Vrsar airport bombing

Vrsar airport bombing
Part of the Croatian War of Independence
Crljenka airport, with monument to the victims in the background
TypeAirstrike
Location
TargetVrsar Crljenka Airport
Date21 December 1991
Executed bySocialist Federal Republic of Yugoslavia Yugoslav Air Force
OutcomeAirport damaged
Casualties2 killed

The Vrsar airport bombing (Croatian: bombardiranje aerodroma kraj Vrsara) was a Yugoslav Air Force strike on the Crljenka airport near Vrsar—an air sports airport in the Istrian peninsula. The airstrike occurred on 21 December 1991, possibly as an attempt to stop the training of Croatian pilots, who had deserted the Yugoslav Air Force and were being trained in Vrsar. Other than being a training facility, the airport had a significant logistical value. However, since an attack was expected only on the strategically more important Pula Airport (which the JNA had evacuated a little over a month earlier) the airport had little defences, and the Croatians were caught unaware, with the alarm sounding ten minutes after the attack. Two people were killed in the raid, while the airport was damaged.