Slovenia trip 2011.

    In the later part of 2010 we had discussed an idea to visit the Air Force of Slovenia. With the exception of the PC9s and the single Let410 that appear sometimes at airshows, the other aircraft of the Slovenian military are not so common outside of their own country.

Operational aircraft of Slovenia consist of a single Let410, two PC6s, 11 PC9s, 4 Bell 206s, 8 Bell 412s, 4 Cougars, 8 Zlin 242s and 2 Zlin 143s, along with a Government operated Falcon 2000. There are a small amount of wrecks and relics to be found in the country aswell, including several ex military UTVA 75s.

An initial contact was made with both the Slovenian Air Force Headquarters and the Slovenian Embassy in London. I received a telephone call from the assistant to the Slovenian Ambassador to the UK, his excellency Iztok Jarc and I was invited to the Slovenian Embassy to discuss this proposal further with Mr Jarc. The date of the meeting was scheduled for a few weeks time.

During the following weeks arrangements were made directly with the Slovenian military and the visits were agreed. The date of the visits to Slovenia were to coincide with a yearly joint Slovenian / Hungarian helicopter exercise that was due to take place titled ‘Lord Mountain’. The purpose of the exercise is to give additional experience in mountain flying to the Hungarian crews and also to train newer Slovenian crews in mountain flying in the Alps. The planned participants taking part in ‘Lord Mountain’ were a Slovenian Cougar and a Hungarian Mi17 and an Mi24. Arrangements were made for us to go Alps flying in both the Slovenian Cougar and the Hungarian Mi17 and to have the opportunity to take air to air photos of all three helicopters.

The day arrived for the meeting with the Slovenian Ambassador and I headed off at 4.00am down to London, arriving in plenty of time I went to the Embassy to meet with Mr Jarc.

Jarc was born on 21st August 1963 in Novo Mesto, his parents both working as peasants. He had studied International Relations at the University of Ljubljana and following this started his political career with a job in a government department in the former Yugoslavia dealing with internal affairs. From here Jarcs career progressed rapidly as he was posted to Brussels as Counsellor for Economic Affairs at the Slovenian mission to the EU. From 2000 – 2003 he was chief negotiator for agriculture with Slovenia’s negotiating team for EU membership, until going on to be Slovenia’s Ambassador to Israel from 2004 – 2007. Going on from here he became Minister for Agriculture, Forestry and Food in Slovenia. Mr Jarc then came to the UK with his wife and three sons as the Slovenian Ambassador.

I explained to Mr Jarc that permission from Slovenia had already come, so with this in mind we sat for a while and had an interesting discussion before I headed back north.

We were informed over the coming weeks that the Hungarian element had cancelled from exercise ‘Lord Mountain’ so we could not do the air to air photography but would still have the opportunity to visit both bases in June.

Ade Hairsine, Kev Martin and myself had planned the route into Slovenia to be with Ryanair from London Stansted to Klagenfurt, Austria and then to drive the short distance over the border.

After having a quick look at Mildenhall on the way to Stansted (where we noted four visitors 63-8002 KC135R, 62-3517 KC135R, 84-0190 KC10A, 76-1604 E3B), we departed London Stansted on 21stJune 2011 on Ryanair 737 EI-EKH. A couple of visitors had been seen at Stansted in the form of US Coast Guard VC11 01, Saudi C130 HZ-132, UAE Government 747 A6-MMM and UAE Government 737 A6-HRS.

The weather in Klagenfurt was superb, so we got ourselves some water and took the hire car over the border to take a quick look at Ljubljana-Brnik airport and noted Bell 412 H2-37 on standing on the military ramp on SAR standby.

From here we headed to Novo-Mesto for the first Slovenian wreck / relic, UTVA 75 S5-DCD (former 53122). After checking the main hangar at this small field and finding no sign of the UTVA we managed to find someone from the aero club who explained that the UTVA was in a small building at the rear of the main hangar - so off we went to see it. It was the first time in Slovenia for all three of us and our first contact with the Slovenian people would give us a blue print for the very friendly and welcoming reception that would continue throughout the whole trip. We took some pictures of the UTVA before heading off armed with a new desire for routing out the rest of the UTVA 75s in Slovenia.

We left here and headed east along the E70 and across the border into the fourth country of the day, Croatia. As it was turning dusk we read off the five Mi17s that were standing out on the field at Zagreb-Lucko (226, 223, 220, 224, 227) and after a quick look at Zagreb Airport for the buiss jet fan in the car we headed off to the South West for the village of Turanj.

