Bulgaria as a small nation is very much ignored by War Thunder in its importance in WWI, WWII and the Cold War, due to our low number of Bulgarian players. The origins of the Bulgarian Air Force can be traced to as early as 1892, when two Bulgarian officers flew in a balloon during the Plovdiv International Fair. This experience prompted the Army to begin experimenting with the use of balloons in warfare. The effects of those experiments were finally seen in 1906, when the Aviation Department of the Army was formed. Intelligence about the Ottoman army strength and dispositions in the Edirne was required, and on 16 October 1912, two aviators performed a reconnaissance flight over the city in an Albatros F.2 biplane, also dropping two bombs, the first Balkan nation to use bombing the Balkans. This was not only the first military mission performed by a Bulgarian aircraft, but also the first combat use of an aircraft in Europe and one of the first bombing attacks.
Later that month the Bulgarian Aviation Corps was expanded to three Aeroplane Platoons. Foreign volunteers began flying operational sorties alongside Bulgarian pilots and carried out, leaflet-dropping and bombing missions. During the war at least three aircraft were shot down. uring the First Balkan War Bulgarian aviation undertook 70 combat sorties, including 11 bombing raids, during the Second Balkan War it undertook 6 sorties. All in all, during both wars, there were over 230 aircraft sorties, including non-combat flights. In addition to the Albatros F.2, Bulgaria flew Blériot XI and XII, Bristol Prier, Farman VII and Nieuport IV aircraft, as well as examples provided by Sommer and Voisin.
Tsardom of Bulgaria join the WWI on the 4th of October 1915 on the side of the Central Powers. Supplied by Germany and also utilising captured Entente aircraft, Bulgarian pilots mainly conducted their operations in the Balkans to the end of WWI.After the war however, the Treaty of Neuilly-sur-Seine forbade Bulgaria to have any Air Force whatsoever. Nearly all Bulgarian aircraft that managed to survive the conflict were destroyed under the watchful eye of Western observers. However, some planes were hidden and survived. During the interwar period Bulgaria still managed to acquire aircraft, such as the Caudron C.59. Also, Bulgarian designers came up with their own projects, such as the Grigorov-1 and the DAR-1.
During the interwar times from 1937 to 1939 under Bulgarian Tsar Boris III “Uniter” Tsardom of Bulgaria start buying foreign planes like Polish PLZ 24B and 43, together with German and ex-Czechoslovak planes like Arado Ar.65, Heinkel 45B, Heinkel 51, Dornier Do.11, Letov S-328, Avia B-534, Avia B-71. From 1939-1945 Tsardom of Bulgaria accure more planes or produced under license from Germany, Italy and countries occupied by Germany and Italy like Arado Ar. 196, Arado Ar.96B, Kaproni-Bulgarski KB-5 Chuchuliga(Caproni Ca.113), Kaproni-Bulgarski KB-6(Caproni Ca.309 Chibli) and Bf. 109/Me. 109
, but this don’t stop Bulgaria to try produce domestic planes like DAR-3 Garvan
, DAR-4, DAR-6, DAR-9 Siniger, DAR-10A/F and Kaproni-Bulgarski KB-11 Fazan !
On 1 March 1941, the Tsardom of Bulgaria signed the Tripartite Pact, becoming a formal ally of Germany. Under the treaty, Bulgaria allowed the use of its territory as a staging point for the invasion of Yugoslavia and Greece and some minor logistical support. Despite the impressive looking inventory, Bulgaria’s fighter force in January 1941 consisted of only 91 machines, with just 18 of them modern Bf 109E monoplanes. A further 11 were PZL P.24B fighters, and the remainder were obsolete Avia B-534 biplanes. The ground-based air defenses were made up of only 8 88 mm (3.5 in) and 6 20 mm (0.79 in) AA guns. To help its new ally the 12th Army of the Wehrmacht offered support with its aircraft and air defence assets and provided 8 Freya-type radars dispersed throughout the country. A dispersed observation and reporting system was gradually developed.
The first air strike against Bulgarian targets was carried out by 4 Yugoslav Dornier Do 17 Kb-1 on 6 April 1941 on the city of Kyustendil and its railway station killing 47 and injuring 95, mostly civilians. The air strikes intensified in the following days; British Royal Air Force units based in Greece participated in the attacks as well. At the end of April, the 2nd and 5th Bulgarian armies occupied Greek and Yugoslav territories according to an agreement with the Third Reichneeded As a part of the joint armed forces’ effort on 26 June 1941 6 Avia B.71 and 9 Dornier Do 17M bombers were transferred to the Badem Chiflik airfield near Kavala in Greece. They were tasked with anti-submarine patrols and air support for Italian shipping over the adjacent area of the Aegean Sea In addition 9 Letov Š.328s based in Badem Chiflik provided the ground troops with air reconnaissance. At the Black Sea shores the “Galata” Fighter Orlyak was established at NAS Chaika, Varna, with the 10 Bf 109E-4s and 6 Avia B-534s. The S.328s were also used for anti-submarine patrols over the Black Sea, flying out of the Sarafovo and Balchik airfields. At the end of 1941 the inventory of His Majesty’s Air Troops consisted of 609 aircraft of 40 different types.
