The first aviation pioneer in Serbia was Lieutenant Kosta Miletić (1874–1953), trained as a balloon pilot at the Technical Aeronautical School in Saint Petersburg, Russia, from 1901 to 1902.

[3][4] On the recommendation of Miletić, the Royal Serbian Army posed messenger pigeon stations and bought two free spherical and one tied kite balloon from the August Ridinger company from German city of Augsburg.

The First Balkan War broke out in October 1912; Montenegro, Bulgaria, Greece, and Serbia waged it against the Ottoman Empire.

Air support for this formation was assigned to the newly established Coastal Airplane Squad, the first Serbian air combat unit, with 4 airplanes (Blériot XI one-seater, Blériot XI two-seater, Deperdussin TT and Farman HF.20) and 5 pilots under the command of Major Kosta Miletić.

In March 1913, this combat air unit was relocated near the frontline at a newly built auxiliary airfield in the village of Barbalusi.

[4] The next day, pilots Lieutenant Živojin Stanković and Sergeant Miodrag Tomić successfully completed their first reconnaissance flights, and in the following days, pilots Miloš Ilić, Stanković and Tomić dropped a number of small bombs and conducted reconnaissance flights.

During one flight above Kriva Palanka, Tomić encountered a Bulgarian plane in the air, but neither one had weapons and they just greeted one another by hand waving.

[6] Serbian pilots who were actually skilled and experienced from the Balkan Wars had succeeded to give the valuable information about the number, the movements, and the position of the enemy troops.

After the conquest of Serbia by the Central Powers in the autumn of 1915 and the great retreat of the Serbian army to the Greek island of Corfu, the Salonica front was formed.

During the invasion on Serbia in October 1915, Manfred von Richthofen ("Red Baron") was commenced its first combat flight as a pilot.

The first airplane shot down by ground fire unit in World War I happened over skies of Serbia.

With the establishment of the Kingdom of Yugoslavia, an Army Aviation Department was formed out of Serbian and ex-Austro-Hungarian (Croatian and Slovenian) personnel.

In 1923, a major initiative was launched to replace World War I era aircraft still in service with more modern designs.

In 1930, the Aviation Command was renamed the Royal Yugoslav Air Force (Jugoslovensko kraljevsko ratno vazduhoplovstvo).

In spite of huge logistic difficulties and acts of treason (proclamation of the puppet-state Independent State of Croatia on 10 April 1941) the Royal Yugoslav Air Force fulfilled its duties with honor.

Yugoslav airmen (5th and 6th Fighter Regiment pilots especially) fought courageously against an enemy superior both technically and numerically.

At the beginning of 1960s Soviet supersonic fighter MiG-21 was introduced, followed by intensive growth of Yugoslav aviation industry in that period.

In June 1991 the Slovenes resistance to re-imposition of federal control over Slovenia rapidly escalated into an armed conflict with Yugoslav People's Army.

In 1991 and 1992, the Yugoslav Air Force lost a total of 46 airplanes and helicopters in Slovenia, Croatia and Bosnia-Herzegovina.

In addition other bases (Jakovo, Zuce, Pančevo, Kragujevac, Novi Sad) house air defence units.