Knights over Croatia

摘要

With the third decade of the 21st century upon us, Croatia is still flying the Soviet MiG-21 Fishbed, the delta-winged icon of the Cold War era. There are just two European NATO air forces continuing to operate the legendary jet - the other being Romania with its Israeli-modified MiG-21 LanceR Cs. There are 12 modernised MiG-21 s (eight single-seat MiG-21 bisD and four MiG-21 UMD two-seat trainers) currently on strength with the Croatian Air Force (Hrvatsko ratno zrakoplovstvo or HRZ) -or, more precisely, with the 191 Eskadrila Lovackih Aviona (ELA - 191st Fighter Aircraft Squadron). The unit, based at Franjo Tudjman Airport, which is also known as Pleso and which is near the country's capital Zagreb, is subordinated to the local 91 Krilo (91st Wing).