offline
- Skywhaler
- Legendarni građanin
- vampire and philosopher, po©smt, rhd©t
- Pridružio: 13 Dec 2013
- Poruke: 6033
- Gde živiš: Esgaroth
|
... википедија има солидно документовану страницу...Citat:
... on 6 April 1941, the Luftwaffe launched Operation Retribution, a series of concerted bombing attacks on Belgrade that coincided with air and ground attacks throughout the country. Several waves of German aircraft approached Belgrade during the day, initially Junkers Ju 87 "Stuka" dive-bombers escorted by fighters. About 08:00, Hurricanes of the 52nd Fighter Group engaged the second wave as it departed after bombing the city; one of the dive-bombers was shot down by three pilots from the 163rd Squadron. For the remainder of the first day of the invasion, the Hurricanes of the VVKJ saw little action, despite constant patrolling between Čačak, Kraljevo, and Kragujevac...
The following day, the 2nd Fighter Regiment continued to patrol over central Serbia, protecting factories at Kraljevo and Kragujevac from potential German air attacks that never occurred. The 4th Fighter Regiment was also active, patrolling over Bosnia and Croatia, but saw little action except for attempts to intercept German reconnaissance aircraft. Two of the Air Training School Hurricanes scrambled to intercept a small formation of Junkers Ju 88 bombers as they flew over Mostar towards Sarajevo. They were both hit by return fire, wounding one pilot and forcing him to crash land. The other pilot continued pursuing the bombers when he was attacked by a group of German Bf 109s. He was severely wounded, bailed out, and eventually died from loss of blood. Another Hurricane was also claimed by the Germans on 7 April.
On 8 April, the main VVKJ effort was directed towards a German ground thrust through the Kačanik gorge in southern Kosovo. By this time, the VVKJ had lost over 60 per cent of its aircraft; 70 aircraft from the remnants of various bomber and fighter units were assembled for the attack. Hurricanes of the 52nd Fighter Group made up the last wave of attacks on the 13 kilometres (8 mi) of closely packed convoys. Flying beneath low cloud in very poor weather, both squadrons strafed the Germans. One Hurricane was hit and crash-landed by the road, its pilot evading capture. In the north of the country, patrolling Hurricanes of the 4th Regiment clashed with German fighters on several occasions, without result. Other 4th Regiment Hurricanes escorted another bomber mission against targets in southern Austria. The remaining five Hurricanes of the 105th Squadron relocated to Veliki Radinci, where other surviving aircraft had also concentrated.
The following day, heavy snow fell in some areas of Yugoslavia, grounding the 52nd Fighter Group Hurricanes at Knić. In the north, a major air battle developed between Rovine and Bosanski Aleksandrovac, involving Hurricanes of both the 106th and 108th Squadrons. The Yugoslavs shot down one or two Bf 109s, but lost two Hurricanes in the process. By 10 April, the VVKJ was disintegrating quickly in the face of the successful German onslaught, but Hurricanes of the 105th Squadron were able to get airborne despite the continuing poor weather, patrolling for and engaging German aircraft without result. At Knić, rumours of the approach of German ground forces led the 164th Squadron to attempt to fly its Hurricanes to a safer airfield. Five machines got into the air, but almost immediately two of them collided, and another flew into a mountain wreathed in fog. The two surviving pilots returned safely to Knić. Meanwhile, the Hurricanes of the 163rd Squadron had been rendered unserviceable by their crews to prevent their capture and use by the Germans. When it became clear that the rumours of approaching German forces were unfounded, desperate attempts were made to return the aircraft to flying condition. The same day, Hurricanes of the 4th Regiment scored a victory over a Bf 109 while chasing reconnaissance aircraft over Bosnia.
On 11 April, 4th Regiment Hurricanes successfully shot down a Messerschmitt Bf 110 heavy fighter over Nova Gradiška. The following day, two or three of the remaining 105th Squadron Hurricanes were burned by ground crews at Veliki Radinci, while other machines from the same squadron flew to Bijeljina, where other aircraft had concentrated. This move had only just been completed when a large formation of German Bf 110s swept over the airfield and destroyed over two dozen aircraft, including all but one of the 105th Squadron Hurricanes. At Knić, approaching German vehicles caused the last two 163rd Squadron Hurricanes to scramble, flying to Zemun. The first pilot landed safely, but was immediately captured by armed Volksdeutsche. The other pilot, seeing that Zemun was not safe, broke off and tried to fly to Bjeljina, but ran out of fuel and was killed when he tried to crash-land near Valjevo. Even at this late stage, the 4th Regiment still had five or six airworthy Hurricanes. They continued to chase reconnaissance aircraft throughout the day, shooting down one Ju 88 near Banja Luka. When German bombers again attacked the airfields around Mostar, the one remaining Hurricane of the Air Training School attacked a Ju 88 but was hit by return fire, forcing the pilot to bail out.
The following day saw 4th Regiment Hurricanes again patrolling over Bosnia, downing another Bf 110, this time over Banja Luka. One aircraft was destroyed on 13 April, the pilot being badly wounded. On 14 April, one Hurricane was still serviceable at Nikšić in Montenegro. This aircraft clashed with Italian fighters on 14 or 15 April and was hit 37 times. Despite this, it was still airworthy on 16 April when its pilot attempted to fly it to Greece, but he was forced to return due to poor weather, after which the aircraft was abandoned. At least two Hurricanes were captured intact by the invading forces, but this marked the end of the Hawker Hurricane in VVKJ service, as all opposition to the Axis invaders ceased on 18 April, following the Yugoslav Supreme Command's unconditional surrender the previous day... [Link mogu videti samo ulogovani korisnici]
Дакле, хронолошки, 6. априла један Јункерс 87, затим 9. априла два, а 10. и трећи Месершмит 109, 11. априла Месершмит 110, 12. априла Јункерс 88 и 13. априла други Месершмит 110.
|
