On Saturday, the 35th anniversary of the establishment of the Osijek Independent Aerial Unit was marked at the entrance to the Osijek-Čepin Sports Airport. The commemoration included laying wreaths and lighting candles in memory of the fallen Croatian veterans.
The deputy mayor of Osijek, Dragan Vulin, stated that they were remembering four members of the water unit. The four members of the water unit died in a plane crash caused by a plane shot down near Otok.
Members of the Independent Aerial Unit used small sports and agricultural aircraft. During the war, they carried out, in addition to combat, humanitarian tasks. Thus, aid was delivered to besieged Vukovar, and among the humanitarian tasks was the delivery of medicine to the hospital in Vukovar. There was not enough medicine in the hospital in Vuhovar, and the aid could only reach by air.
The retired colonel of the Croatian Air Force and a member of the water unit, Josip Hrgović, stated that they used improvised means in combat operations. It was 200-liter gas bottles, which they adapted and made bombs out of. Hrgović said that this was their main weapon. This tool was used for combat operations, and that was for night bombing.
Hrgović said that they helped the forces on the ground as much as they could. He said that they could not be the turning point in the war and the defense of Vukovar, but they did the maximum they could with the means available to them.
The president of the Osijek Aeroclub, Zlatko Tot, assessed that the Osijek Independent Aerial Unit was the beginning of the Croatian Air Force. The Osijek-Bojani county president, Nataša Tramišak, said that Croatia today has modern armed forces, equipped with the latest technology and equipment, including the 'Rafale' aircraft. Tramišak said that work would continue on that.
In addition to former members of the unit, the wreaths were laid by delegations of state and local authorities and associations from the Homeland War.
