Mato Dukovac
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Mato Dukovac (1918–1990) was a Croatian World War II fighter ace.
Dukovac was born in October 1918 in Surčin. He enlisted in the Croatian Air Force soon after the country was declared independent in 1941. After training he was posted to the Kuban front in Russia with the Croat Legion, flying his first mission on 29 October 1942.
After scoring some early combat successes against the Soviet Air Force, his potential was recognised by Cvitan Galić, the leading Croatian ace at the time. Thereafter the two men partnered one another in a pair formation, known as a Rotte, together becoming the two most successful Croatian pilots.
In February 1944 Dukovac flew his 250th mission, scoring his 37th confirmed kill, for which he was awarded the German Cross in gold by Field Marshal Wolfram von Richthofen in person. Later that year, during the Russian offensive in the Crimea, his tally of kills rose to 40, making him the number one Croatian ace ahead of Galić.
In August 1944 he was promoted to the rank of captain and sent with a contingent of the Croatian Legion to Eichwalde in East Prussia. While training in the use of the latest models of the Me 109 in September 1944 he deserted to the Soviets.
He served as a time as a flight instructor with the Soviet Air Force before being sent with other Yugoslavs to Pancevo in Serbia, also as a flying instructor. In February 1945, under threat of arrest for his previous service with the Axis powers, he flew to Italy, where he surrendered to the Americans. He later served in the Syrian Air Force during the 1948 Arab-Israeli War, before moving to Toronto, Canada, where he died in September 1990.
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