Benina, establishment of an air unit

In Carovigno near Brindisi, they established their own pilot, reconnaissance, and mechanical school. From there, a group of 255 pilots went to Africa. In Africa, they gathered at the Benina airfield near Benghazi. The first group to arrive there was more than 300 pilots from Kasfareet, who had already rebelled on December 1st, 1943, and established the first unit of the Yugoslav People's Liberation Army in Africa. From these two groups, the 1st and 2nd squadrons were established. A group of 118 pilots, mechanics, and radio operators from Algeria joined the squadrons. The 1st squadron was established on April 22nd, 1944, at the Benina airfield and had 16 Spitfire aircraft. By July 1st, 1944, the 2nd squadron was formed, which had 16 Hurricane aircraft.

The squadrons operated as part of the British air force, but they fought on Yugoslav territory from Trieste to Montenegro and from the Sava River to the Adriatic Sea. Together, they carried out 2,180 combat flights and 593 combat missions.

In the Allied camps in Algeria, Morocco, and Tunisia, there were about 4,000 coastal Slovenes and Istrian Croats in the autumn of 1943, who had already decided in July and August 1943 on the island of Sicily to join the Yugoslav People's Liberation Army. They established their own partisan units, but the Allies transported them instead of sending them to Yugoslavia to North Africa (mainly to Algeria). From there, they finally arrived at the Yugoslav battlefield on the decision of the Supreme Command of the Yugoslav People's Liberation Army and comrade Tito in 1944.

Source: Prekomorci, M. Ivančič, Koper, 2023

Keyword: prekomorci123, nedokončano123