Croatia’s MiG-21 Fishbed swansong – AirVG 2024 at Zagreb

This was rather short and spontaneous trip from Southern Germany to Croatia in May 2024 to see a real flying dinosaur, the very last flying MiG-21s in Europe. At the beginning of April the Commander of the Croatian Air Force (Hrvatsko ratno zrakoplovstvo – HRZ) announced that the official farewell of the countries MiG-21 will be held at Zagreb on May, 11th.

AirVG 2024 was the designated airshow to bid farewell to Croatia’s Fishbeds. VG in this case stands for Velika Gorica, the village adjacent to Zagreb’s Franjo Tudman airport, which is also the home to the Zagreb-Pleso airbase that hosts Croatia’s MiG-21 Fighter Wing. But before attending the event, it was time for a short stop at the Aeronautical Technical Center (Zrakoplovno Tehnički Centar – ZTC) in the South-East of Zagreb’s airport to get a photo of the preserved MiG-21 and spot some Canadair CL-415 water bombers and some derelict An-2s and other former Croatian Air Force aircraft. Even though security staff was not happy that I wanted to take a photo of that preserved Fished in pristine condition, I still managed to do so and the reward for that was a delicious barbecue plate later that evening.

The next morning, it was time to chase active Fishbeds. The Croatian Air Force was, by that time, already in a transition to the Dassault Rafale. So whereas the event would not mark the final end of Croatia’s Fishbeds, it was a safe bet to see active MiG-21s. This alone justified the eight hour car trip across four countries the day before. And the shoddy itself should become a splendid celebration of Croatia’s Fishbed!

The first six Croatian Dassault Rafales arrived in country on April, 25th, and whereas there will be a certain transition period, the days of Croatian Fishbed’s were clearly numbered in the beginning of 2024. AirVG was not the definitive date for their decommissioning, however just one single Fishbed, serial 116 (C/N 75057500), was the star of the day. It is also the aircraft that was decorated with large 25th anniversary markings of the Croatian Air Force in 2016.

AirVG … provided high quality in a nearly complete overview of the Croatia Air Force’s fleet

During its 30 minute display slot towards the end of the afternoon, it presented a short, but rather intense flying display with nearly continuous use of its afterburner, and a formation fly-by with one of the brand new Croatian Rafales. The final formation break symbolized the retirement of the MiG-21 from active service in the Croatian Air Force.

Other than the flying display of these two HRZ fast jets, AirVG was also a great opportunity to see nearly all of the other flying assets of the Croatian Air Force. The Krila Oluje, or Wings of Storm, aerobatics display team was the show opener. Whereas the display team flying six Pilatus PC-9 is internationally very well known, the sights of a Croatian AF Zlin 242 L, a Bell 206 and a „pilot rescue“ demo involving a Mil Mi-171 and two OH-58 Kiowas were show acts, which are not seen abroad.

Despite the rather short lead-time for the event, the organizers managed also to set up an interesting, albeit small, static display. It reflected a complete lineup of Croatia’s helicopter types, also including one of their new UH-60 Blackhawks. For the line-up of the jets, the eye-catching red-white checkerboard MiG-21UMD was the centerpiece and surrounded by a Rafale single seater (C/N 153), designated C3R-EC in Croatian service, and a MiG-21R wearing Yugoslav Air Force markings. With this particular example, Rudolf Peresin fled to Klagenfurt, Austria in October 1991. The jet was later returned to Croatia in 2019 and was put on display in front of Croatia’s Ministry of Defense. From there it was brought to the show ground for AirVG.

Further there has been another MiG-21bisD (131, C/N 75038327) available for close-up inspection and with the rare opportunity to take a seat in its cockpit.

A great show of Croatia’s Air Force in Action

Whereas AirVG can be considered a rather low key event in the European airshow scene, numerous enthusiasts not only from Europe made their way to Zagreb for this one-day event. The prospect of seeing Europe’s last remaining MiG-21 live in action for the last time made the trip more than worthwhile for everyone. Also the local public used the opportunity to get a closer look at their countries Air Force, and in particular to have a final view on the Fishbeds. 5000 available free tickets were sold out within a few hours two weeks prior to the event.

The event will not particularly being remembered for a vast quantity of the static and the flying displays, but it provided high quality in a nearly complete overview of the Croatia Air Force’s fleet, and most importantly, it delivered what it promised: a final view of Europe’s last MiG-21 Fished in action, presenting its unmistakable shape and its distinctive afterburner in front of a deep blue sky.

AirVG 2024 – Croatia’s Farewell Airshow for the MiG-21bisD Fishbed – Photo Gallery