Military Model Scene

Title: Tito's Underground Air Base
Author: Bojan Dimitrijevic & Milan Micevski
Publisher: Helion & Company
ISBN: 978-1-913118-67-9

Number 4 in their Europe @ War series of soft-cover books, this is the story of Bihac (Zeljava), an underground Yugoslav Air Force base, from 1964-1992. Today the old base sits astride the border between Croatia and Bosnia & Herzegovina and is something of a tourist attraction apparently. Prior to the civil war in the region, it was a secret and important base for the Yugoslav Air Force throughout the Cold War.
The 64-page soft-cover book follows the usual format for the series, with colour within the 8 centre pages, including 4-pages of fine colour profiles of various Mig 21s, a clear annotated map of the base, plus some archive images and a satellite view. The text is divided across 5 chapters, starting with the Early Days of the base, 1958-1968, covering the long period of design and building stages. Then the operational period of 1968-1990 as a Mig Nest, when the underground facilities housed no less than 3 complete squadrons of Mig 21s. More detail follows, including the details of the Inside of the Bihac Air Base and the good and not so good points of the facility. Then it gets to the time when the base saw involved in a war, but rather than with external forces, it was a civil war that divided Yugoslavia into separate states. This in turn created divided loyalties for those in the government forces who manned the facility. It is all rounded off with detail of the final days of the base, final evacuation and demolition of this once secret facility. Lots of archive images throughout, many from personal collections of those who were based there, and who also contribute their memories of the period.
Once a showcase for Tito's government while remaining a highly 'secret' facility, there is something fascinating about such a bold design for an underground base that was so large. Designed with one entrance plus 4 exits, this is really interesting reading for any aviation enthusiast with reference to the Cold War period.
Thanks to the distributors', Casemate Books for the review copy.

Robin