This is the second volume in MMP Books two volume series on Yugoslav fighter colors from 1918-1941. The initial volume stopped in the mid-late 1930s and this one picks up from where that one left off. There are a variety of types and while most of them are imports, the Yugoslav aircraft industry did produce some aircraft, though the numbers were small.

The initial offering is the Hawker Fury, this being followed by the Ikarus IK-2, the Hawker Hurricane, the Rogozarski IK-3,  and the Bf-109E-3a. These planes formed the bulk of the fighter arm with the 109 being the most numerous, even if all were not delivered before the Germans invaded in April 1941. The rest of the types were either delivered in ones and twos, were prototypes, or captured planes. These include the Potez 63, Rogozarski R-313, Zmaj R-1, Ikarus Orkan, and Bf-110C.

Each aircraft entry is provided a background history of the type as it relates to Yugoslavia, its unit use, and it combat record during the April war. There is also information on what happened to extant types post war, with some still operational aircraft being passed on to the Croatian Air Force. It is probably not surprising that I found the sections on Yugoslav developed aircraft to be the most interesting as one simply does not read much about them. This is especially true of the three prototype twins that are covered near the end of the book. I had heard about one of these before, but not the other two. These were planes that had actually been completed and test flown, but never made it into series production. Since Yugoslavia depended on other nations for things like guns and engines, it is not surprising that there were issues with supply of these items. Still, there were fully functional repair depots in country and many battle damaged planes were able to be returned to the fray, despite the short duration of the conflict.

In line with their other similar books, it is superbly done with a lot of primary research so this isn't simply a copy of past works. You'll find a superb selection of period photos as well as the usual collection of profiles at the end of each section based on photos of the aircraft in question. One thing I need to mention is that while it is in English, the writers do not speak English as a primary language and you'll find some odd sentence syntax as a result. It does nothing to diminish the quality of the book. A book that I can highly recommend to the enthusiast and an especially worthwhile offering for the modeler.

August 2021

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