|
Re: Amiot 143M in Croatian Air force
Hi Larry,
information are not in conflict but rather new findings vs. old ones.
In Kingdom of Yugoslavia this Amiot was referred to as "Airplane X" in all documents to hide its existance. In later Croatian documents it was referred simply as "Amiot" so documents do not reveal its identity. How did it come to the situation that historians thought it was Amiot 143 is beyond my knowledge. What happened later is usual situation when every new author simply copies some information from his forerunners and after several rounds of copying it becomes "the fact". That is how we were all led to thinking this was Amiot 143. I repeat, no official document from that time mentions designation "143" for this airplane, although it doesn't mention "351" either.
The eyewitness I quoted is Zlatko Rendulic who joined partisans in summer 1943 and attended further flying courses in Soviet Union during the war. In post war period he was one of the most important experts for aviation in Yugoslavia and was resposible for selection of aircraft types for purchase as well as very successfull indigenous designs like Galeb and Jastreb.
|