Croatian Blenheims

[Larry deZeng]

B.C. beat me to the punch with the crew information, which I also found early this morning. However, here are a few additional items that I located that might be of some interest.

According to documents from the Vojnoistorisjski institut in Belgrade and Profile Publications Profile 93 (Blenheim), on 6 April 1941 the Royal Yugoslav AF had the following Bristol Blenheim I bombers: 2 (purchased from the U.K. in Nov 1937, Registrations G-AFCE and G-AFCF) + 20 (purchased between 1938 and 1941, Registrations YU-BAA to YU-BAT) + 16 (license built by Ikarus in Zemun and completed by April 1941) = 38. These were distributed among the 1st and 8th Bomber Regiments and the 11th Independent Bomber Group. A further 24 were on the assembly line and nearing completion when the Axis attack began on 6 April. Yugoslavs sabotaged the factory so these were lost as well as the means to produce any more.

06 May 45: In the final months of the war, some enterprising Croatian airmen at Zagreb-Borongaj were able to make an unserviceable Blenheim I (that had probably been damaged during Allied air attacks in 1944-45) operational and flew it north toward Austria with Zdenko Kučera in the pilot’s seat. The rickety machine barely made it and made an emergency landing just over the Austrian border. There is no mention of who else was aboard.

So it appears that 3 of the original 8 Blenheims in Croatian hands were "misappropriated" by aircrew personnel prior to the end of the war.

Larry