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.

He worked as a flight instructor for the Yugoslav Air Force in Pančevo and Zadar before defecting to Italy in April 1945.

[3] During the German-led Axis invasion of Yugoslavia in April 1941, Dukovac served with the 2nd Squadron of the Royal Yugoslav Air Force (Serbo-Croatian: Vazduhoplovstvo Vojske Kraljevine Jugoslavije, VVKJ) at an airfield in Velika Gorica.

After the Kingdom of Yugoslavia was defeated and occupied by the Axis powers, Dukovac became a member of the armed forces of the newly created Independent State of Croatia (Croatian: Nezavisna Država Hrvatska, NDH).

[1][3] In April 1942 he underwent advanced training, and in June he was transferred to Jagdfliegerschule 4 (fighter pilot school 4) at Fürth.

[3] 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.

During the mission, he and his companion were intercepted by Polikarpov I-16 Rata fighters, and Dubovac downed one of the attackers over the city of Tuapse to register his first confirmed aerial victory.

Dukovac was unable to build upon his success at this time, as four days later the whole Staffel rotated back to the NDH because most of the personnel had endured a year of constant combat.

Five days later, Dukovac was late taking off and was catching up to his Schwarm when he downed a LaGG-3 fighter during an engagement with four of the Soviet aircraft, but there were no witnesses to confirm his claim.

[8] On 25 April, Dukovac and two others flew an escort mission for Henschel Hs 129 ground-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.

[10] 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.

1 November was the most successful day for 15./JG 52 for the entire war, with pilots claiming eleven aircraft with no loss, including two Il-2s for Dukovac.

He claimed another two Il-2s the next day, but his aircraft was badly damaged by the escorting fighters and he crash-landed near Mariental, escaping unhurt.

At the end of November, the approach of winter reduced flying operations almost to a halt, but Dukovac downed two Il-2s on 6 December near Bagerovo for his 30th and 31st confirmed aerial victories.

[17] 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.

[19] These men were eventually released from infantry duties in early 1945 and were allowed to return to the NDH, where they were assigned to the ZNDH.

[1] The following month, Dukovac returned to Belgrade as a kapetan in the JRV, and after a conversion to fly Yakovlev fighters,[21] he worked as a flight instructor in Pančevo.

By February 1945, constant provocations and insults directed at him by fellow JRV personnel owing to his service with the ZNDH prompted him to apply for a transfer.

[21] 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.

Croatian wartime documents discovered in the Military History Institute in Belgrade after his death show that the ZNDH credited him with 44 confirmed kills.