Preserving what little’s left
While aviation history has always figured in my work here in one form or another, ever since late 2013 I’ve started devoting much of my Achtung, Skyhawk! time to covering – in some depth – a range of aeronautical topics from the recent histories of both Croatia and ex-Yugoslavia. All of these works include a fair amount of my own original research, often in the form of “picking the brains” of the people directly involved – as well as collecting, collating and sorting through information obtained from various official sources (CAA’s, operators, manufacturers, …) scattered throughout the region. Aiming to provide an accurate as possible account of the machines involved while keeping politics very firmly at bay, these works have so far shown themselves to be popular with my readers, prompting me to pool them in one place for ease of access. Covering topics from the 50s all the way into the 90s, they will hopefully add their tiny bit to preserving the region’s rich, interesting – and often undervalued – aviation heritage…
Civil aircraft:
- 2+2: The Four Seat UTVA 75 – review of the world’s sole surviving UTVA U-75A
- Calm Dog: MD-82 S5-ACC at Maribor – review of a stored former Air Adriatic MD-82
- Cold Case: The Last Flight of Dakota YU-ABC – partial review of YU-ABC’s fatal CFIT accident in 1950
- Smoke & No Mirrors: MD-82 9A-CBG at Rijeka – review of an Air Adriatic MD-turned-fire-trainer
- The Yugoslav Czech: Let L-200 Morava at LDZA – review of preserved Yugoslav-assembled L-200D
Military and government aircraft:
- Domesticated Dornier: The Croatian AF’s Do-28 9A-ISC – review of Croatia’s wartime Do-28D
- The Wizard of Kranj: YuAF Aircraft Restored – review of Slovenian S.106, IF-86D, F-84G and Gazelle restorations
Airlines and restorations:
- Props are Turning: Croatia Airlines’ GA beginnings – in-depth review of Croatia Airlines’ initial fleet
- Ye Olde ZAG: 80s LDZA Airport Charts – collection of early 80s Jeppesen charts for Zagreb Airport
Achtung, Skyhawk! 