Željava marks 34th anniversary of MIG 21 flight to free Croatia

Željava airport marked the 34th anniversary of the MIG 21 flight from the then Yugoslav People’s Army (JNA) to the free territory of the Republic of Croatia, which gave Croatia its first combat aircraft in the Homeland War.

Brave pilot Danijel Borović decided that he would not quietly watch the war waged by the then JNA against Croatia. He planned an escape and waited for a favorable opportunity. On this day in 1992, he escaped in his MIG and landed at the newly liberated airport in Pula. The news that the Croatian Army had received its first aircraft gave a great morale boost to all defenders.

“Our jets gave the men on the ground moral support throughout the war. They say that when they heard us overhead they'd duck down like before, but when the explosion happened much further away they knew it was us. It was then that they knew there was no stopping us. That was tremendous moral support for the guys on the ground,” said Borović.

“When I think of that, the adrenaline kicks in, we thought that with that signal, when we got it, that there was almost no chance for them to win, that the occupied areas would be liberated, which is what happened in the end,” said Ivica Jandrić, president of the Association of Homeland War Veterans of the Plitvice Lakes Municipality.

Source: HRT