In the village here there is still evidence of damage from the war, many buildings have clearly visible patched up bullet holes and it can be seen that some buildings have new roofs or walls. In the centre of the village is a war memorial with some tanks and military vehicles and also the wreckage of the rear end of Yugoslav Mig21bis 17130. Newly arrived here since our last visit is Croatian Mig21bis 126 and we all needed it. The bis is dramatically pole mounted and as it was night time we had the opportunity to make some long exposure pictures using the tripod. From here we headed to the hotel and that was the end of day one.

A fairly leisurely start of around 6.30am for breakfast on day two and then it was off to the Slovenian Flight School at Cerklje Ob Krki Air Base. We were met at the gate by our two Dutch friends and the five of us were then taken onto base for a coffee before we all attended the mornings flight briefing for all air operations that day. Of course, the briefing was all in the Slovenian language so we did not take too much in. After the briefing we were given a presentation by air crews of both the fixed wing and rotary element based at Cerklje Ob Krki.

Cerklje is a former Yugoslav Army Aviation Air Base, which was used by the Luftwaffe during war years. After gaining independence from Yugoslavia in 1991, Cerklje became a base for the new Slovenian military forces although it was not until 1996 that the first Slovenian aircraft arrived and was stationed here. The main role of the base now is to provide trained aviation personnel for the Slovenian Armed Forces, which now consist of approximately 7000 personnel.

After students complete an initial 50 hours (20 hours in the simulator and 30 hours on the Zlin basic trainer), a combined decision is made as to whether a pilot will continue with fixed wing or rotary flying. Pilots who move to the rotary wing will, at first fly the Bell 206 and then move to either the Bell 412 or Cougar.

Pilots continuing with fixed wing flying will move from the Zlin to the PC9.Of the eleven PC9s, nine are equipped with hard –points for carrying weapons. Two aircraft (and a third that was destroyed in a crash) do not have the hard points and are solely for the training role, L9-51 and L9-53. Both of these aircraft are named after Slovenian towns 51 ‘SKOFJA LOKA’ and 53 ‘PIRAN’. All military pilots in Slovenia are also civil rated.

It is clear that a large investment has been made in the base, with new ramps, hangars and an impressive new control tower that was built in 2010. We had the opportunity to visit the new tower and whilst standing on the balcony in the glorious sunshine we had the treat of PC9 L9-64 making passes of the tower at a lower altitude than the balcony we were standing on – directly below us.

Most of the aircraft were in a large, new hangar including most of the eleven PC9s we logged, of the original twelve delivered to Slovenia. The missing PC9 L9-52 was destroyed in a crash in March 2004, when tragically the pilot had suffered a heart attack whilst airborne.

We had a walk out onto the ramp and a good insight into PC9 flying, followed by a quick look in the small hangar that housed the Zlins.

We headed off to the maintenance hangar, during which time the Falcon 2000 that had been to Switzerland for maintenance arrived back. A very interesting run down of the maintenance of the based helicopters was given to us from the maintenance chief.

As well as being home to the flight school, Cerklje is also home to the 15th Helicopter Battalion which had moved here from Ljubljana-Brnik, meaning that although Brnik still has a Bell412 on SAR detachment, all Slovenian aircraft are now based at Cerklje. The 15th Helicopter Battalion have a Bell 412 permanently deployed on duties in Kosovo aswell. We looked into the 15th Helicopter Battalion hangar before we headed to the base canteen for lunch.

On the way for lunch we asked the question as to the location of the former Ljubljana-Brnik gate guard Gazelle 12660 which should now be here. After some discussion the location of the helicopter was established and off we went to take a look at this famous Gazelle. The aircraft is stored well inside buildings and is now wearing its former military colours after some restoration work. This Gazelle was the very first aircraft of the Slovenian Armed Forces when Major Joze Kalan and Senior Master Sergeant Bogomir Stupar defected to Slovenia in it on June 28th 1991. There are plans to have it on public display in the future.

After this lunch was served and a very welcome break from the sun for us. 

