96 // JULY 2018 #364 http://www.airforcesmonthly.com
Croatian Air Force
Force
Report
Macedonia and one from Bosnia
and Herzegovina have also been
trained here, as well as two Czech
helicopter pilots who graduated
in February last year. The Czech
pilots were trained under the
joint Croatian, Czech, Hungarian
and Slovak Multinational Aviation
Training Centre (MATC) programme.
This is compatible with the ‘Smart
Defence’ Air Advisory Team Pre-
deployment Training Course
(AAT-PTC) initiative that trains
personnel for the Afghan theatre.
The first three PC-9 aircraft were
obtained second-hand in 1996
and 1997 and the 17 remaining
brand-new PC-9M versions also
arrived in 1997. The first three
aircraft were later upgraded to
PC-9(M) standard and
flew until 2005. All three
PC-9(M)s were recently
sold to EIS Aircraft inGermany for around €810,000.
A further three PC-9Ms that were
overstressed during flying were
also offered for sale in 2015.
The EA PC-9M pilots fly an
annual average of 150 hours.
Apart from their regular training
task with the pilot school, they
are used as ‘bogeys’ for MiG-
21 quick reaction alert (QRA)
intercept practice on a weekly
basis. One PC-9M is also on
constant alert duty for search
and reconnaissance in support of
the Croatian Coast Guard. Last
year, PC-9Ms made a total of
26 flights on behalf of the Coast
Guard. Croatian PC-9Ms have
received international recognition
with the HRZ display team, Krila
Oluje (Wings of Storm), which
performs across Europe. The EA
squadron reached 50,000 flying
hours with the PC-9 in 2014.Firefi ghters
In summer, members of the 93.ZB
Protupožarna eskadrila (PPE,
Firefighting Squadron) at Zemunik
are called into action. Sometimes
there are so many large fires along
the Croatian coast that the men
and women of the PPE feature
in the local media on a daily
basis. They are internationally
recognised as among the best
in the business and have also
been called upon to fight fires
in Bosnia and Herzegovina,
Greece, Israel, Italy, Macedonia,
Montenegro and Portugal.
Although using a significant
portion of its defence budget for
the PPE, Croatia still considers
it more affordable for the state
to maintain a civil-mission
squadron within the military
structure of the HRZ than to rely
upon commercial operators.Above: Pilots of the Croatian Air Force’s PPE squadron fl y between 200 and 300 fl ying hours annually on a mix of
AT-802A and CL-415 amphibians. Jadranko EćimovićKrila Oluje
The Croatian Air Force’s aerobatic team
was officially formed in 2005, on the
tenth anniversary of Operation Oluja
(Operation Storm), the final major battle
of the Croatian war of independence.
The team quickly become well known
in Europe, performing an aerobatic
programme with six PC-9M turboprop
trainers. Presenting some of the most
demanding formation manoeuvres,
Krila Oluje is still the only military flight
demonstration team in the world that
performs a tail-slide in formation.
The Krila Oluje team comprises
pilots from the HRZ’s EA training
squadron at Zemunik. Krila Oluje
does not have special aircraft or
equipment for rehearsals or displays
but uses standard squadron aircraft,
all of which are smartly painted
in Croatian national colours.
Unlike the majority of aerobatic
teams, whose pilots’ primary task
is to train for and perform aerobatic
displays, the main role of the Krila Oluje
pilots is to train future HRZ aviators.
The members of Krila Oluje are active
flight instructors and continue the
tradition of formation aerobatic flying
at Zadar, which dates back to 1967.
To date, Krila Oluje have performed
in 15 different countries. The team
has won several trophies for the best
display at international airshows
including the Danish Air Show 2012,
Czech International Air Fest (CIAF) 2012
and CIAF 2014, Royal International Air
Tattoo (RIAT) 2016 at RAF Fairford, UK
and last year’s Slovak International Air
Fest. Among the team’s milestones
is the fact that Capt Diana Doboš
was a member from 2005 to 2007,
becoming only the third woman to
fly in a military aerobatic team.