INTERVIEW

Although officially a German ally, Bulgaria managed to avoid any active commitment in World War II until June 12, 1942. On that day, 12 Consolidated B-24D Liberators of the U.S. Army Air Forces (USAAF), flying from the air base at Fayid, Egypt, bombed the oil refineries at Ploesti, Romania. En route back to Egypt, the U.S. heavy bombers flew over Bulgarian airspace, but the Royal Bulgarian Air Force (RBAF) made no attempt to stop them. From that time on, the Germans began to take a more serious interest in Bulgaria's defenses and began bolstering the RBAF with more modem aircraft, including Messerschmitt Me-109Gs.

On August 1, 1943, 164 Liberators of the U.S. Ninth Air Force took off from airfields in North Africa to begin Operation Tidal Wave, a serious attempt to cripple the oil fields and refineries at Ploesti. When the bombers appeared over Eastern Europe, the alarm sounded and Messerschmitt Me-1090-2 fighters of the RBAF's 6th Fighter Regiment took off to intercept any bombers that entered Bulgarian airspace. The fighters did not encounter any intruders as they flew northward toward Romania, but as the bombers returned from the target, several B-24s entered Bulgarian territory and came under attack from RBAF fighters, including obsolete Avia B.534 biplanes that made one ineffective firing pass before being left behind by the much-faster bombers. The hottest reception came from four Me-109G-2s of the 3rd Squadron, 3rd Group, 6th Fighter Regiment, operating from Karlovo airfield and flown by Lieutenant Stoyan Stoyanov and Sublieutenants Hristo Krastev, Ivan Bonev and Peter Botchev. Shortly after 3 p.m., the quartet sighted 18 B-24s near the town of Ferdinand (present-day Montana) in northern Bulgaria flying southward in the direction of the capital of Sofia. They immediately attacked.

The pilots had been trained to attack from the rear and at the enemy planes' altitude, and they acted accordingly. Stoyanov approached one bomber and aimed at its right engines, but he was met by deadly fire from the bomber's machine guns, and his burst passed to the right of the Liberator's right wing. "It was so terrible," Stoyanov later said, "that I didn't have time to get scared."

Pulling his plane up and to the side, he decided to change his tactics and try a frontal attack. Giving his plane full throttle, he pulled ahead of and above the American formation. All the bombers fired at him. Flying against the sun to obscure his fighter from the American gunners, he then swung around 180 degrees and, without losing altitude, came at the leading bomber from the front, with the sun still behind him. Cannon shells and bullets shattered the bombardier's glass position in the B-24, and the plane suddenly nosed downward, presenting a fine target. Stoyanov passed about 15 feet over his victim, his shells tearing through it from nose to tail. The stricken bomber went down, and Stoyanov was credited with the RBAF's first aerial victory of the war, as well as a share in a second bomber with Bonev. Botchev was credited with two bombers, and Krastev was credited with another.

The Bulgarian press and radio glorified the pilots. On August 7, King Boris III received Stoyanov and Botchev at the royal palace in Sofia and personally decorated them with the Military Cross. Stoyanov was also awarded the Iron Cross 2nd Class by German Reichsmarschall Hermann Goring on September 22.

By the end of the war, Stoyanov would achieve even greater fame as Bulgaria's highest-scoring fighter pilot—and as the only World War II ace-of-aces whose tally was composed exclusively of American aircraft. Unfortunately for Stoyanov, the fact that he had distinguished himself as an Axis pilot, even though it was in defense of his country's capital, would not stand him in good stead with Bulgaria's postwar communist government. In an interview with fellow Bulgarian Stefan Semerdjiev, Maj. Gen. Stoyanov described his career in aviation and his desperate combats over Sofia against ever-increasing numbers of American aircraft during World War II.

Military History: Could you tell us briefly about your life prior to becoming a pilot?

