Croatia Army Croatian Air Force Wartime Eagle Badge Wing Homeland war military 12

Description

Croatia Army Croatian Air Force Wartime Eagle Badge Wing Homeland war military 12
Croatia Air Force Homeland War Pilot Badge Yugoslavia Slovenia Bosnia MiG-21 #1
A Long obsolete badges from the Croatian Airforce in the 1990’s
Pilot Badge / Wing
Only a few made and RARE to find!
Material: Dark metal with enamel
Size: approx. 35 x 30 mm
Reverse: Original 1 screw bolt fitting

History:
Yugoslavia purchased its first batch of MiG-21s in 1962 from the Soviet Union. In the period from 1962 to the early 1980s, Yugoslavia had purchased 261 MiG-21s in ten variants.

During the early stages of the 1990s’ Yugoslav wars the Yugoslav military used MiG-21s in a ground-attack role, while Croatian and Slovene forces did not have air forces at the beginning of the war. Aircraft from air bases in Slovenia, Croatia, and Bosnia and Herzegovina were relocated to air bases in Serbia. Detailed records show at least seven MiG-21s were shot down by AA defenses in Croatia and Bosnia.[A MiG-21 shot down an EC helicopter in 1992.
Croatia acquired three MiG-21s in 1992 through defections by Croatian pilots serving with the JNA, two of which were lost in subsequent actions – one to Serbian air defenses, the other a friendly fire accident. In 1993, Croatia purchased about 40 MiG-21s in violation of an arms embargo, but only about 20 of these entered service, while the rest were used for spare parts. Croatia used them alongside the sole remaining defector for ground attack missions in operations Flash (during which one was lost) and Storm. The only air-to-air action for Croatian MiGs was an attempt by two of them to intercept Soko J-22 Oraos of Republika Srpska’s air force on a ground attack mission on 7 August 1995. After some maneuvering, both sides disengaged without firing.
The remaining Yugoslav MiG-21s were flown to Serbia by 1992 and continued their service in the newly created Federal Republic of Yugoslavia. During the 1999 NATO bombing of Yugoslavia, 3 MiG-21s were destroyed on the ground.