AirVG Zagreb Pleso 10/05/2025

[Zonan]

On friday afternoon after work I took a short 1.5 hour flight to Zagreb, arriving around 2:00 in the morning.
I booked a hotel walking distance of the old terminal and rented a car to be able to pass through Zagreb Lucko and Velika Gorica, which only got me 2 Mi-171s in the end.
Though the Mig-21s have been retired, the show still had something interesting for me as the Croatian air force is not often seen outside of the Pc-9 team.
A big surprise was a few days in advance when they announced that all 12 Rafales (the entire 191 fighter squadron) would be parked on the static until 14:00, after which they towed 4 jets away to prepare for a demo flight with 2 of them.
Anyway, enjoy a couple of pics here, more can be found on my Flickr if you're interested https://www.flickr.com/photos/zonanadolfse/

A small log can be found at the end

1.
11 by Zonan Adolfse, on Flickr

2.
059 by Zonan Adolfse, on Flickr

3.
328 by Zonan Adolfse, on Flickr

4.
165 by Zonan Adolfse, on Flickr

5.
227 by Zonan Adolfse, on Flickr

6.
157 by Zonan Adolfse, on Flickr

7.
Croatian AF Rafales by Zonan Adolfse, on Flickr

8.
230 by Zonan Adolfse, on Flickr

9.
116 by Zonan Adolfse, on Flickr

10.
9A-HBA by Zonan Adolfse, on Flickr

11.
405 by Zonan Adolfse, on Flickr

12.
157 by Zonan Adolfse, on Flickr

Static:
5D-HW AB212 Austrian air force
11 H145M Hungarian air force
40 JAS39C Hungarian air force
MM55096/4-30 TF-2000A Italian air force
MM55097/4-28 TF-2000A Italian air force

Croatian air force:
133 MiG-21Bis D
165 MiG-21UM
227 Mi-171Sh
231 UH-60M
328 OH-58D
401 Zlin 242L
877 CL415
895 AT-802
PC-9s: 055, 059, 061, 062, 068, 069
Rafale C: 150, 151, 152, 153, 154, 155, 156, 157, 158, 159
Rafale B: 170, 171

Flying:
230 UH-60M
322 OH-58D
405 Zlin 242L
604 Bell 206B
151, 157 2x Rafale C
Pc-9s 055, 059, 061, 062, 068, 069
9A-HBA EC135 (police)
31 JAS-39C (Hungarian air force)
116/4-IU Rafale C (French air force)
L9-62 PC-9M (Slovenian air force)

Canadian CC-130J 130601 departed to Poland

[Mustang531]

Thanks for sharing these with us, very interesting to see them. Plenty of variety too.

[Zonan]

Thanks for sharing these with us, very interesting to see them. Plenty of variety too.

Definitely was a nice variety and even though their air force is relatively small, they do have some nice equipment.
Unfortunately the Police AB412 was replaced by the EC135 and instead of 2 OH-58Ds planned only 1 flew. Still enjoyed a nice sunny day in there

As a sidenote: they are amazing to spotters, same as last year too. Spotters can apply for a spotterticket a couple of days before regular tickets go on sale. They give out 300 spottertickets and spotters are then allowed on the static 45 mins before the "regular" visitors, giving you the opportunity to photograph especially the planes that are not fenced in. Also, during the day they have a spotter enclosure at the front of the fence to give space to the spotters and they are very strictly sending away people that don't have the spotterpass. Very well organised!