Stoyanov: I was born on March 12, 1913, in the village ofGalata, near Varna on the Black Sea. My father, serving as a flag-bearer during the Balkan War, was killed on October 16, 1912, at Adri-anople [now Edime]. That was the same day on which a Bulgarian airplane flew the first combat mission over the Turkish positions near Adrianople—the day we now celebrate each year as Bulgarian Aviation Day. I finished my secondary education in the Ecclesiastical Seminary in Sofia. Later, I served as a soldier in the cavalry.

MH: Where and how did you leam to fly? Stoyanov: In 1934,1 was admitted to the Royal Military School in Sofia in the class of airmen-pilots. I showed the best results in the medical examination of all candidates, in spite of my short stature. To become a pilot at that time was like becoming an astronaut now—something distant and unknown, especially for a village boy like me. I graduated in October 1937, was commissioned a sublieutenant and then took part in a course for aerial acrobatics in Kazanlak and Plovdiv.

MH: What was the RBAF's state of readiness during the late 1930s? Stoyanov: Those years were tense, and the dynamics of rebuilding Bulgarian military aviation, which had been liquidated after our defeat in World War I, were high. There was no time to lose, because we felt that a new war was approaching.

MH: Where did you do your advanced training?

Stoyanov: In July 1938, the seven best of the graduating pilots were sent to Germany for specialized training. I was one of them. We first flew at Kaufbeuren airfield in Bavaria in the Focke Wulf Fw-44 Stieglitz ("Goldfinch") trainer. After passing the aerobatic examinations, I was transferred to the prestigious fighter pilot school in Werneuchen, near Berlin. There, I was trained as a fighter pilot and later as a tighter pilot instructor. I first flew on the Arado Ar-68 and the Messerschmitt Bf- 109D. Then, in the spring ot 1939,1 became the first Bulgarian to master the fastest airplane of that time—the Me-109E. [When Willy Messerschmitt acquired controlling shares in the Bayerische Flugzeugwerke in 1938, his single-seat fighters from E through Z were redesignated Me-109, although the older prefix ofBfwas retained for the earlier models, A through D.]

MH: What did you do once you had mastered the Me-109?

Stoyanov: Under the supervision of German colleagues, I trained a number of Bulgarian pilots, including such notable future fighter pilots as Captain Tchudomir Toplodolsky, who was later commander of Group 3/6 [3rd Group, 6th Fighter Regiment], and Sublieutenant Dimiter Spissarevsky, whom we called "the first human torpedo" or "the Bulgarian kamikaze" after he died ramming a B-24 Liberator on December 20, 1943.

MH: What was your impression of the Me-109?

Stoyanov: The Me-109 had an odd whim. During takeoffand generally when accelerating, it began to turn strongly to the left. That tendency could be averted by counteracting with the right pedal of the foot-controlled rudder. MH: Did you train any pilots besides fellow Bulgarians?

Stoyanov: Generally, no. One exception was a Gen-nan pilot who I trained on modern aircraft—Julius Buckler, a World War I fighter pilot with 35 victories and holder of the Ordre Pour le Merits. After several years, in the summer of 1944, we met again. I was a squadron commander in the defense of Sofia, while he had been appointed Fighter Commander, Balkan, coordinating the air defense over the Balkan peninsula. His staff was in the village of Boyana, near Sofia. All information on Allied air intruders arrived there, then we received it and acted correspondingly.

MH: How long were you in Germany?

Stoyanov: I remained in Germany about one year, and during that time, I took three glider pilot examinations, A, B and C. After my return to Bulgaria, I was appointed an instructor in the fighter pilot school at Karlovo. From the end of 1940 until 1943, I accepted and flight-tested all new Me-109 fighters that arrived from Germany. The Bulgarian fighter pilot school in Dolna Mitropoliya trained young fliers and sent us new replacement units of novice pilots every three months. They were not well-prepared for aerial combat when they arrived at our group, however. They were not familiar with the Streia ("Arrow"), as we called the new Me-109G-6, the first 28 of which

arrived in January 1944 and were assigned to the 3/6 Group. We had to give them additional training on that tricky new airplane. It was difficult for young pilots to master. Capricious on takeoff, it tolerated no mistakes.

