The aerial war over Bulgaria 1943-44
A FATAL ALLY OF BULGARIA: Hitler meets King Boris the Third at Berghof,Germany 1943!
The war declared in 1943 by the Kingdom of Bulgaria against the USA and Great Britain was a tragedy for the little country. On August 1,1943,an enormous armade of 700 american B-24 Liberator bombers roared at nearly treetop level across the peaceful farms and villages of several Balkan countries. This mission was operation TIDAL WAVE - the wildiest US raid of WW2. Its target was "the taproot of German might"- Hitler's giant oil refineries at Ploesti,Rumania. Hundreds of US airmen volunteered for the mission despite warnings that half might not return. In thirty minits enormous firepower was exchanged in this battle and five men earned the Medal of Honor. Sofia city and other Bulgarian towns and villages were hit by following air strikes in late 1943 and in 1944. So 187 inhabited places were attacked, 45 000 destructive and incendiary bombs were dropped, the victims were about 2000 , the wounded -about 4700.Damaged or ruined buildings were 12000, total estimated losses were for nearly 24 billions of $. "Black" were for the citizens of Sofia the dates: 14/11/ and 24/ 11/, 10 and 20/12/ 1943, 10/01/, 16, 24 and 30/03/, 17/04/1944 when large formations of bombers B-17 and B-24 have ruined some parts of the capital city. Totally about 23000 enemy's sorties were registered over Bulgaria in the years 1943-44.
Aircraft shot down by bulgarian fighters in 1943-44:
B-17 bombers -5
b-24 bombers -41
P-38 fighters-10
p-51 fighters -4
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Total: 60
Allied Airforce crew lost over Bulgaria:
Killed 108 men
POW 329 men
The aces of Royal Bulgarian Air Force
Bulgarian pilots were brave, well trained and some flew with the Me-109 G2 and G6 -a German made fighter plane with very good performance . Best pilots were lieut. Stoyanov, Captain Toplodolsky, lieutenants Bochev, Cvetkov, Damev etc. Totally 19 bulgarian pilots died in this war but the enemy lost 60 planes, shot down by Bulgarian fighters and about 430 airmen. Here should be mentioned the Christian way, Bulgarian people treated the killed enemy's airmen. At many places they were buried as -American heroes- with the necessary honor given to such soldiers. 329 airforce crew-members and pilots of the enemy were captured and kept in the war prisoner's camp in the town of Shoumen.
Later some of them like lieut. John MacLendon,2nd lt. Edward E. Tinker, R. Renar and others remembered and described the bitter way, Bulgarian pilots fought with them, as if they defended world's most sacred place. The most striking examples of the spirit of the Bulgarian pilots are the two "battering-rams"(live torpedo)done over Sofia. The first one was on 20.12.1943 when lieut. D. Spissarevsky shot down first a B-17 bomber and than, at full speed stabbed a second one and died at 7000 meters height, falling with the pieces of his plane.The second "battering-ram " was that of lieut. Bonchev on 17.04.1944 when he downed another B-17 bomber ,but as a wonder, survived the crash. ...AND SEE WHAT HAS HAPPENED 60 YEARS LATER.. CLICK One of the most victorious fighter pilots with most aerial victories was lieut. Stoyan Stoyanov. His victories are as follows: CLICK HERE TO READ HIS STORY ABOUT THE FIRST VICTORY OVER B-24 BOMBERS AND THE SAME COMBAT DESCRIBED BY ENEMY FIGHTERS -(From his book) "....I am not very religious although I have graduated from a seminary but, just in case, I crossed myself. After seconds I must aim my guns . I chose the machine in the middle, the leading one, flag-man of the group. If I manage to put it out of action, I would probably prevent their possible wish to hit the capital city." CLICK HERE TO READ ABOUT ANOTHER VICTORY OVER A B-24 BOMBER AND THE SAME COMBAT DESCRIBED BY AN AMERICAN TURRET GUNNER IN THIS AIRCRAFT . The "Black" Easter combat over Sofia CLICK An interview with gen. Stoyanov taken in 1995 and published in the US magazine MILITARY HISTORY - Aug. 1999- CLICK to read it Stoyanov, neglected by the communist regime after the war, has lived and worked for about 30 years as a guide of visitors in the famous Rila Monastery . RELATED WEBSITES: CLICK to see all WW2 ACES! ANOTHER AVIATION WEBSITE click CLICK to see the NOTES IN A USAAF PILOT'S DIARY ABOUT BOMBING OF SOFIA in March,1944! Ken Arnold's website CLICK to see the memories of WWII veterans from all sides website (click) of Philippe Saintes-a Belgian journalist dedicated to ww 2 airmen An eminent guest of this website: Col. Jay Stout- a pilot of F/A-18 "Hornet" and author of the book"Hornets over Kuwait" (The Desert storm air war in 1991) and "FORTRESS PLOESTI-the campaign to destroy Hitler's oil" Ace No 1- lieut.Stoyan Stoyanov
-biography, victories, awards, after war life, ALBUM
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