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TheSlovak Air Force (Slovak:Slovenské vzdušné zbrane, or SVZ), between 1939 and 1945, was the air force of the short-livedWorld War IISlovak Republic. Its mission was to provide air support at fronts, and to protectBratislava and metropolitan areas against enemy air attack.
One of the SVZ's first air battles was in theSlovak–Hungarian War in March 1939 in which Hungary occupiedCarpathian Ruthenia and parts of southern Slovakia. In this the SVZ suffered some losses againstRoyal Hungarian Air Force. The SVZ also took part in theGerman Invasion of Poland.
The SVZ took part inAxis offensives in theUkraine andRussian Central front sectors of theEastern Front under the lead ofLuftwaffe in theStalingrad andCaucasus operations. The engagement in the cost it great losses of aircraft and personnel.
For the rest of the war the SVZ foughtUS Army Air Forces andRoyal Air Force raids against Slovakia.
The symbol of the Slovak air force was a blue and white cross similar to the GermanBalkenkreuz, with a red disc in the centre. It was carried on the tail and wings. Engine covers were painted yellow and there was a vertical line on the fuselage.
Training aircraft were supplied by Germany and Italy. To defend Slovak air space, the air force usedMesserschmitt Bf 109 (E and G types),Avia B-534, and some other interceptor types. It was also helped byLuftwaffe units active in the area.
WhenRomania and theSoviet Union entered Slovakia, with some captured aircraft and defectors they organized a localInsurgent Air Force to continue the fight against Axis forces in country.[citation needed] Others served voluntarily inLuftwaffe units;[citation needed] later these air units were integrated to the reconstitutedCzechoslovak Air Force[clarification needed] after the end of the war.
These were primarily assigned to Letecky Pluk (Air Regiment) 3 and numbered 79 Avia B-534 and 11 Bk-534 biplane fighters, 73 Letov S-328 biplane observation, and 15 Aero A-100 and Ab-101 biplane reconnaissance aircraft plus a miscellany of trainers and other minor types. However, it also had three bombers, aBloch MB-200, aFokker F.VII and aAvia B-71, a license-built copy of the SB-2 light bomber.Such a large number of Czech airmen departed for the German-occupied Protectorate of Bohemia-Moravia that the Slovaks were forced to reduce the numbers of squadrons to more sustainable levels. The original 5 fighter pletky (squadrons) were reduced to 3, numbers 11, 12, and 13 while the 7 original reconnaissance and observation pletky were consolidated into 3, numbered 1st, 2nd, and 3rd.
