page_title: Air warfare in Yugoslavia (1941–45)
section_title: Balkan Air Force
hierarchical_section_title: Air warfare in Yugoslavia (1941–45) / Operations / 1944/1945 / Balkan Air Force
caption_attribution_description: English: Spitfires of the No 352 (Y) Squadron RAF, aka Balkan Air Force. Spitfires before first mission on August 18, 1944, from airport Canne - Italy Removed from the following pages: Balkan Air Force --OrphanBot (talk) 05:20, 3 August 2008 (UTC) Added to the following pages: Balkan Air Force ---Gaston200 (talk) 13:28, 3 August 2008 (UTC)
context_page_description: Air warfare during World War II in Yugoslavia pitted the Yugoslav Air Force, both Royal and NOVJ, United States Army Air Force, the Royal Air Force, including the Balkan Air Force, and Soviet Air Forces against the German Luftwaffe, the Italian Regia Aeronautica and the Air Force of the Independent State of Croatia. The latter provided the majority of the support for the ground operations against the Partisans. The Allied forces engaged in an extensive bombing campaign in an effort to weaken the Axis hold on the country.
context_section_description: The Allied Balkan Air Force (BAF) was based at Bari in Italy, and activated on 7 June 1944 to take command of operations in the area separately from the Italian campaign. It mainly supported the operations of the Partisans, led by Josip Broz Tito, against German and Independent State of Croatia (NDH) forces in Yugoslavia. It transported supplies to the partisans, evacuated wounded, dropped agents to help them, and provided air support in their operations against German and NDH troops. In this it was decisive in enabling the Partisans to withstand the Raid on Drvar (Seventh Offensive).
  The Allies had begun limited air operations in the Balkans in late 1943 to protect its flank. Aircraft flew anti-shipping missions against the Adriatic coast. This was followed by attacks on strategic facilities.
  The Balkan Air Force was a multinational unit, with 15 types of aircraft and men from eight nations: Greece, Co-belligerent Italy, Poland, South Africa, Yugoslavia (two squadrons of fighters), the UK, USA and USSR (a transport squadron). Between its inception and May 1945 the BAF flew 38,340 sorties, dropped 6,650 tons of bombs, delivered 16,440 tons of supplies and flew 2,500 individuals into Yugoslavia and 19,000 (mostly wounded) out.
  The Dornier Do 17 medium bombers of the ZNDH were still hitting back when and where they could and on 31 December 1944 a Dornier Do 17E attacked an RAF 148 Squadron Handley Page Halifax bomber on the ground at the Partisan airfield at Grabovnica near Čazma, destroying it with bombs. On 10 February 1945, a single ZNDH Dornier Do 17Z caught 1. Zagorska Brigada (1st Zagorje Brigade) marching in the open near Daruvar. The Yugoslav Partisan unit suffered some two dozen casualties. On 15 April 1945, a force made up of a Dornier Do 17Z, escorted by two Messerschmitt 109Gs destroyed two aircraft of the Yugoslav Partisans at their airfield at Sanski Most.
  Towards the end of its existence, the BAF operated a small number of units from Yugoslav soil to harass the retreating Germans. However, disagreements with Tito (particularly the arrest of members of the Special Boat Squadron on 13 April 1945, although they were quickly released) meant that all British ground forces were withdrawn, although BAF aircraft operating from Zadar continued to support the Partisan offensive. Between 19 March and 3 May they flew 2,727 sorties, attacking the German withdrawal route from Sarajevo to Zagreb and supporting the Fourth Yugoslav Army advancing from Bihać to Fiume (Rijeka).
  On 16 May 1945 351 and 352 Squadron RAF were administratively transferred to Yugoslav Air Force.
caption: Spitfires of the No 352 (Y) Squadron RAF before the unit's first mission on 18 August 1944. The aircraft were based in Canne - Italy, Yugoslav Aeronautical Museum
exif: {"Image Orientation": "Horizontal (normal)", "Image XResolution": "72", "Image YResolution": "72", "Image ResolutionUnit": "Pixels/Inch", "Image Software": "Adobe Photoshop CS5 Windows", "Image DateTime": "2010:09:12 02:37:29", "Image ExifOffset": "164", "Thumbnail Compression": "JPEG (old-style)", "Thumbnail XResolution": "72", "Thumbnail YResolution": "72", "Thumbnail ResolutionUnit": "Pixels/Inch", "Thumbnail JPEGInterchangeFormat": "302", "Thumbnail JPEGInterchangeFormatLength": "5789", "EXIF ColorSpace": "sRGB", "EXIF ExifImageWidth": "789", "EXIF ExifImageLength": "541"}