Zule Pavlin

Zule Pavlin, hydroplane pilot (Capriva near Gorizia, 10 November 1910 – Domžale, 11 July 1978)

Zule Pavlin was born on 10 November 1910 in Capriva (Kopriva) near Gorizia (old Gorizia, now belonging to Italy). Pavlin's father served as a constable in Capriva. In 1911, he was transferred to Domžale. The family’s peaceful life was interrupted by World War I. As his father was called up to fight on the Isonzo front near Doberdob, his mother fled to Bakar with her children and sister in 1916. Soon, his mother fell ill with hepatitis and died in a Rijeka hospital in 1917.

 

After the fall of the Austro-Hungarian Empire, his father returned with his family to their hometown. He first got a job in the village of Kapla vas near Komenda, and was in 1923 transferred to Domžale. In Kapla vas, Zule concluded his primary schooling in 1922. In 1922-29, he attended the 2nd Secondary School in Ljubljana and successfully graduated there. In September 1929, he enrolled at the Naval Aviation School in Divulje. He was a student of the IV Class, which comprised 130 students. During his first year he kept a diary and also wrote memoirs from 45 trips all over the Adriatic Sea with the royal minelayer Labud. During this time, he took several photos, a large part of which are now held by the Maritime Museum Piran. They were donated to the museum by Zule Pavlin's son Bojan, who had preserved the originals of the diary and memoirs. A copy of both manuscripts is housed in the museum.

 

Upon completing his schooling in 1931, he served as a non-commissioned officer in the 25th and 26th Hydro Squadrons. From 1935, he was stationed at the Naval Aviation Headquarters and flew in the 10th Squadron until the capitulation of Yugoslavia on 17 April 1941. He carried out the duties of a hydromechanic and hydromechanic-gunner, and reached the rank of sergeant major, III Class.

 

On 2 May 1941, he was offered a job at a shipyard and agricultural cooperative in Trogir, which he accepted and decided to live there with his family. After the capitulation of Italy on 8 September 1943, he joined the partisans, but was captured and imprisoned in several jails at the end of 1943. He was released just before the liberation. After the end of the war, he returned to his family, his wife and two sons.

 

After the war, he decided not to return to the Navy or Air Force. In the summer of 1946, he and his family moved from Trogir to Domžale. He worked and lived there with his family (he and his wife had 4 sons) until his death. He is also buried there.

 

Prepared by Nadja Terčon

 

 

SOURCES:

 

 

Museum photo documentation

 

Terčon, Nadja.

 

Leto dni med gojenci pomorske letalske šole : iz dnevnika Pavlina Zuleta 1929/1930. 

 

Annales : anali Koprskega primorja in bližnjih pokrajin. 1, št. 1 (1991), pp.. 179-186.ilustr. 

 

Podgoršek, Borut, Bolhar Franc, Zule Pavlin: Stražar z neba: Zgodbe slovenskih letalcev, 2. knjiga, Škofja Loka, Sierra5, 2020