The 44th Aviation Division (''

Serbo-Croatian Serbo-Croatian () – also called Serbo-Croat (), Serbo-Croat-Bosnian (SCB), Bosnian-Croatian-Serbian (BCS), and Bosnian-Croatian-Montenegrin-Serbian (BCMS) – is a South Slavic language and the primary language of Serbia, Croatia, Bosnia and ...

: 44. vazduhoplovna divizija/ 44. ваздухопловна дивизија'') was a unit originally established in 1945 as the 3rd Aviation Fighter Division (''

: 3. vazduhoplovna lovačka divizija / 3. ваздухопловна ловачка дивизија'').

History

3rd Fighter Aviation Division

The 3rd Fighter Aviation Division was established by order from August 3, 1945, with headquarters at Mostar. The division was direct under the Command of Yugoslav Air Force. It consisted from 254th Fighter and 112th Fighter Aviation Regiment. Because of the crisis at Northwest of county, division has been dislocated to Novi Sad by Spring of 1946, and to Ljubljana by Summer-Autumn same year. On 9 August 1946 a pair of Yak-3 aircraft from 254th Regiment piloted by the Lieutenant Dragan Zečević and Warrant Officer Dragan Stanisavljević have open fire and hit USAF

C-47 The Douglas C-47 Skytrain or Dakota (Royal Air Force, RAF, Royal Australian Air Force, RAAF, Royal Canadian Air Force, RCAF, Royal New Zealand Air Force, RNZAF, and South African Air Force, SAAF designation) is a airlift, military transport ai ...

which has violated Yugoslav airspace flow over Ljubljana airport at 12 p.m. which has forced landing 12 km near Kranj. One passenger, Turkish captain was wounded by hit, while crew and passengers were captured by Yugoslav Army. Later it was released by August 22, and the tension made with this incident and another one shooting down of USAF C-47 with fatal consequences for whole crew of five airmen was reduced after Marshal Tito ordered to pay $150.000 to families of killed US airmen. By winter, division with its regiments has moved to Mostar and than again in 1947 across Novi Sad to Ljubljana and Cerklje where it stayed during late 1947 and 1948. By the 1948 year this division was renamed like all other units of Yugoslav Army, so it has become 44th Fighter Aviation Division (''

: 44. vazduhoplovna lovačka divizija/ 44. ваздухопловна ловачка дивизија''). The commanders of division in this period were Petar Radević and Hinko Šoić. Commissars were Milutin Omazić and Svetozar Radojević.

44th Aviation Division

The 44th Fighter Aviation Division was formed by renaming of 3rd Fighter Aviation Division in 1948. It suffered a changes in the organization. Division has moved from Cerklje in 1949 to Zemun and finally to new build Batajnica Air Base in 1951 where it has stayed until it was disbanded. In 1953 division was attached to 7th Aviation Corps. It has relocated its headquarters from Zagreb to Cerklje. By 1953 it was renamed in to Aviation Fighter-Bomber Division due to the replacement of Soviet fighter aircraft with US-made fighter-bombers. It was disbanded by the order from June 27, 1959, year per the "Drvar" reorganization plan. It was transformed into

1st Air Command The 1st Air Command (''Serbo-Croatian: 1. vazduhoplovna komanda/ 1. ваздухопловна команда'') was a joint unit of the Yugoslav Air Force from 1959 to 1964, serving as the premier air force unit within Yugoslavia. The unit served ...

. The commanders of division in this period were Hinko Šoić, Mihajlo Nikolić and Nikola Lekić. Commissars were Svetozar Radojević and Alojz Tencer until 1953.

Assignments

*Command of Yugoslav Air Force (1945-1953) *

7th Aviation Corps The 7th Aviation Corps (''Serbo-Croatian: '') was an aviation corps established in 1953. It was formed by order from February 5, 1953, with command in Zemun as join unit composed from three aviation divisions and one aviation technical division. Co ...

