117th Fighter Aviation Regiment The 117th Fighter Aviation Regiment ( " Serbo - Croatian : 117 . lovački avijacijski puk / 117 . ловачки авијацијски пук " ) was a unit established in 1944 as the 112th Fighter Aviation Regiment ( " Serbo - Croatian : 112 . vazduhoplovni lovački puk / 112 . ваздухопловни ловачки пук " ) . It was formed from Yugoslav partisan aviators , who were trained and equipped by the Soviet Air Force . History . 112th Fighter Aviation Regiment . The 112th Fighter Aviation Regiment was established on December 25 , 1944 , at Veliki Radinci , from Yugoslav partisan aviators with the Soviet Air Force 17th Air Army ' s 168th Guards Fighter Aviation Regiment ( 168 . GIAP ) . It became independent from Soviet command and personnel in May 1945 . The regiment was part of the 11th Aviation Fighter Division and it was equipped with Soviet Yak - 1 M fighter aircraft . The regiment took part in the liberation of Yugoslavia . During combat operations it was based at Veliki Radinci , Nadalj , Klenak , Mađarmečke Lučko airfields . By 1945 new Yak - 3 fighters had been introduced into service . After the war , the regiment moved briefly to Slovenia , being based at Ljubljana , but it returned to Pleso near Zagreb . From 1946 to 1947 it was re - located several times between Mostar , Ljubljana and Novi Sad , due the crisis in the north - west of the country . It was based at Pula in 1947 . By 1948 the regiment was renamed like all other units of the Yugoslav Army , becoming the 117th Fighter Aviation Regiment . The commanders of the regiment in this period were Sava Poljanec , Đuro Ivanišević , Mile Ćurgus , Radovan Daković , Mihajlo Nikolić and Nikola Lekić . The commissar was Mile Rodić . 117th Fighter Aviation Regiment . The 117th Fighter Aviation Regiment remained at Pula in 1948 , but that same year it moved to Cerklje , where it was to remain until 1949 when it was moved to Zemun , with the new task of defending the capital city Belgrade . In 1951 the regiment moved to the newly built Batajnica Air Base , where it remained until 1960 . The regiment was re - equipped with new domestically built Ikarus S - 49 A aircraft and was the first unit of the Yugoslav Air Force to operate the first Yugoslav post - war fighter . The aircraft were formally handed over by Marshal Josip Broz Tito on May 21 , 1950 . By 1953 , the S - 49s were replaced with US - built Republic F - 84 Thunderjet fighter - bombers . The first pilot in the Yugoslav Air Force trained to fly the Thunderjet was Lieutenant Colonel Milorad Ivanović , commander of the 117th Regiment . In that period the unit was renamed the 117th Fighter - Bomber Aviation Regiment ( " Serbo - Croatian : 117 . lovačko - bombarderski avijacijski puk / 117 . ловачко - бомбардерски авијацијски пук " ) . In 1956 the Thunderjets were replaced by which remained in service with the regiment until 1959 when they were replaced by F - 86E Sabre s . That same year the unit changed its name back to the 117th Fighter Aviation Regiment . By 1960 the regiment had left Batajnica and re - located to Pleso . The " Drvar " reorganization came into effect as a new type of designation system used to identify squadrons . The two squadrons of the 83rd Fighter Aviation Regiment became the 124th and the 125th Fighter Aviation Squadron s in 1961 . The F - 86Es were replaced by F - 86D Sabre s in 1963 ; they remained in service until 1968 . In 1967 the first MiG - 21F - 13 fighters arrived as replacements for the Sabres . The following year , the regiment moved to Željava Air Base . It was the largest military airport with an underground hangar complex in Yugoslavia . This base remained the home of the regiment until 1991 , when all Yugoslav People ' s Army units left the complex and it was destroyed . The 352nd Reconnaissance Aviation Squadron was detached from the 82nd Aviation Brigade to the 117th Regiment . It was equipped with MiG - 21Rs , the reconnaissance version . MiG - 21F - 13s were replaced by MiG - 21PMFs in 1970 . Then new MiG - 21bises were introduced as replacements for the MiG - 21PMFs in 1983 . The regiment ' s war . The regiment saw action during the war in Croatia . The 351st Reconnaissance Aviation Squadron of the 82nd Aviation Brigade , armed with the IJ - 22 Orao and the IJ - 21 Jastreb reconnaissance attack aircraft , was re - located from Cerklje to Želajva , joining the 117th Regiment and was disbanded on August 30 , 1991 , with equipment and personnel integrated into the 352nd Reconnaissance Aviation Squadron . On August 30 , 1991 MiG fighters intercepted a Boeing 707 with Ugandan registration , which was smuggling arms for the Croatian forces , and forced it to land . That aircraft was subsequently sequestered with its illegal cargo . Two weeks later , a Croatia Airlines DC - 9 was forced to land at Split . When HQ of the 5th Corps at Zagreb was overtaken by Croatian forces on September 15 , jets flew over the city . Several positions of the Croatian forces and a TV repeater tower were attacked in the next few days . On October 25 , a pilot of the 352nd Reconnaissance Aviation Squadron , Croat Rudolf Perešin defected from Željava to Klagenfurt , Austria . He later joined the Croatian Air Force , but his MiG - 21R , military registration 26112 , remained in Austria . On January 7 , 1992 , the Regiment ' s pilot Emir Šišić downed a helicopter of the European Community Monitor Mission after it entered Croatian air space . As a reaction , the Chief of the General staff , commander of the Yugoslav Air Force in that period , Lieutenant - General Zvonko Jurjević was suspended . On February 4 another pilot , Danijel Borović , defected in a MiG - 21bis . That aircraft was the first MiG of the Croatian Air Force . Borovic provided information to the Croatian media that the pilot who shot the AB - 205 down was Emir Šišić . Battles around Želajva airbase became more intense as the war in Bosnia and Herzegovina accelerated . After the order for the withdrawal of the Yugoslav People ' s Army from Bosnia in the spring of 1992 , the 117th Regiment left Željava in April 22 – 24 . The base was used for the evacuation of remaining personnel and families of Army members by air from Bihać . The underground complex never used again ; it was destroyed in May . Squadrons of the regiment moved to Ponikve Airport in Serbia , where the 125th squadron of the 117th regiment was disbanded . The 124th Fighter Aviation Squadron was attached to the 83rd Aviation Brigade and the 352nd Reconnaissance Aviation Squadron assigned to the 204th Aviation Brigade .