Mato Dukovac

This is a good article. Click here for more information.
Source: Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia.

Mato Dukovac
Croatian Air Force
Yugoslav Air Force
Syrian Air Force
Years of service1937–1945
1946–1948
RankCaptain
Battles/wars

Mato Dukovac (23 September 1918 – 6 June 1990) was the leading Croatian

Axis invasion of Yugoslavia in April 1941, and then the Luftwaffe, with which he flew combat missions on the Eastern Front. His tours of the Eastern Front spanned October and November 1942, February to June 1943, and October 1943 to March 1944. He defected to the Soviet Union on 20 September 1944 and was returned to Yugoslavia in November 1944. He worked as a flight instructor for the Yugoslav Air Force in Pančevo and Zadar
before defecting to Italy in April 1945.

Dukovac left Italy in 1946 and became a captain in the Syrian Air Force. During the 1948 Arab–Israeli War, he flew combat missions against Israel. Following the war, he emigrated to Canada and started a family there. He died in Toronto in 1990.

Early life

Dukovac was born on 23 September 1918 in the town of

Royal Yugoslav Military Academy in Belgrade in 1937. He graduated on 1 April 1940 with the rank of potporučnik,[b] and commenced pilot training at the 1st Pilot School in Pančevo in October of that year.[3]

World War II

Croatian Air Force Legion

During the

Serbo-Croatian: Vazduhoplovstvo Vojske Kraljevine Jugoslavije, VVKJ) at an airfield in Velika Gorica. After the Kingdom of Yugoslavia was defeated and occupied by the Axis powers, Dukovac became a member of the armed forces of the newly created Independent State of Croatia (Croatian: Nezavisna Država Hrvatska, NDH). He joined the Air Force of the Independent State of Croatia (Croatian: Zrakoplovstvo Nezavisne Države Hrvatske, ZNDH) on 29 April 1941 with the rank of poručnik,[3][c] and was initially posted to the personnel department of ZNDH headquarters.[1]

On 27 June 1941, the

fighter group. The HZL formed part of the German Luftwaffe; its members swore an oath of loyalty to Adolf Hitler, were subject to German disciplinary regulations, and wore Luftwaffe uniforms. After attending Luftwaffe training schools, the fighter group was sent to the Eastern Front and designated as 15. (Kroatische) Staffel (squadron) of III. Gruppe (Group) of Jagdgeschwader 52 (52nd Fighter Wing, or JG 52).[4] Meanwhile, Dukovac was transferred to the Luftwaffe Flugzeugführerschule A/B 120 (pilot school 120) in Prenzlau, Germany in September or October.[1][3] In April 1942 he underwent advanced training, and in June he was transferred to Jagdfliegerschule 4 (fighter pilot school 4) at Fürth. In October 1942, Leutnant Dukovac and seven other pilots joined 15./JG 52,[3] which was operating in the Caucasus flying Messerschmitt Bf 109G-2 fighters.[3] On 29 October, Dukovac had his first 15-minute familiarisation flight, and by the afternoon of that day the new members of the unit were flying as wingmen to the veteran pilots of the Staffel.[5]

First victory

a colour photograph of an aircraft in a museum
Dukovac scored his first aerial victory flying a Messerschmitt Bf 109G-2 fighter.

On 11 November 1942, Dukovac was flying his 12th mission, escorting

Lvov. They flew on to Nikolayev on 21 February. The Eastern Front had changed significantly during their absence, with the strategic initiative passing to the Soviets.[6]

Second tour

On 30 March 1943, 15./JG 52 transferred from Nikolayev to Kerch, and it flew the first missions of its second tour the following day. On 15 April, Dukovac and Feldwebel Viktor Mihelčić took off on a patrol of the Krymskaja–Abinskaja area, and Dukovac shot down a US-made Bell P-39 Airacobra. Five days later, Dukovac was late taking off and was catching up to his Schwarm when he downed a LaGG-3 fighter during an engagement with four of the Soviet aircraft, but there were no witnesses to confirm his claim. Later that day, he and three other pilots were escorting a group of Ju 87s and Junkers Ju 88 medium bombers when they came across 25 Soviet fighters and flying boats over the Black Sea. Dukovac claimed another LaGG-3, but again no-one witnessed it.[7] The following morning, Dukovac was on patrol with another pilot near Karbardinovka when they came across six Mikoyan-Gurevich MiG-3 fighters. Dukovac claimed one, but the other pilot's aircraft was hit and they had to retire. Later that day, Dukovac and another pilot engaged several LaGG-3s between Novorossiysk and Gelendzhik; Dukovac claimed two, one of which was not witnessed. On 22 April, Dukovac was attacking shipping in Novorossiysk when he had to force-land his aircraft with engine problems. He flew another mission in a different aircraft later that day over the Black Sea, downing an Ilyushin DB-3 bomber.[8]