MH: What was your reaction when Bulgaria was drawn into the war?

Stoyanov: The war that Bulgaria's rulers declared on Great Britain and the United States brought about the air raids on our country. Those powerful enemy attacks had to be repulsed somehow by our fighter forces. We fighter pilots who were already equipped with and trained on the Messerschmitt Me-109 were sent against the enemy with the task of defending Bulgaria and especially its capital, Sofia, from the American raids. By 1944, the U.S. Fifteenth

Air Force had more than 1,200 bombers and 600 to 700 fighters at its disposal for operations against targets in southeastern Europe, while we usually had only 30 to 50 airworthy fighters.

MH: How did those odds affect your and your comrades' morale⁷

Stoyanov: We all realized what the fight would be like and who the ultimate winner would have to be. In spite of all that, however, we felt that we had to fight for the honor of Bulgarian arms and, if necessary, to die—if only to show the whole world that even though the enemy was much stronger, the Bulgarians fight selflessly when they must defend their military honor, their people and their homeland. The enemy was numerous, but that didn't scare us. We only regretted that our number was so small.

MH: What was your appraisal of the comparative quality between Bulgarian and American airmen?

Stoyanov: As far as our pilot training was concerned, we never underrated ourselves. We were by no means more poorly trained than the American airmen who came to bombard Bulgaria by day. Just the contrary—we assumed that diey were products of wartime mass production and therefore more poorly

trained than us. We were convinced that they didn't have high morale, because we were told that they were paid—hired airmen who fought for money and not for the defense of their homeland from aggressors. Moreover, we were convinced that our modem Me-109G-2 and Me-109G-6 fighters were better than the American fighters because they were light interceptors for the defense of stationary ground targets. The speed of our "Messers" was high, and their maneuverability was better than that of the American long-range escort fighters, which were almost twice as heavy as our planes. And our armament was good enough for fighting the [Boeing B-17] Flying Fortresses. But the most important thing was that we had a fighting spirit that was too high to explain in mere words. We sought combat—we desired it—and everyone tried to shoot down as many enemy planes as possible.

MH: What was the most unforgettable moment of your combat career?

Stoyanov: I will never forget my first aerial combat, on August 1,1943, when I shot down two four-engine bombers. One of the Liberators I shot down independently after a frontal attack. Here, I must make a frank confession. I am not very religious, but I did study in the seminary and somehow it has influenced me. Reckoning that I might die in this combat, I decided, just in case, to make the sign of the cross. Nobody could see me, and I decided to win or to die. Later, my wife once asked me, "And didn't you think a little about me and our daughter?" I answered that I didn't think of them, because if in that moment I should have begun to think about them, I wouldn't still be alive. On that thrilling day, the four fighters under my command shot down five enemy B-24 bombers.

The B-24Ds that Stoyanov's flight encountered were from the 343rd Squadron of the 98th Bomb Group. Surviving American witnesses reported seeing the leader of six attacking Me-109s shoot out the two inboard engines on The Witch, flown by Julian Darlington. As James A. Gunn III in Prince Charming slowed to cover Darlington's stricken plane, he, too, was attacked and shot down in flames. On that same firing pass the Bulgarians wounded four of The Witch's crew and forced her down. Three crewmen bailed out and saw Darlington belly-land his doomed plane in a wheat field.

The Bulgarians continued to attack other bombers. Stoyanov and Bonev forced another B-24 to drop out of formation and descend. They had no time to follow it down, however, because they were already over Macedonia and their fuel was almost spent. By the time they landed, Stoyanov and his three wingmen had accounted for five B-24s. A sixth that came down had already been mortally hit over Romania.