(1949–1959)

Previous designations

*3rd Aviation Fighter Division (1945-1948) *44th Aviation Fighter Division (1948-1953) *44th Aviation Fighter-Bomber Division (1953-1959)

Organization

1945-1948

*3rd Aviation Mixed Division ** 254th Fighter Aviation Regiment **

112th Fighter Aviation Regiment Eleven or 11 may refer to: *11 (number), the natural number following 10 and preceding 12 * one of the years 11 BC, AD 11, 1911, 2011, or any year ending in 11 Literature * ''Eleven'' (novel), a 2006 novel by British author David Llewellyn *''El ...

1948-1959

*44th Aviation Fighter/Fighter-Bomber Division ***

Training Squadron of 44th Aviation Division Training is teaching, or developing in oneself or others, any skills and knowledge or fitness that relate to specific useful competencies. Training has specific goals of improving one's capability, capacity, productivity and performance. It ...

(1953-1954, 1956–1959) **

103rd Reconnaissance Aviation Regiment The 103rd Reconnaissance Aviation Regiment (''Serbo-Croatian: 103. izviđački avijacijski puk / 103. извиђачки авијацијски пук'') was a unit established in 1947 as the Reconnaissance Aviation Regiment (''Serbo-Croatian: izvi ...

(1952-1953) **

117th Fighter Aviation Regiment The 117th Fighter Aviation Regiment (''Serbo-Croatian: 117. lovački avijacijski puk / 117. ловачки авијацијски пук'') was a unit established in 1944 as the 112th Fighter Aviation Regiment (''Serbo-Croatian: 112. vazduhoplovni ...

172nd Assault Aviation Regiment Seventeen or 17 may refer to: *17 (number), the natural number following 16 and preceding 18 * one of the years 17 BC, AD 17, 1917, 2017 Literature Magazines * ''Seventeen'' (American magazine), an American magazine * ''Seventeen'' (Japanese m ...

(1949) **

204th Fighter Aviation Regiment Fourth or the fourth may refer to: * the ordinal form of the number 4 * ''Fourth'' (album), by Soft Machine, 1971 * Fourth (angle), an ancient astronomical subdivision * Fourth (music), a musical interval * ''The Fourth'' (1972 film), a Sovie ...

(1950-1959) **177th Air Base (1953-1959) **191st Air Base (1953-1959) **399th Air Base (1953-1956)

Headquarters

Mostar Mostar (, ; sr-Cyrl, Мостар, ) is a city and the administrative center of Herzegovina-Neretva Canton of the Federation of Bosnia and Herzegovina, an entity of Bosnia and Herzegovina, and the historical capital of Herzegovina. Mostar is sit ...

(1945-1946) *

Novi Sad Novi Sad ( sr-Cyrl, Нови Сад, ; hu, Újvidék, ; german: Neusatz; see below for other names) is the second largest city in Serbia and the capital of the autonomous province of Vojvodina. It is located in the southern portion of the Pan ...

(1946) *

Ljubljana Ljubljana (also known by other historical names) is the capital and largest city of Slovenia. It is the country's cultural, educational, economic, political and administrative center. During antiquity, a Roman city called Emona stood in the ar ...

(1946) *

(1946-1947) *

(1947) * Cerklje (1947-1949) *

Zemun Zemun ( sr-cyrl, Земун, ; hu, Zimony) is a municipality in the city of Belgrade. Zemun was a separate town that was absorbed into Belgrade in 1934. It lies on the right bank of the Danube river, upstream from downtown Belgrade. The developme ...

(1949-1951) * Batajnica (1951-1959)

Commanding officers

3rd Fighter Aviation Division
/ref> *Lieutenant-Colonel Petar Radević *Lieutenant-Colonel Hinko Šoić *Colonel Mihajlo Nikolić *Colonel Nikola Lekić

Political commissars

*Lieutenant-Colonel Milutin Omazić *Lieutenant-Colonel Svetozar Radojević *Colonel Alojz Tencer

References

;Notes and citations ;Bibliography * {{Cite book, last= Dimitrijević, first=Bojan , title=Jugoslovensko ratno vazduhoplovstvo, year=2012, publisher=Institut za savremenu istoriju, isbn= 8674031633, location=Beograd Divisions of Yugoslav Air Force Military units and formations established in 1945 Military units and formations disestablished in 1959