Božidar "Boško" Petrović (7 April 1911 – 12 July 1937) was a Yugoslav

fighter ace A flying ace, fighter ace or air ace is a military aviation, military aviator credited with shooting down a certain minimum number of enemy aircraft during aerial combat; the exact number of aerial victories required to officially qualify as an ...

of the

Spanish Civil War The Spanish Civil War () was a military conflict fought from 1936 to 1939 between the Republican faction (Spanish Civil War), Republicans and the Nationalist faction (Spanish Civil War), Nationalists. Republicans were loyal to the Left-wing p ...

and professional footballer.

Biography

Boško Petrović was born in

Bela Palanka Bela Palanka (Serbian Cyrillic: Бела Паланка, ) is a town and municipality located in the Pirot District of southeastern Serbia. According to the 2022 census, the population of the town is 7,140, and the population of the municipality i ...

in the

Kingdom of Serbia The Kingdom of Serbia was a country located in the Balkans which was created when the ruler of the Principality of Serbia, Milan I of Serbia, Milan I, was proclaimed king in 1882. Since 1817, the Principality was ruled by the Obrenović dynast ...

in 1911. After the completion of his secondary education, he attended the

University of Belgrade The University of Belgrade () is a public university, public research university in Belgrade, Serbia. It is the oldest and largest modern university in Serbia. Founded in 1808 as the Belgrade Higher School in revolutionary Serbia, by 1838 it me ...

, studying law. While a student, Petrović began his professional football career, beginning his career at Belgrade clubs

FK BASK FK BASK TEK ( sr-Cyrl, ФК БАСК ТЕК) is a football club from Savski Venac, Belgrade, Serbia. It is one of the oldest clubs in Serbia. The club currently competes in the Serbian League Belgrade (3rd tier). BASK are the initials of ''Beog ...

and BUSK before joining

FK Vojvodina Fudbalski klub Vojvodina ( sr-Cyrl, Фудбалски клуб Војводина), commonly known as Vojvodina and colloquially as Voša ( sr-Cyrl, Воша), is a Serbian professional football club based in Novi Sad, Serbia, the second large ...

in 1932. In 1934 he moved to

SK Jugoslavija Sportski klub Jugoslavija ( sr-Cyrl, Cпортски клуб Југославија), commonly known as Jugoslavija, was a Serbian football club based in Belgrade. It was originally formed as SK Velika Srbija in 1913 and changed its name to SK Ju ...

, one of the stronhest clubs in Yugoslavia, where he played until 1936. That same year he was in the

Yugoslavia national football team The Yugoslavia national football team; ; ; represented Yugoslavia in international association football. Although the team mainly represented the pre-war Kingdom of Yugoslavia and the post-war SFR Yugoslavia, various iterations of the state ...

and played a match in

Paris Paris () is the Capital city, capital and List of communes in France with over 20,000 inhabitants, largest city of France. With an estimated population of 2,048,472 residents in January 2025 in an area of more than , Paris is the List of ci ...

against the French. It was also during this time he joined the then-illegal

Communist Party of Yugoslavia The League of Communists of Yugoslavia, known until 1952 as the Communist Party of Yugoslavia, was the founding and ruling party of SFR Yugoslavia. It was formed in 1919 as the main communist opposition party in the Kingdom of Serbs, Croats a ...

. After graduating from university, Petrović joined the

Royal Yugoslav Air Force The Royal Yugoslav Air Force ( sh-Latn, Jugoslovensko kraljevsko ratno vazduhoplovstvo, JKRV; sh-Cyrl, Југословенско краљевско ратно ваздухопловство, ЈКРВ; (, JKVL); lit. "Yugoslav royal war aviatio ...

and was sent to

Novi Sad Novi Sad ( sr-Cyrl, Нови Сад, ; #Name, see below for other names) is the List of cities in Serbia, second largest city in Serbia and the capital of the autonomous province of Vojvodina. It is located in the southern portion of the Pannoni ...

to train as a pilot cadet. He took advantage of a trip to Paris in 1936 with his football team to test out new aircraft, including the

Hawker Fury The Hawker Fury is a British biplane fighter aircraft used by the Royal Air Force in the 1930s. It was a fast, agile aircraft, and the first interceptor in RAF service faster than in level flight. It was the fighter counterpart to the Hawke ...

. At the outbreak of the

, Petrović chose to join the fight on the side of the Spanish Republic and made his way to Spain along with his friend Sreten Dudić under the pseudonym of Fernández García. Upon their arrival, the two pilots were sent on a 26-day training course in

Albacete Albacete ( , , ) is a city and municipality in the Spanish autonomous community of Castilla–La Mancha, and capital of the province of Albacete. Lying in the south-east of the Iberian Peninsula, the area around the city is known as Los Llan ...

before being sent to the front. After participating in multiple battles, including the

Siege of Madrid The siege of Madrid was a two-and-a-half-year siege of the Second Spanish Republic, Republican-controlled Spain, Spanish capital city of Madrid by the Nationalist faction (Spanish Civil War), Nationalist armies, under General Francisco Franco, ...

, Petrović was killed on 12 July 1937, the same day he received his fifth confirmed kill. Shortly after his death, his brother Dobre arrived in Spain and took his place in the squadron. After the communists emerged victorious in Yugoslavia following

World War II World War II or the Second World War (1 September 1939 – 2 September 1945) was a World war, global conflict between two coalitions: the Allies of World War II, Allies and the Axis powers. World War II by country, Nearly all of the wo ...

, the government commemorated Petrović by naming several streets after the pilot and dedicating a plaque to him in

Partizan Stadium The Partizan Stadium ( Serbian: Стадион Партизан / ''Stadion Partizan'') is a football and track-and-field stadium in Autokomanda, Belgrade, Serbia. The home ground of FK Partizan, it was formerly known as JNA Stadium (Stadion J ...

References

External links

* * {{DEFAULTSORT:Petrovic, Bosko 1911 births 1937 deaths People from Bela Palanka Men's association football midfielders Yugoslav men's footballers Yugoslavia men's international footballers FK BASK players FK Vojvodina players SK Jugoslavija players Yugoslav First League players Spanish Civil War flying aces Yugoslav people of the Spanish Civil War Yugoslav communists University of Belgrade alumni Yugoslav aviators Spanish military personnel killed in the Spanish Civil War (Republican faction) Yugoslav military personnel killed in action

Biography

See also

References

External links