From Zadar to Knin

Croatian Air Force instructors first flew a four-aircraft formation of Pilatus PC-9M trainers over the opening of the European sailing championship in Zadar on 23 July 2004. The team was formally established and named on 5 August 2005 at Knin, at the tenth anniversary of オペレーション・ストーム, the 1995 offensive from which it takes its name. It flies from Zemunik, outside Zadar, as part of the 392nd Squadron of the 93rd Wing, and its pilots are instructors who need at least 600 flying hours before selection. It became a five-ship formation by the end of 2005.

Six PC-9Ms

The first six-aircraft formation was flown on 25 March 2009, and six PC-9Ms remain the standard line-up. The team made its first foreign appearance at Constanța, Romania, in 2006, and later displayed at Rivolto in 2010 before about 500,000 spectators and at Izmir in 2011, its first display outside Europe. The routine runs to about 21 to 25 minutes, with formation spacing under two metres. Captain Diana Doboš flew with the team from 2005 to 2007.

The 2015 walkout

On 4 March 2015 all six pilots asked to leave military service, which left the team without a single display pilot before its tenth season. A new line-up was trained the same year, and in 2016 the reconstituted team won the King Hussein Memorial Sword for the best overall flying demonstration at the Royal International Air Tattoo. Damir Barišić led the team in two spells, from 2008 to 2012 and again from 2015 to 2017, bridging the old and new teams.

Loss and continuity

On 7 May 2020 Senior Lieutenant Marko Novković, a team pilot since 2019, and First Lieutenant Luka Jagatić were killed when their Zlin Z 242L trainer crashed near Zadar; Defence Minister Damir Krstičević resigned the same day. The team marked its 20th anniversary at Zemunik on 5 April 2025, by then credited with 261 official displays, 68 of them in 15 foreign countries. Major Darko Belančić, leader since 2017, presented the 2026 programme of 19 manoeuvres on 22 May 2026.