The captured American airmen later said that they had been attacked by some crazy German pilots. Certainly, the aircraft were German—the Me-109G was already well-known to the Americans—but they were being flown by Bulgarians defending their homeland.]

MH: What other combats stand out in your memory?

Stoyanov: I will always remember the air combats on January 10, 1944, when the Americans came over Sofia for the fifth time, with four-engine Flying Fortresses. Also, I will never forget the combat of June 24, when—jointly with Sublieutenant Mikhail Ouzounov and Sergeant Kyril Stoyanov [no relation]—I shot down a bomber over the town of Samokov.

MH: Neither will I. In those days, I was a schoolboy, and I had

been evacuated to Samokov. I observed that combat, and after-ward I took several "trophies" from the wreckage of the plane you shot down, a B-24H, as souvenirs. Later, I gave them to the Museum of Aviation in Kroumovo, where they are on exhibit today. Did you have any especially close calls?

Stoyanov: It was a miracle that I remained alive after a combat with [Lockheed] P-38 Lightning fighters on April 5, 1944, when the tail of my Me-109G-6 was hit and my vertical stabilizer and rudder were shattered. But I had great luck—I managed somehow to gain control of my plane and land. [During a mission to Ploesti on April 5, the 95th Squadron, 82nd Fighter Group, reported being attacked by a lone "Focke WulfFw-190," which was driven off, damaged, by 1st Lt. Cornelius M. Di Laurio.] MH: Can you tell us about your last dogfight? Stoyanov: After my 14th credited victory, I was decorated with a second Military Cross. Shortly after that, my last combat with the Americans took place on August 26, 1944. Opening fire from a distance of 50 meters, I shot down one Lightning. My plane was entirely splashed by the burst oil reservoir of the enemy plane. The only thing I thought to myself then was: "How much soap will the mechanics consume until they wash it all up? But the enemy is to blame for this." That was my last aerial victory.

MH: You are officially credited with 15 victories in RBAF records, but you actually destroyed six aircraft. How is that so?

Stoyanov: At that time, Bulgaria counted victories by the type of plane you brought down. For one four-engine bomber, three air victories were acknowledged. One severely damaged four-engine bomber counted as two victories, and a downed fighter counted as one victory. My official score in the course of 35 missions was:

August 1, 1943: One B-24D Liberator near Tran—three victories;

August 1', 1943: One B-24D jointly downed with one pilot—two victories; November 11,1943: One B-24 damaged—two victories;

December 10,1943: One P-38 damaged; December 20,1943: One B-24 damaged—two victories; January 10,1944: One P-38 downed— one victory; June 23, 1944: One B-24H downed over Skopie— three victories; June 24, 1944: One B-24H downed jointly with two other pilots over Samokov—one victory; August 26, 1944:

One P-38 downed near Vratsa—one victory.

MH: Until September 1944, Bulgaria was a German ally, but as Soviet forces approached, the country faced a crisis that would lead to a change in allegiance. How did the RBAF airmen react to the changing situation at that time?

Stoyanov: At the end of August and in the first days of September, we began to feel that something bad was about to happen. We heard that the Germans had encircled and isolated our garrisons in Macedonia. After the total defeat of German Army Group South Ukraine and the capitulation of Romania, the Soviet 3rd Ukrainian Front under the command of Marshal Fyodor Tol-bukhin reached our northeastern frontier. The Russians waited for orders to advance through Bulgaria, in order to cut off the flow of German troops retreating north along our western frontier from Greece and the Aegean islands. We then asked ourselves what we should do in this situation, but there was nobody to explain it to us, nobody to direct us. We began, as if joking, to persuade ourselves that we would be sent as prisoners of war to Siberia. In their anxiety, some officers suggested that we take off with our planes and tiee to the Germans. Others considered how to cross over to the Russians, should some unreasoning superior officer order us to fight against the Red Army. We calmed down when we received instructions by telephone that if we encountered Soviet aircraft in the air, we should not attack them.

