Serbian Air force (Serbian Aviation - Srpska Avijatika) was the fifth ever air force founded in the world in 1912. Serbian Military Aviation was created when the aviation as vital part of the ground units was the question of the prestige under the military commands of the world. When we see what was Serbian position into the account, it was really hard to form the air force knowing that Serbia was very small and poor at the beginning of 20th century. The real reason why Serbia hurried to form the Aviation unit was the growing tension between the Kingdom of Serbia and Austria-Hungary. Also, it was the question of preparing the Balkan countries for the final driving out of Turkish forces from Europe. Serbia was not only aware of all these problems but was also forced to equip Serbian military with the aircraft and the balloons (of course with a great material renunciation). Serbia had purchased the first two balloons in 1909 from Augsburg; the same place where almost 30 years later the Royal Yugoslav Air Force had purchased the Messerschmitt Bf 109 E-3 in 1937. The time of purchasing these balloons was the time of the growing crisis about annexation of Bosnia and Herzegovina under Austria-Hungary, which could have easily caused the war with this great military force. The first six military pilots were trained in France. They finished the course in the beginning of the First Balkan war. On the December 24, 1912, the head of the Serbian military Radomir Putnik signed the papers about forming the Aviation Command situated in Niš which included : the Aircraft squad which counted 11 military aircraft, the Balloon squad, the Pigeon post and the Base. This date is the date of forming the Military Aviation of Serbia and as well as the whole Yugoslavia. Its first combat experience, Serbian Aviation had experienced in March 1913 over Shkodra which was in the Central Forces hands. On the first combat flight, sergeant-pilot Mihajlo Petrović was killed as the second victim of World Military Aviation. The first victim of military aviation was a Bulgarian pilot Topradzijev who was killed in 1912 when he was flying back from the reconnaissance mission over Edirne, Turkey. Mihajlo Petrović was the first trained Serbian airplane pilot. He completed his training and exams at the famous Farman pilot school in France and was awarded the international FAI license #979 in June 1912. His Serbian pilots license carried the number 1.
Posted on: Wed, 30 Jul 2014 08:09:52 +0000
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