Defection of two Croat transport planes to Italy on 3.4.1945.

[Boris Ciglic]

Hi all,

On 3 April 1945 a pair of Croat AF transports, a SM.79 and a SM.82, flew away from Sarajevo in direction of Italy, in obvious attempt to defect. According to some secondary sources, both planes crashed en route, with the loss of all men on board. Still, could it be that they made it through? Is there any reference in Allied records from Italy about arrival or interception of any such aircraft on given date, or day or two before or after?

Cheers,
Boris

[Larry deZeng]

Hi Boris,

I think that would have garnered a lot of Allied interest, but I've never seen anything about it. I've been through all of the CSDIC interrogation reports that cover defections and escapes by Croatian air crew, along with hundreds of MAAF and Balkan Air Force files covering the last year of the war, but I never found any mention of the two transports in early April 1945. So, if this did occur, then they must have crashed before reaching Italy and the Allies never knew about it.

Cheers,

Larry deZ

[Stig Jarlevik]

Boris

No help I'm afraid, but what was the origin of these two aircraft?
With regard to SM.79 all I know is that HRZ operated one, s/n 0701, for sure and another as possible, s/n 3712. Was "your 79" one of those?

With regard to the SM.82 not a single source I have mentions any Croat use. Was it captured from Italy in 1943 or from where did come from?

Cheers
Stig

[Boris Ciglic]

HI Larry,

Many thanks! I thought so but still had to check it! And do you possibly have any info if a Savoia Marchetti (SM.79 or SM.82) escaped to Northern Italy on 7 May 1945? Some sources mention it but are not fully certain about it.

Cheers,
Boris

[Steve Coates]

Boris

Again, nothing. The only Interrogation Report of Croat defectors I've seen during this timeframe is CSDIC A-549 which covers off a couple of Bf 109 defections on 16/4/45.

Steve

[Boris Ciglic]

Hello Stig, hello Steve,

Croats got three SM.79s and a pair of SM.82s in early 1945. 0701 was lost in August 1942 and 3712 was one of four ex-Yugoslav SM.79s which ended up in RAF.

Apart from the two well-known Bf 109Gs, there were other Croat planes which reached Allied lines in Italy and Austria at the end of the war.

Cheers,
Boris

[Larry deZeng]

Originally Posted by Boris Ciglic

HI Larry,

Many thanks! I thought so but still had to check it! And do you possibly have any info if a Savoia Marchetti (SM.79 or SM.82) escaped to Northern Italy on 7 May 1945? Some sources mention it but are not fully certain about it.

Cheers,
Boris

Sorry, Boris, I did a double-check of my notes and there is no mention of the 79 or the 82. The July 1945 typed manuscript history of the Balkan Air Force speaks of 3 Croatian Do 17s escorted by 4 Croatian Bf 109s from 2./Kroat.Jagdgruppe 1 attacking Partisan positions in North Dalmatia in late April 1945 as being the last mission flown by the Hrv. Zakroplovska. (p.147)

Prcela, in his Operation Slaughterhouse (p.150), says co-incident with the German surrender 7-8 May, the Croatian Air Force still had a few planes left, but these were short of fuel or had been commandeered for special purposes.

"special purposes"? I wonder what that could be?

Danijel Frka (June 1993, p.32) says more than 30 Croatian aircraft and crews deserted to the Partisans or the Allies from airfields around Zagreb during the final month of the war. [I wonder if Frka's figure includes the defection of the entire 2d Group to the Partisan airstrips at Topusko and Cazma on 6 April?]

My interviews and correspondence with Mato Dukovac and his corresdpondence with Satnik Ljudevit Bencetic during the 1980's make no mention of the 79 and 82 either. Bencetic said that after the 16 April defection of the 2 Bf 109's to Italy and two more to Mostar where they surrendered to the Partisans, there were no more from 2. Staffel. The rest of their Bf 109's were either destroyed or abandoned at Zagreb-Lucko between 7 and 9 May. No fuel, no spare parts.

HTH,

Larry

[Nick Beale]

Here's what we had in "Air War Italy 1944–45"

• Do 17Z-5 (W.Nr. 2899, Z8+AH; callsign PF+EN), 10 july 1944
• Do 17 Z with Croatian shield insignia and number "0107", 10 August 1944
• Bücker 181, marked "7415" and with the Croatian shield, 3 September 1944
• Two Bf 109, 16 April 1945
• Croat biplane with two aboard landed at Falconara, 21 April 1945

On 22 April "an aircraft in Croat markings took off for Spain [from Milano-Linate] S.83T (factory number 34013, formerly civil registration I-ARCA) of the RSI Air Ministry, carrying VIP's and political documents … The "disguise" had been adopted to circumvent political/diplomatic restrictions on landing rights and the transport landed safely at Barcelona airport."

From memory, the other defections were German (a Bf 109 of 3./JG 4) and Hungarian.

[Larry deZeng]

Nice addition for this thread, Nick, but a couple of questions:

1. "22 April" is 1945 and not 1944?
2. The S.83T belonged to the RSI Air Ministry and was dressed out in phony "Croat" markings, or have I got that twisted around?

Larry deZ.

[Nick Beale]

Originally Posted by Larry deZeng

Nice addition for this thread, Nick, but a couple of questions:

1. "22 April" is 1945 and not 1944?
2. The S.83T belonged to the RSI Air Ministry and was dressed out in phony "Croat" markings, or have I got that twisted around?

Larry deZ.

1. Yes.
2. Italian plane disguised with Croatian markings. (This research into this aircraft was done by Gabriele Valentini and the Late Ferdinando D’Amico).