The aspects of ethnic cleansing that affected the populations of the contenders (Serbs, Croats and Muslims) are mostly known for the bloody civil war that shocked and tore Bosnia Herzegovina for a long time (1991 - 1995).
Little or nothing is remembered, however, of the real military campaigns carried out by the various units created specifically for the conflict.
Among these units, the Air Force of the Serbian Republic of Bosnia is worth analyzing for its many peculiarities. Multiple peculiarities deriving essentially from the fact that it is one of the few military air forces belonging to "secessionist" state entities used to combat central government forces.
The aviation of the Republic of Srpska was not born, however, as is logical, out of nowhere.
To be precise, its origins must be traced back to that process of dissolution that had already irreparably affected Yugoslavia with the secession of Slovenia and Croatia in 1991.
The units of the ff.aa. of what was still Yugoslavia created by Tito located in the newly independent states, ended the short military campaign to prevent the secession of Slovenia and Croatia without however succeeding, they moved to the remaining territories of the Federation loyal to her. Among these, there was still Bosnia and Herzegovina at the time where several important air bases were located.
Among these, Banja Luka (photo) deserves special mention. Here, in fact, the air units of the Yugoslav Federal Army from Slovenia and Croatia initially found refuge.
In this situation, in which the ff.aa. a serious reorganization was proceeding due to the departure of two important entities of the Federation such as those already mentioned several times, the twenty secessionists spread and took shape more and more even in Bosnia and Herzegovina between the Muslim and Croatian communities against the wishes of the Serbian one.
Given the state of the situation that had arisen, the military units of the Yugoslav Federal Army present in Bosnia were quickly re-entered within the borders of the Federation now limited to Serbia and Montenegro alone.
This did not apply, however, to the many Serbian ethnic Bosnian soldiers demobilized for the reorganization previously mentioned and who could shortly put their military experience at the service of the newly established Serbian Republic of Bosnia.
Among these, several were pilots and specialists who constituted the first small nucleus of the Serbian "rebel" aviation very shortly after the birth of the Srpska Republic of Bosnia on 27 May 1992 exploiting the aircraft left on Bosnian territory at the Baja Luka base left there of the Yugoslav Federal Army.
Specifically, there were nine J-21s, thirteen J-22s, one G-4 "Super Galeb" (following photo), twenty Gazelle SA 342 and fourteen Mi-8 T. In addition to the aircraft mentioned here, the newly formed Serbian Air Force "Rebel" inherited from the Federal Army anti-aircraft systems S-75 "Dvina" and 2K12 "Kub", as well as Strela-2 portable missile systems and 20mm, 30mm and 40mm anti-aircraft artillery.
On the same day it was formed, however, the newly formed aviation was already employed in an armed conflict. More precisely, sixteen sorties were carried out on May 27, 1992 against the young Croatian army and the even younger forces of the Croatian Defense Council in the Posavina region on the northern borders of Bosnia.
Under the supervision of the first provisional commander general Zivomir Ninkovic and Colonel Bozo Novak as chief of staff and structured on the Aviation Squadron No. 78; on the Light Aviation Squadron (helicopters) No. 76; on the Anti-Air Defense Regiment No. 474 and various technical and training institutes, the Serbian Air Force of the homonymous Republic actively participated in the fighting in the Posavina where the Croatian units had managed to interrupt communications between the western and eastern parts of the Republic Srpska of Bosnia under the Serbian plan to recapture the area named "Operation Corridor '92". The combat aviation completed several tactical support missions per day and the anti-aircraft defense forces took risks in the Banja Luka area to protect it from possible attacks by the enemy Croatian military aviation.
Such an intense commitment from the start also led, unfortunately, to the first losses in combat. On June 9 of that same year, in fact, a SA 342 helicopter Gazelle he was shot down. The same fate occurred shortly thereafter at a two-seater J-21 near the village of Jehovah with the death of both crew members on 11 June.
If the Croatian antiaircraft proved undoubtedly effective and combative, it was no less that of the Serbian counterpart. Not far from the town of Dervetna, in fact, the Serbs shot down a Croatian MiG-21 on June 24 with the pilot's death.
The action carried out by the Serbian antiaircraft was so effective that the Croatian air force was forced to stop its sorties in the Posavina region.