Logged here today were :
Main hangar :
L9-51 / 51 ‘SKOFJA LOKA’ PC9
L9-53 / 53 ‘PIRAN’ PC9
L9-61 / 61 / 634 PC9M
L9-62 / 62 / 635 PC9M
L9-63 / 63 / 636 PC9M
L9-65 / 65 / 638 PC9M
L9-66 / 66 PC9M
L9-67 / 67 / 640 PC9M
L9-68 / 68 / 641 PC9M
L6-02 / 02 PC6B
S5-HPK ‘PETER KLEPEC’ B206B
S5-HKM ‘KRALJ MATJAZ’ B206B
S5-DGF Zlin242

Flight School – Ramp
L9-64 / 64 / 637 PC9M
L9-69 / 69 / 642 PC9M
S5-DGE Zlin242
S5-DGG Zlin242
S5-ABR Falcon2000

Hangar
S5-DEJ Zlin242
S5-DEK Zlin242
S5-DEL Zlin242
S5-DGC Zlin242
S5-DGD Zlin242
S5-DGI Zlin143
S5-DGH Zlin143

15th Helicopter Battalion Hangar
H2-38 / 38 B412 KFOR Mks
H2-33 / 33 B412

15th Helicopter Battalion – Ramp
H3-73 / 73 AS532

Maintenance Hangar
H2-35 / 35 B412
H2-31 / 31 B412
H1-21 / 21 B206
S5-HZJ ‘ZELENI JURIJ’ B206B
H3-72 / 72 AS532

Stored
(12660) / 001 c/n 028 SA341H

Three of the Bell 206s wear names. The serials of these three are derived as follows ‘S5-‘ (Slovenia), ‘H’ (Helicopter) and then the last two letters are the initials of the name worn, eg S5-HPK ‘PETER KLEPEC’. The fourth aircraft, of course wears a military serial.The names of the Bell 206s represent legendary people from Slovenia.

The 206s are named as follows :
S5-HKM ‘Kralj Matjaz’. This is a legendary hero in Slovenia, possibly based on a real life king Matthias Corvinus of Hungary. The legend says that he is asleep in Mount Peca in the Alps and when his beard grows nine times around the stone table he shall awake and bring a golden era to the Slovenes.

S5-HZJ ‘ZELENI JURIJ’. Zeleni Jurij, according to folk law brings renewal and fertility in Spring and revives the nature.

S5-HPK ‘PETER KLEPEC’. Peter Klepec, according to folk law, sweeps away his enemies with trees he has uprooted with his bare hands along the Kolpa River.

S5-HZJ is reportedly the only B206 in the world that is IFR equipped, whilst the newest B206 in Slovenia, H1-21 is NVG equipped.

A superb morning was spent here and we were shown true hospitality from our guides and hosts. The afternoon was now free to cover some ground and hopefully take in some more UTVAs.

We headed back to Ljubljana airport as we had been told that the second PC6 which had been para dropping at a small civil field was due into here to be hangared for the night. We arrived just as PC6 L6-03 was landing. We logged Police Bell 212 S5-HPB aswell, which was parked outside the Police hangar.

We took the mountain roads from here to Zagorje and although this small civil field was all locked up we did manage to log ex Dutch Cub (R-37) S5-MBL in a closed hangar. The next stop was Celje airfield, where amongst some light aircraft which included a couple of Cubs we found the reported UTVA 75 (53188) S5-DCJ.

From here we headed East along the E57 to the airfield at Konjice Zice where we were expecting no fewer than three UTVAs. When we arrived, a German pilot was test flying a micro light with several on lookers and we had to wait for this test flight to finish until we were introduced to a business man who was in charge of the small hangar here. He informed us that there were infact four UTVA 75s. One was dismantled (as expected) at the rear of the hangar (53210) and the other three hangared. The additional aircraft was S5-DCK, which was reportedly at Ljubljana airport – so a very nice surprise. Logged were 53210 S5-DCH, 53216 S5-DPM, (53190) S5-DCK, (53117) S5-DCB. This was a very friendly place and after seeing the aircraft we went back to the office to look at photos and were invited to stay for the evenings model aircraft flying which sadly we did not have time for.

We continued North along the E57 to Maribor and at the airport we found the F-84G (10660) looking a little worse for wear. Some aircraft were reported with the aero club here, including an UTVA75 so we took a walk over to the very large aeroclub hangar which was all locked up. It was starting to get dark and we had found no sign of the UTVA. We went to the nearby bar and asked if anyone was around who may help and we were directed to a guy sitting outside drinking a beer. In the now familiar, friendly style he said he would finish his beer and take us to the hangar, so after a short chat we headed back to the hangar and this time we logged (53171) S5-DCI UTVA75, 51114 S5-DCP UTVA66, ex JRV,40199 (S5-MBB) Aero3, ex JRV and a Cub.