On 25 April, Dukovac and two others flew an escort mission for Henschel Hs 129 ground-attack aircraft and Focke-Wulf Fw 190 fighters attacking shipping near Primorsko-Akhtarsk, during which the Croat pilots assisted in the sinking of two small vessels. On 27 April, Dukovac accounted for another LaGG-3 between Krymskaja and Abinskaja during a Heinkel He 111 escort. Dukovac claimed a victory over another LaGG-3 during a patrol three days later, but it was not seen by his wingman, as they had become separated during the fight. On 1 May, Dukovac sank a small vessel. The following day, he and three other Croat pilots were escorting a group of He 111s when two LaGG-3s tried to intercept the formation. Dukovac and another pilot both claimed to have downed one Soviet fighter each, but their destruction was not witnessed.[9] On 3 May, a morning mission saw Dukovac claim one of four LaGG-3s encountered near Krimskaja.[10]

a black and white photograph of a row of single-engined aircraft with stars on their sides
On 25 May, Dukovac claimed victories over two Supermarine Spitfire V fighters

In the afternoon of 3 May, Dukovac and another pilot were escorting Hs 129s when they encountered a group of seven

Fieseler Fi 156 Storch liaison aircraft. On 12 May, reinforcements arrived for 15./JG 52, in the form of some of the pilots that had served on the first tour of the Eastern Front in 1942, along with more former VVKJ pilots.[11]

Dukovac did not meet further success until 25 May, when he claimed two Supermarine Spitfire V fighters southeast of Temryuk. Two days later, he and two other pilots surprised eight LaGG-3s west of Trarehof, all of them claiming one, although Dukovac's claim was not witnessed. On 30 May, he was on another He 111 escort mission when he accounted for another LaGG-3.[12] At this juncture, there was a spate of defections from 15./JG 52, with pilots flying to Soviet airfields. The remaining pilots were questioned by the Luftwaffe, the Staffel was withdrawn from the front, and the commander of the HZL was replaced. This was the end of the second tour of 15./JG 52 on the Eastern Front, during which Dukovac had claimed 14 confirmed and six unconfirmed kills, five of which were later confirmed.[13]

Third tour

The Luftwaffe decided to replace most of the remaining pilots of 15./JG 52 with newly trained men, and several veterans of the Staffel joined them during their fighter training at Fürth. Twelve graduated on 1 October 1943, and under newly promoted Staffelkapitan Oberleutnant Dukovac, they and another two pilots arrived at

Bagerovo for his 30th and 31st confirmed aerial victories.[15]

Bf 109G-6 'Black Chevron 1' of Oberleutenant Mato Dukovac, November 1943. Dukovac used this aircraft until he was shot down in it by a Soviet P-39 on 25 February 1944.[16]
a green monoplane with a red star on the fuselage
Dukovac's last aerial victory was against a US-made P-39 Airacobra

It was not until 12 January that Dukovac added to his tally, a

Slovak Republic, but no aircraft were provided, and on 21 July the pilots were advised that the HZL was to be disbanded. Despite this, in August, they were moved to an airfield in East Prussia, where they took delivery of ten Bf 109G-14s. At the beginning of September, they flew to Lithuania in preparation to rejoin the fray.[18]

Defections

On 20 September 1944, Dukovac and another pilot defected to the Soviets after taking off from Labjau airfield in East Prussia. His defection was soon announced by the Red Army. This spelled the end of the Staffel, and the remaining members were withdrawn to East Prussia and retrained as infantry.[19] These men were eventually released from infantry duties in early 1945 and were allowed to return to the NDH, where they were assigned to the ZNDH.[20] In November 1944, the Soviets handed Dukovac over to the Yugoslav Partisans, who offered him the position of flight instructor with the Yugoslav Air Force (Serbo-Croatian: Jugoslovensko ratno vazduhoplovstvo, JRV).[1] The following month, Dukovac returned to Belgrade as a kapetan in the JRV, and after a conversion to fly Yakovlev fighters,[21] he worked as a flight instructor in Pančevo. By February 1945, constant provocations and insults directed at him by fellow JRV personnel owing to his service with the ZNDH prompted him to apply for a transfer.[1] In April, he was posted to the 1st Pilot Training School in Zadar as an instructor.[21]

