Belgrade-Batajnica Air Base
On September 2012, at Aeromiting Batajnica, Serbian Air Force celebrated 100 years of military aviation in Serbia. A huge airshow was organized on this occasion at Belgrade-Batajnica Military Air Base.
Aeromiting Batajnica
Aeromiting Batajnica was held at Batajnica – Belgrade Air Base. Besides the Serbian Air Force and Serbian civilian aviation operators, there were also foreign guests from sixteen countries: Austria with Saab 105 and S-70 Black Hawk helicopter; Bulgaria with C-27J Spartan; Denmark with F-16; Italy with Eurofighter Typhoon and Alenia C-27 J Spartan; Romanian Air Force with one IAR-330 Puma M helicopter; U.S. Air Force with F-16 and a Boeing KC-135 Stratotanker; Slovenia with AS-532 Cougar helicopter and one Pilatus PC-9 Swift; Turkey with one Transall C-160; France with Alpha Jet; Hungary with a Saaab JAS-39 Grippen that came directly from Hungary for a few fly-by’s; Montenegro, United Kingdom, Ukraine, Sweden, and Bosnia – Herzegovina where also present but only with delegations, no aircraft. Russia had a more significant presence with the aerobatic team Russian Knights flying the Mikoian Gurevici MiG-29. An Ilyushin IL-76 was also present as support aircraft for the team. MiG Corporation came with two MiG-29M2 and an Antonov An-12 as support plane.
Aeromiting Batajnica lasted all day long, but it did worth the effort. It was an exciting airshow to see and photograph as we could see many Serbian planes, which are rarer, if not impossible, to see at airshows outside Serbia. One of these planes is the Soko J-22 Orao. This plane is still in operational use with the Serbian Air Force. Romania used to have this type of aircraft in use. It was known as IAR-93 Vulturul (Eagle). It was retired from service around 2003. The plane was designed and built by a Serbia and Romania joint venture.