With just one last call today, we headed to Dobje and in the dark found the unmarked ex JRV UTVA 60 (0678). From here we found a hotel.

Day three (23-06-11) started with a visit to the military base at Ljubljana-Brnik. We met up with our two Dutch friends here and were taken to the hangar. A Bell 412 is here on SAR duties, along with a Cougar that has positioned here for exercise ‘Lord Mountain’, the PC6 that had been completing para drop duties the previous day and another two Bell 412s that were due to depart back to Cerklje, and of course the three preserved aircraft. The fourth preserved aircraft, an F84G is away with a private company undergoing restoration. The plan is to display the F84G, the two IF86Ds, the Soko522 and Gazelle 12660 in a new on base museum at Cerklje Ob Krki in the future.

The following were logged here :
H3-74 / 74 AS532
L6-03 / 03 PC6B (departed for para drop duties)
H2-34 / 34 B412
H2-36 / 36 B412
H2-37 / 37 B412 (SAR standby)

Preserved :
(14307) 147 IF86D, ex JRV
(14325) 146 IF86D, ex JRV
(60162) 162 Soko522, ex JRV

During the two visits we had logged all but three aircraft of the Slovenian military. Bell 412 H2-32 was away on duties in Kosovo, Cougar H3-71 was with Eurocopter on maintenance and Let410 L4-01 was away on maintenance at Kunovice.

Noted at the adjacent Police helicopter unit hangar were :
S5-HPE B206
S5-HPG A109E 
S5-HPH EC135

From here we headed North with plans to make a couple of calls in Austria before the flight home.

First stop was Zeltweg where a C130 was noted sitting out on the field. With no signs of base flying we headed off and made a quick call to Zeltweg museum, as I needed the recently arrived Bell 206 here. When we got to the museum to our surprise we found the much required ex Yugoslav Mig21R 26112, which had previously been stored at the army barracks at Felixdorf. This Mig21, flown by a Croatian, Rudolf Peresin in the Yugoslav Peoples Army (JNA) had defected to Austria whilst on a flight from Zeljava Air Base. Peresin had flown the aircraft to Klagenfurt in October 1991. Peresin went on to fight for Croatia during the Croatian war of independence until he was shot down and killed by Serbian forces. A Mig21bis, 125 is pole mounted in the town of Gornja Stubica, Croatia as a monument to Peresin and the war

It is also worth a look at the underground Zeljava Air Base – (ohhh if only)

Logged at Zeltweg museum were :
26112 Mig21R, ex JRV
14 J35, ex Austria
08 J35, ex Austria
29449 / YELLOW F J29F, ex Austria
‘4D-YL’ (really 217) CM170, ex Ireland
5C-VF Vampire T55, ex Austria
21 J35, ex Austria
3F-SO Saab91D, ex Austria
5S-TA SC73M, ex Austria
(12) J35, ex Austria, sectioned 
4D-BW AB204B, ex Austria
3C-JD AB206A, ex Austria
‘3D-XJ’ (really 76+91), ex Germany
2A-AM Zlin126, ex Austria
4C-TE LT6G, ex Austria
3A-BB G46-4B, ex Austria
3A-BH L19E, ex Austria
4C-AF Yak11, ex Austria
3A-AA Yak18, ex Austria
3B-HD OH13, ex Austria
09 J35, ex Austria
3F-SW Saab91D, ex Austria

Zeltweg Base
‘25’ (35339) J35, ex Sweden, preserved
3A-CO L19A, ex Austria, preserved
8T-CC C130K
(2A-AO) OE-AFC PA18, ex Austria
OE-AIO PA18

From here we headed into Graz, firstly into the town and the Fachhochschule Joanneum where we logged ex Austrian Draken 06. From here it was over to Graz base to find the preserved J29, which we had looked for and failed on a previous occasion. Armed with some specific directions, courtesy of EMOOS 2011 we found the J29 which is clearly visible from the outside (29588) RED D.

From here we headed to Graz museum. A newly arrived, long lost J29 was on the agenda, aswell as an MB326 from South Africa – nothing else in the museum was logged 
29565 (YELLOW J) J29F, ex Austria 
(475) N162TP MB326M, ex South Africa

And then it was back to Klagenfurt to drop off the car and board Ryanair 737 EI-DAR back to London Stansted.