Hawker Hurricane in Yugoslav service

Hawker Hurricane in Yugoslav service
A Hawker Hurricane Mk IV of No. 351 Squadron RAF at the Museum of Aviation in Belgrade
Role	Fighter Fighter-bomber Type of aircraft
Manufacturer	Hawker and Zmaj
Primary user	2nd Fighter Regiment 4th Fighter Regiment No. 351 Squadron RAF (1944–1945) No. 352 Squadron RAF (1944)
Career
In service	1938–1941 1944–1945 1945–1951

In late 1937, the Royal Yugoslav Air Force (Serbo-Croatian Latin: Vazduhoplovstvo Vojske Kraljevine Jugoslavije, VVKJ) placed an order with Hawker Aircraft for twelve Hawker Hurricane Mk I fighters, the first foreign purchase of the aircraft. The VVKJ operated the British Hawker Hurricane Mk I from 1938 to 1941. Between 1938 and 1940, the VVKJ obtained 24 Hurricane Mk Is from early production batches, marking the first foreign sale of the aircraft. Twenty additional aircraft were built by Zmaj under licence in Yugoslavia. When the country was drawn into World War II by the German-led Axis invasion of April 1941, a total of 41 Hurricane Mk I's were in service as fighters. They achieved some successes against Luftwaffe aircraft, but all Yugoslav Hurricanes were destroyed or captured during the 11-day invasion.

In mid-1944, the Yugoslav Partisans formed two Royal Air Force squadrons, Nos. 351 and 352, which both operated Hurricane fighter-bombers. No. 351 Squadron flew Hurricane Mk IICs during training and was later equipped with Hurricane Mk IVs, and No. 352 briefly flew Hurricane Mk IICs during training before re-equipping with Supermarine Spitfire Mk Vs. Both squadrons operated as part of No. 281 Wing RAF of the Balkan Air Force, conducting ground attack missions in support of Partisan operations until the end of the war. Hurricanes remained in service with the post-war Yugoslav Air Force until the early 1950s.