MH: What did you do when Bulgaria changed sides?

Stoyanov: On September 8, it was clear to all of us how events would develop and against whom we would fight in the next few days. On the morning of September 9, we learned that a coup d'etat had been staged in Sofia and Bulgaria had a new government, which declared war on Nazi Germany. Soon, 1 was appointed commander of 3/6 Group, and on September 24, I was promoted to captain. In this new phase of the war, our fighters flew 793 combat missions. Attacking ground targets and motorized columns of Wehrmacht units heading northward, we destroyed a great number ot motorcars, guns, locomotives and rolling stock. Because ot the lack of equipment and fuel, all offensive activity by Luftwaffe units in the region of the Balkan peninsula had ceased.

Soon our missions were stopped, because we flew in German aircraft and it was possible that the Russians or the Americans might shoot us down by mistake.

MH: What did you do after the RBAF stood down?

Stoyanov: In November I was decorated with a third Military Cross and promoted to major. I was also appointed commander of the fighter pilot school. At the end of February 1945, Soviet Yakovlev Yak-9M fighters began to arrive at Baltchik airfield on the Black Sea. They were intended for the rearmament of our fighter units. I had to accept all 120 planes of that type and to train the first pilots for them. Then I was given the plane in which the famous 59-victory Soviet ace Aleksandr Pokryshkin had flown. On one side of the fuselage, there was an inscription: "To Stalin's falcons, a gift of the people of Novosibirsk. In honor of the return home of three-times Hero of the Soviet Union A. Pokryshkin."

MH: In the postwar years, the Communist government branded you and hundreds of others "royal officers" for having flown for King Boris when he sided with the Axis. How did that affect your career?

Stoyanov: For some time, I served in the headquarters of the fighter component of the People's Air Force, and later I was in charge of aerial sports in the Organization for Assistance of the Defense. Then, in 1956,1 was dismissed from the armed forces. I was only 43 years old, I had flown for 21 years, and I was still full of energy and experience.

MH: And you were a war hero. Did that help you at all in your later years as a civilian?

Stoyanov: Nothing like that. After my discharge as an officer, I had no right to have a career or a steady job. Therefore, at first I worked as a construction worker, and then for five years I performed as a mute actor and lighting specialist in different theaters. After that, the State Committee for Culture sent me to the Rila Monastery, where I spent almost 30 years in seclusion. In the first 10 years, I worked in the hotel at the monastery, first as a receptionist and later as manager. In the following years, I worked in the monastery museum and as a tourist guide, speaking German and French. While there, I wrote my memoirs, which were published in abridged form in 1972 under the title We Defended You, Sofia. It was published after almost 15 years, during which time the government suppressed its publication twice—once for fear of angering the Americans, and the second time to avoid mentioning the name of Captain Dimiter Spissarevsky, the "human torpedo" who had heroically defended Sofia with his life.

[After the fall of communism, Stoyanov's book became a best seller. Since that time, We Defend You, Sofia has already gone through three editions. On January 20, 1992, a decree by the president of the Bulgarian republic cited Stoyanov's heroism in defense of his country and promoted the former pilot to the rank of major general of the reserve.

For most of the following five years, Maj. Gen. Stoyanov lived in Sofia, in an attic that could only be reached by climbing 85 steps. In 1996, he retired and moved to his wife's hometown of Karlovo, where he fell seriously ill and lost most of his memory. Forgotten by almost everybody, he was cared for only by his wife, Mina, until he died on March 13, 1997.

At Stoyan Stoyanov's burial in Karlovo, by order of Commander in Chief of the Air Force General Mikho Mikhov, a unit of jet fighters flew overhead in a last, belated homage to one of Bulgaria's aviation heroes.]

Fifteenth Air Force Story, by Kenn C. Rust; The Liberandos, by James W. Walker; and B-24 Liberator in Action, by Lorry Davis.