
rose to power in Slovenia and Croatia, and publicly announced their 
intention to secede these federal republics. Under the heavy shadow of 
growing war-mongering, politicians from all three sides met to reach 
settlements on the division of their and their emerging nation’s 
interests. The last few influential supporters of the preservation of a 
federal state were quickly pushed aside, and the powerful military of 
the SRFJ – the Yugoslav Popular Army (Jugoslovenska Narodna Armija, JNA)
 – became an instrument of political games. The Slovenian and Croatian 
proclamations of independence, in June 1991, proved to be the drop that 
over spilled the barrel. Already split by deep rifts within their top 
political and military leaders, the federal authorities launched a 
rather confused attempt to recover control over the external borders of 
the SRFJ. The nascent Slovenian military resisted, causing a series of 
bloody clashes with the JNA.</p>
<p>Tasked with the transport and protection of federal employees, the 
Yugoslav Air Force and Air Defence (JRViPVO) found itself in the thick 
of combat from day one of this conflict, when the Slovenes shot down two
 of its helicopters. In return, the JRViPVO began flying attack sorties,
 which ended only through a political agreement of 2 July 1991, and the 
decision for Yugoslav authorities to withdraw from Slovenia. Hard on the
 heels of this drama, the conflict between Croats and Serbs in Croatia 
reached boiling point, in the summer of 1991. Slowly at first, a major 
war erupted, which caught the JRViPVO in a paradoxical situation as part
 of it was still undergoing training, while another part had to fly 
shows of power, and undertake reconnaissance, transport and then the 
first combat operations. By September 1991, the conflict turned into an 
ugly slugging match: Croatian forces had blocked numerous military bases
 and major storage depots while the JNA received orders to lift the 
sieges of its surrounded units. Amid the following civil war, the 
JRViPVO often found itself forced to take drastic decisions, like when 
one of its units was relocated from the Federal Republic of Macedonia to
 Pula in Croatia, to fly combat sorties over the local battlefields. For
 the JRViPVO, the war in Croatia ended through a political settlement 
and a cease-fire of 3 January 1992. However, only weeks later the force 
was to see its final action in Bosnia and Herzegovina, where it flew 
combat operations against local separatists. While another political 
agreement resulted in a withdrawal of all federal forces from this part 
of the former Yugoslavia on 19 Mary 1992, and the loss (and destruction)
 of the major air base outside Bihac, this was also the swan song of the
 once proud Yugoslav air force. Based on the author’s unique approach to
 local archives and first-hand sources, and illustrated by over 120 
photographs and colour profiles, the ‘JRVIPVO in Yugoslav War’ is the 
first ever authoritative account of combat operations of the former 
Yugoslav Air Force in the conflict that shaped the modern-day southern 
Europe, and an indispensable source of reference on contemporary 
military history of this part of the World.</p>

The Yugoslav Air Force in the Battles for Slovenia Croatia and Bosnia & Herzegovina 1991-1992 Volume 1 PDF

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