On 8 August, Dukovac commandeered a

Adriatic and defected again, this time to the Kingdom of Italy.[21] He was first placed in a refugee camp in Modena, and then one in Bagnoli del Trigno.[1]

Later life and legacy

Dukovac's grave in Kingston, Ontario

Dukovac joined the Syrian Air Force in 1946. During the 1948 Arab–Israeli War, he was a captain in No. 1 Squadron of the Syrian Air Force, based in Estabal in Lebanon's Beqaa Valley.[21] Following the end of the Arab–Israeli War, Dukovac emigrated to Canada.[21] He settled in Toronto and started a family there. He worked for IBM and was a co-founder of one of the largest Croatian émigré organisations in Canada, the United Croats of Canada. He died in Toronto on 6 June 1990.[1][d]

Dukovac was the top-scoring Croatian pilot of World War II.[21] During his life, there was much controversy surrounding the exact number of aircraft that he had downed. Croatian wartime documents discovered in the Military History Institute in Belgrade after his death show that the ZNDH credited him with 44 confirmed kills.[3] At least one other source indicates a tally of 40 confirmed kills with five unconfirmed.[22] The ZNDH total of 44 included 18 LaGG-3s, 12 Ilyushin Il-2s, three P-39s, two DB-3s, two Yak-1s, and one each of the following aircraft; II-16, MiG-3, Spitfire, La-5, Yak-9, Pe-2, and A-20. The ZNDH records also noted one unconfirmed claim.[21]

Notes

  1. ^ Gol gives his date of birth as 23 October 1918,[1] but this is contradicted by the date given on his gravestone.
  2. U.S. Army second lieutenant.[2]
  3. ^ Equivalent to a U.S. Army first lieutenant.[2]
  4. ^ Gol gives his date of death as September 1990,[1] but this is contradicted by the date given on his gravestone.

Footnotes

  1. ^ a b c d e f g h i Gol 1997, p. 105.
  2. ^ a b Niehorster 2013.
  3. ^ a b c d e f Savić & Ciglić 2002, p. 74.
  4. ^ Savić & Ciglić 2002, pp. 14–16.
  5. ^ a b Savić & Ciglić 2002, p. 34.
  6. ^ Savić & Ciglić 2002, p. 43.
  7. ^ Savić & Ciglić 2002, pp. 43–45.
  8. ^ Savić & Ciglić 2002, p. 45.
  9. ^ Savić & Ciglić 2002, p. 46.
  10. ^ Savić & Ciglić 2002, pp. 46–47.
  11. ^ Savić & Ciglić 2002, p. 47.
  12. ^ Savić & Ciglić 2002, p. 48.
  13. ^ Savić & Ciglić 2002, pp. 49–50.
  14. ^ Savić & Ciglić 2002, pp. 52–53.
  15. ^ Savić & Ciglić 2002, p. 54.
  16. ^ Savić & Ciglić 2002, p. 94.
  17. ^ Savić & Ciglić 2002, pp. 55–56.
  18. ^ Savić & Ciglić 2002, pp. 57–58.
  19. ^ Savić & Ciglić 2002, p. 58.
  20. ^ Savić & Ciglić 2002, p. 68.
  21. ^ a b c d e f g Savić & Ciglić 2002, p. 75.
  22. ^ Neulen 2000, p. 326.

References

  • Gol, Nenad (1997). "Dukovac, Mato". In Dizdar, Zdravko; Grčić, Marko; Ravlić, Slaven; Stuparić, Darko (eds.). Tko je tko u NDH [Who Was Who in the NDH] (in Serbo-Croatian). Zagreb, Croatia: Minerva.
    ISBN 978-953-6377-03-9
    .
  • Neulen, Hans Werner (2000). In the Skies of Europe: Air Forces Allied to the Luftwaffe 1939–1945. Marlborough, England: Crowood.
    ISBN 978-1-86126-326-1
    .
  • Niehorster, Leo (2013). "Royal Yugoslav Armed Forces Ranks". Leo Niehorster. Retrieved 26 April 2016.
  • Savić, Dragan; Ciglić, Boris (2002). Croatian Aces of World War 2. London, England: Osprey Publishing.
    ISBN 978-1-84176-435-1
    .
Wikimedia Commons has media related to Mato Dukovac.
Retrieved from "https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Mato_Dukovac&oldid=1213064366"