Udbina

44°33'27"N 015°46'28"E

Runway: 13/31 - 2750x30meters/9022x98feet - concrete 

Air field Udbina (Croatian: aerodrom Udbina, Serbian: аеродром Удбина, ICAO: LDZU) is an airfield 140 kilometer south of Zagreb.
It is not known when the airfield was built, but it already existed as an air base before 1990. During the breakup of Yugoslavia the airfield was in Serb held territory within the newly independent state of Croatia. As NATO and UN peacekeeping forces continued to report light attack aircraft operating from the airfield into the no-fly zone over Bosnia, the airfield was attacked by NATO warplanes on 21 November 1994. Participants were 4 RNLAF F-16s (one of which piloted by the Mission Commander), 4 RAF Jaguars, 4 RN Sea Harriers, French AdlA Jaguars and USMC F/A-18D Hornets. Reconnaissance missions were flown by Dutch F-16A(R) and French Mirafe F1CR. The attack marked the first ever war mission by NATO aircraft, as well as the first ever war mission outside the NATO area of interest. During the attack the runway was damaged, but the airfield was not put out of business, because the runway was repaired within two weeks.


Immediately after the November 1994 attack, a Dutch F-16A(R) of 306Sqn shot this photo of Udbina. Clearly visible are the holes in the runway at the connections with the runway (Facebook page of NIMH, rotated to show the north right side up)


Udbina just before the airfield was captured by Croat forces in 1995 (militaryphotos.net).


Croatian-Serb G-2 at Udbina, just after the airfield was captured by Croat forces in 1995 (militaryphotos.net).

In 1995 Croat forces had gained enough strength to launch an attack to drive the Serbs out of the area around Udbina. By doing so they gained control over several G-2 Galeb light attack and UTVA75 light training aircraft. The airfield and the area around it have remained in Croat control ever since. The airfield was closed for unknown reasons in late March 2009. It's current (November 2014) status is open.


Udbina on Google Earth in 2013. If you look closely, you can still see the patchwork for the bomb-craters that were caused by NATO in 1994 (Google Earth).


2014 VFR aeronautical map for Udbina (SkyVector)