Adriatic Guard: The Story of the Naval Aviation of the Kingdom of Serbs, Croats and Slovenes

The creation of the Kingdom of Serbs, Croats and Slovenes in turbulent international enviroment of the post-Great War Europe requested urgent build-up of its military strength. Hopes that its maritime borders would be guarded with the assets left over by the once mighty Austro-Hungarian Navy were quickly shattered by the Italian Kingdom, which never hid its hostility towards the new eastern neighbour. Nevertheless, no other part of the armed forces of the first Yugoslav state would be founded exclusively on the Austro-Hungarian heritage as was its maritime air arm. The veterans of air battles over the Adriatic, both South Slavic and of other nations, and the aircraft preserved at the seaplane station in Kumbor formed the backbone of the Naval Aviation of the Kingdom of Serbs, Croats and Slovenes. The painful and expensive process of its creation and consolidation is illustrated with 34 seaplane profiles and 307 photographs, most of which are published here for the first time. This book represents the result of decades of painstaking research and is drawn from archival sources, interviews and personal recollections, as well as documents and artifacts from private collections in Croatia, Slovenia, Serbia, Montenegro, Bosnia & Herzegovina, Austria, Italy, Czechia, Poland and Hungary.