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Mato Dukovac (23 September 1918 – 6 June 1990) was the leading Croatian fighter ace of World War II, credited with between 40 and 44 confirmed victories. He joined the Air Force of the Independent State of Croatia following the Axis invasion of Yugoslavia in April 1941, and then the Luftwaffe, with which he flew combat missions on the Eastern Front. His tours of the Eastern Front spanned October and November 1942, February to June 1943, and October 1943 to March 1944. He defected to the Soviet Union on 20 September 1944 and was returned to Yugoslavia in November 1944. He worked as a flight instructor for the Yugoslav Air Force in Pančevo and Zadar before defecting to Italy in April 1945.
Dukovac left Italy in 1946 and became a captain in the Syrian Air Force. During the 1948 Arab–Israeli War, he flew combat missions against Israel. Following the war, he emigrated to Canada and started a family there. He died in Toronto in 1990.
On 27 June 1941, the Croatian Legion () was formed to fight alongside Germany during its invasion of the Soviet Union, and on 12 July the air component of the Legion was formed. Known as the Croatian Air Force Legion (, HZL) it consisted of a bomber group and a fighter group. The HZL formed part of the German Luftwaffe; its members swore an oath of loyalty to Adolf Hitler, were subject to German disciplinary regulations, and wore Luftwaffe uniforms. After attending Luftwaffe training schools, the fighter group was sent to the Eastern Front and designated as 15. ( Kroatische) Staffel (squadron) of III. Gruppe (Group) of Jagdgeschwader 52 (52nd Fighter Wing, or JG 52). Meanwhile, Dukovac was transferred to the Luftwaffe Flugzeugführerschule A/B 120 (pilot school 120) in Prenzlau, Germany in September or October. In April 1942 he underwent advanced training, and in June he was transferred to Jagdfliegerschule 4 (fighter pilot school 4) at Fürth. In October 1942, Leutnant Dukovac and seven other pilots joined 15./JG 52, which was operating in the Caucasus flying Messerschmitt Bf 109G-2 fighters. On 29 October, Dukovac had his first 15-minute familiarisation flight, and by the afternoon of that day the new members of the unit were flying as wingmen to the veteran pilots of the Staffel.
On 25 April, Dukovac and two others flew an escort mission for Henschel Hs 129 Attack aircraft and Focke-Wulf Fw 190 fighters attacking shipping near Primorsko-Akhtarsk, during which the Croat pilots assisted in the sinking of two small vessels. On 27 April, Dukovac accounted for another LaGG-3 between Krymskaja and Abinskaja during a Heinkel He 111 escort. Dukovac claimed a victory over another LaGG-3 during a patrol three days later, but it was not seen by his wingman, as they had become separated during the fight. On 1 May, Dukovac sank a small vessel. The following day, he and three other Croat pilots were escorting a group of He 111s when two LaGG-3s tried to intercept the formation. Dukovac and another pilot both claimed to have downed one Soviet fighter each, but their destruction was not witnessed. On 3 May, a morning mission saw Dukovac claim one of four LaGG-3s encountered near Krimskaja.
In the afternoon of 3 May, Dukovac and another pilot were escorting Hs 129s when they encountered a group of seven Ilyushin Il-2 ground attack aircraft and six fighters. During the engagement, Dukovac's aircraft was damaged and he force-landed, but not before claiming one of the Il-2s. The following morning, Dukovac and two others sortied on a He 111 escort mission, after which Dukovac again force-landed, this time near Varenikovskaya. On 5 May, Dukovac made three claims: two LaGG-3s in the morning, and another during a Ju 87 escort mission in the evening. The following evening, Dukovac shot down another LaGG-3 while escorting Ju 87s. On 8 May, he claimed yet another LaGG-3 during an escort mission for a Fieseler Fi 156 Storch liaison aircraft. On 12 May, reinforcements arrived for 15./JG 52, in the form of some of the pilots that had served on the first tour of the Eastern Front in 1942, along with more former VVKJ pilots.
Dukovac did not meet further success until 25 May, when he claimed two Supermarine Spitfire V fighters southeast of Temryuk. Two days later, he and two other pilots surprised eight LaGG-3s west of Trarehof, all of them claiming one, although Dukovac's claim was not witnessed. On 30 May, he was on another He 111 escort mission when he accounted for another LaGG-3. At this juncture, there was a spate of defections from 15./JG 52, with pilots flying to Soviet airfields. The remaining pilots were questioned by the Luftwaffe, the Staffel was withdrawn from the front, and the commander of the HZL was replaced. This was the end of the second tour of 15./JG 52 on the Eastern Front, during which Dukovac had claimed 14 confirmed and six unconfirmed kills, five of which were later confirmed.
It was not until 12 January that Dukovac added to his tally, a Yakovlev Yak-1. On 25 February, Dukovac flew five sorties. On the first, he and his wingman downed a Yak-1 each, and on the second he shot down a Yak and a P-39. During his fifth mission, he was shot down by P-39s and crash-landed, injuring his spine. He was evacuated to a field hospital but returned to 15./JG 52 as soon as he could walk, ten days later, only to find that he had just three pilots fit for duty. Despite the pending arrival of newly trained pilots, the loss of another two pilots by mid-March led the Luftwaffe to decide that attempting to maintain 15./JG 52 was futile, and the men were sent home to the NDH. During its three tours, the Staffel had accounted for a total of 297 Soviet aircraft, of which Dukovac had 37 confirmed and eight unconfirmed aerial victories, seven of which were later confirmed. At the beginning of July, the Luftwaffe reconsidered its decision, and the newly promoted Hauptmann Dukovac and a group of veteran and fresh pilots began to make their way back to the Eastern Front. They were transported to Romania and then the Slovak Republic, but no aircraft were provided, and on 21 July the pilots were advised that the HZL was to be disbanded. Despite this, in August, they were moved to an airfield in East Prussia, where they took delivery of ten Bf 109G-14s. At the beginning of September, they flew to Lithuania in preparation to rejoin the fray.
On 8 August, Dukovac commandeered a de Havilland Tiger Moth biplane, flew it across the Adriatic and defected again, this time to the Kingdom of Italy. He was first placed in a refugee camp in Modena, and then one in Bagnoli del Trigno.
Dukovac was the top-scoring Croatian pilot of World War II. During his life, there was much controversy surrounding the exact number of aircraft that he had downed. Croatian wartime documents discovered in the Military History Institute in Belgrade after his death show that the ZNDH credited him with 44 confirmed kills. At least one other source indicates a tally of 40 confirmed kills with five unconfirmed. The ZNDH total of 44 included 18 LaGG-3s, 12 Ilyushin Il-2s, three P-39s, two DB-3s, two Yak-1s, and one each of the following aircraft; II-16, MiG-3, Spitfire, La-5, Yak-9, Pe-2, and A-20. The ZNDH records also noted one unconfirmed claim.
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