On June 28, the Serbian Air Force of Bosnia lost another plane, however, as a J-22 (photo) was shot down over Odzak with the death of pilot Bogoslav Lukic.
In addition to the fighter planes, the Bosnian Serbs also used transport helicopters intensively which played an important role in fighting against Croatian forces for control of the key region on the northern borders of Bosnia.
Their use in transporting the wounded was particularly important and profitable. In fact, 1.894 were the wounded transported.
The Serbian-Bosnian Air Force proved to be fundamental for the success of the operations aimed at obtaining full control of the northern region of Bosnia over the Croats even with interdiction missions. An example of this commitment was the bombing in the summer of 1992 of the military industrial structures of Novi Travnik, Vitez, Zenica and other areas controlled by the Republic of Bosnia and Herzegovina at the time still allied with the Croatian faction.
A constant and difficult commitment but with results that lasted until 9 October 1992 when the United Nations Security Council adopted Resolution 781 which prohibited military aircraft flights over the skies of Bosnia and Herzegovina. As a result, the Serbian-Bosnian Air Force stopped its flights the next day.
Subsequently, following the adoption of the aforementioned United Nations Security Council resolution, the positive results achieved during the Operation Corridor '92 they risked being paradoxically counterproductive for the small Serbian Air Force of Bosnia. Western diplomats, fully aware of its determined role in the success of Serbian operations in Posavina, began to exert strong pressure on the Republika Srpska leadership for the dissolution of the Air Force taking advantage of the absence of similar military aircraft in the Muslim ranks and of the Bosnian Croats. In talks with David Aries, Republika President Srpska Radovan Karadzic initially accepted the request, but after talks with General Ninkovic and Ratko Mladic he refused it.
Despite UN Resolution 781, the Serbian-Bosnian Air Force fighter jets continued to fly throughout the spring of 1993, even if they were only training flights, as well as helicopters mainly for transporting wounded and delivering materials to the various advanced outposts of the 'army.
The only flights in warfare could only be made on Krajina (A territory with a majority population of Serbian ethnicity nestled in the new de facto independent Croatia despite Zagreb also aiming to incorporate it too). Here the helicopters SA 342 Gazelle they provided support fire to the ground forces using the Udbina airport made available in the summer of 1993 by the ff.aa. of the Serbian Republic of Krajina. In addition to several aircraft topologies, however, the Bosnian Serbian Air Force also transferred two batteries from the Kub 2K12 missile system.
Despite the relative calm, the Bosnian front continued to remain dangerous for air operations. So much so that on August 2, 1993, anti-aircraft batteries of the Bosnian-Muslim Army armed with Strela-2M shot down an Mi-8T near Brcko killing six officers. Among these, there was also Lieutenant Colonel Slobodan Kusturic commander of an important Air Force unit.
It was one of the many prodrome of a new phase of war "waged”In Bosnia between the various ethnic factions. As far as we are concerned, it is necessary to report the episode which took place on February 28, 1994. Le ff.aa. Republika Srpska planned an action aimed at definitively destroying the aforementioned weapons factories of Bugojno and Novi Travnik which supplied the Muslims mainly with multiple rocket launchers.
Six J-21s and two J-22s located at Udbina airport were used for the operation with different tasks. The J-21s would target the ammunition factory in Novi Travnik while the J-22s would bomb the one located in Bugojno. Fulfilled the mission, upon their return to the base, they were however intercepted by an F-16 of the US Air Force who had the task of maintaining the no-fly zones on Bosnia and Herzegovina as required by the aforementioned UN resolution. The outcome was disastrous as four J-21s were shot down while a fifth crashed due to the unexpected lack of fuel. Only one J-21 and both J-22 returned safely to Udbina base.
The episode narrated above was the first in a series of direct interventions by NATO in the Bosnian civil war to the detriment of the Serbian-Bosnian Air Force's attributable forces. In the spring of 1994, in fact, the forces of the North Atlantic Treaty Organization made numerous attacks.
However, the Serbs did not passively suffer and tried, indeed, to harm NATO. As proof of this, on 15 April 1994 the anti-aircraft forces, once again confirming their high operational capabilities, were able to hit a French Étendard IV using a Strela-2M system. But the plane was still able to return to the aircraft carrier Clemenceau.
The following day, however, the Serbs shot down a British Sea Harrier that fell on Gorazde resort again using a Strela-2M.
