Tito's Underground Air Base: Bihac (Zeljava) Underground Yugoslav Air Force Base, 1964-1992

The air force of Tito’s Yugoslavia has had many different peculiarities — from a unique Cold War position of having operated a mix of US, Soviet, and indigenous aircraft and equipment, to the changeable strategies in case of war.

One such feature was an entire underground air base constructed inside a hill near the town of Bihac, in western Bosnia. ‘The Object’ was the core, the heart, of this air base: it housed four MiG—21 squadrons for nearly 25 years, until the civil war tore Yugoslavia ...