At this juncture of the most remote war was the role assumed by the air and helicopter components of the Air Force. The only major action was the attack by two J-22s (photos) on military and industrial facilities in Bihac on November 18, 1994, leaving the Serbian Krajina Udbina airport, without violating the no-fly zone above the Bosnia and Herzegovina (the locality of Bihac is located practically close to the Croatian-Bosnian border. A comparison appropriate to us may be that of Gorizia).
In order to prevent the use of Udbina airport, NATO was therefore forced to attack it with a massive airstrike on November 21 of that same year. In the attack, the positions of the Serbian Krajina Anti-Air Defense in the Banija area and of the Srpska Air Force Anti-Air Defense in western Bosnia were also involved.
Antiaircraft defense of the Air Force of the Republic of Srpska which was again heavily engaged during the offensive in western Slavonia which began on May 1995, 2 by the Croatian forces (Flash Operation). At that juncture, already on the following May 21, the Bosnian Serbian antiaircraft shot down a Croatian MiG-XNUMX over Bosanska Gradiška after it had launched several bombs on the city forcing the Croatian air force to suspend flights again as it had happened during the fighting in the Posavina region.
In May of that year, however, the air forces of NATO countries returned to the attack of the Serbian-Bosnian Air Force structures. In one of these, however, on July 2, 1995, the Serbian antiaircraft managed to shoot down an American F-16 that fell near the town of Bosanski Petrovac. The pilot successfully ejected and for six days from the shooting down he managed to escape the attempts of capture by the soldiers of the Serbian army until a special Combat-SAR group managed to recover it on July 8th (From the story he drew wide inspiration director John Moore for his famous film "Behind Enemy Lines - Behind the enemy lines"). Since then, US airstrikes on Bosnian skies have been carried out only with the support of ECR aircraft.
Meanwhile, the air component with its fighters and helicopters actively continued fighting against Croatian forces in the Dinara mountainous area at the end of July 1995.
A move, the Croatian one, preparatory to the subsequent successful Operation Storm which will lead to the extinction of the Serbian Krajina and, at the same time, force the Serbian-Bosnian Air Force planes to return to Banja Luka airport. The forced transfer did not however prevent the carrying out of some limited offensive bets. On August 6, 1995, in fact, two J-22 bombed a chemical institute in Kutina in Croatia. During this period, the Bosnian Serbs however lost two planes. A J-22 crashed on the runway of Udbina airport in June due to a pilot error, and another who was hit by "friendly fire" near Drvar on 10 August.
Despite some undeniable tactical successes, the swan song for the Serbian-Bosnian Air Force approached inexorably. On August 30, 1995, NATO launched the Operation Deliberate Force (photo) which lasted until 21 September of the same year in response to the bombing of the Sarajevo market on 28 August 1995. Several airstrikes were carried out on Serbian anti-aircraft positions with the destruction of around sixty military structures including radar, communication centers and command posts. NATO losses were a Mirage 2000 shot down by an Igla missile system on August 30 near Pale. After the operation, despite the admirable courage shown by the operators against absolutely preponderant qualitative and quantitative forces, the Serbian-Bosnian antiaircraft defense ceased to exist.
While NATO air forces were hitting Serbian-Bosnian positions, on 9 September, joint Croatian and Muslim militias launched numerous offensive operations in western Bosnia and the Ozren mountains. In these fights, the Air Force of the Republic Srpska provided support to its ground forces by attacking the Croatian positions in Novi Grad and Kozarska Dubica as well as the Muslim ones. Missions during which a J-21 was shot down which was, moreover, the last sustained loss of a long and bloody war that would end in November 1995.
The final loss balance clearly testifies to the high rate of employment of the Serbian-Bosnian Air Force: 89 soldiers were killed during the fighting. Specifically, there were 13 pilots and 15 airmen among them. Another 35 people were killed in ground fighting and 26 during the NATO bombing. Finally, as regards military equipment, the Bosnian Serbs lost 12 aircraft (5 J-22 and 7 J-21) and 7 helicopters (5 gazelles and 2 Mi-8T).
In memory of the great sacrifices made by the staff, the J-21 serial number 24160 was set up as gate guardian in memory of the pilots and members of the Serbian-Bosnian Air Force who fell in combat at the Banja Luka airport.