On 22 June 1941, Germany invaded the Soviet Union, but Bulgaria refused to take part, although it did declare war with Great Britain and the United States of America in December 1941. Bulgaria’s inaction against the Soviet Union meant that supplies of German aircraft slowed to a trickle, with only four aircraft delivered from January to September 1942.
The war declared by the Tsardom of Bulgaria against the US and Great Britain was a tragedy for the little country. At the beginning of 1943 the territory of Bulgaria falls within the scope of Operation Pointblank, approved at a meeting between Churchill and Roosevelt in Casablanca. From November 1943 until August 1944. the country was subjected to severe bombardment by the Anglo-American air force with B-17 and B-24, with Sofia being the hardest hit.
A total of 2,000 aircraft carried out 7 day and 5 night strikes with 8,800 high-explosive and several thousand incendiary bombs. Despite the many times superior forces of the enemy, the pilots of the 6th fighter regiment, who protect the skies over Sofia, undertook 273 sorties and shot down 30 of his planes.
Immediately after the Tsardom of Bulgaria change side and join the Allies (Soviets) and start assisting the Soviet army, on September 9, 1944 to 9 May 1945, the combat operations of the Bulgarian aviation against the troops of the Reich began. During the first stage of this participation in the war, 3744 combat sorties were carried out, 32 aircraft were lost, 18 pilots and members of the flight crews died. During the second stage, the aviation performed communication, transport and courier tasks during the offensive of the First Bulgarian Army in Croatia, Slovenia, Hungary and Austria. The total number of flights performed by the Air Forces during the participation in the war against Germany was 4424.
Biography of Dimitar Spisarevski:
Dimitar Spisarevski, called by his comrades Spaich, was born on July 19, 1916 in Dobrich, then in Romania, 49 days before the city was liberated by the Bulgarian army during the First World War. His mother Elisaveta is from Belogradchik. his father, reserve officer Cvetozar Spisarevski and his uncle, diplomat Kosta Spisarevski, are Bulgarians from Kyustenja. Dimitar is a descendant of a Kotlen Revival family whose roots are known until the first half of the 18th century. The pilot’s other uncle, also Dimitar Spisarevski, is an officer and poet, knight of the Bulgarian and Serbian orders for bravery. At the end of the Inter-Allied War, he was killed at Zletovska Reka, while he was a parliamentarian for the Serbs.
After the Treaty of Neuilly-sur-Seine 1919, Dobrich together with all of Dobrudja were again annexed by Romania. Due to the father’s intolerance towards the Romanian occupation, already in 1919, after a public protest by the head of the family, the Spisarevskis were expelled from the Romanian authorities to Bulgaria where they live in Lom before move to Sofia. Later years in Sofia, Dimitar Spisarevski entered the elite Second Boys’ High School “Tsar Boris III” (today the 22nd SEU). Graduated in 1934. His matriculation certificate noted that he was the school’s flag bearer. His dream of becoming an aviator manifested itself in high school. As a student in the sixth (now 10th) grade, he and his friends built an engineless airplane in the model airplane club. imitar grows tall, strong and vigorous. An excellent gymnast, swimmer and football player, he is engaged in wrestling and boxing. From 1933 to 1935 is a youth football player of PFC Levski (Sofia), plays in several friendly matches in the men’s team. Dimitar Spisarevski follows the officer path of his father and uncle and enters the Vasil Levski National Military University.
For excellent conduct, after a few months he was promoted to non-commissioned officer candidate, and at the personal request of the regimental commander, his rights as a cadet were restored. He returned to school and graduated in 1938. in the 57th “Srednogorsk” graduating class. In 1936 a competition for pilots was announced and he was among the first to apply for the new specialty.
From April 1938 to July 1939, he trained at the aviation school in Kaufbeuren near Augsburg, where he flew Heinkel 72 Cadet and Focke Wulf 44 aircraft. On June 18, 1938, Dimitar performed his first solo “circle” flight. This is a memorable date for every pilot. Something like a second birth and a first solo encounter with the dreamed-of celestial ocean. Then, together with all his colleagues from the group, he continued the rest of the training program with numerous solo “circle” and route flights. After three months of training, in July 1938, Dimitar Spisarevski, together with his colleagues, received his first license with the rights to pilot a single-engine civil aircraft.
Finally, in 1939, he graduated with honors from the most prestigious fighter school for maneuverable air combat in Werneuchen, 10 km northeast of the capital Berlin. After arriving in Bulgaria in July 1939, the graduates of the school were included in the 2nd Fighter Eagle, expanded and renamed the 6th Fighter Regiment. The regiment was based at the Marino Pole airport near Karlovo, later renamed the 3/6th Fighter Eagle. The commander was Capt. Chudomir Toplodolski. Spisarevski was included in the P3L24 “Yastreb” fighter squadron, as a wing commander in the 2nd Army Air Regiment, stationed near the Turkish border. He remained in this position until the summer of 1941. He flew Avia 534 “Dogan” aircraft. He mastered the controls of the first German Messerschmitt Bf-109E fighters delivered to Bulgaria, called “Strela” in Bulgaria.
Spisarevsky had patriotic and anti-communist convictions. As an army officer, he considered police methods unworthy. He stated that: “I did not learn to go through the forests to chase illegals. I learned to be a pilot”. He refused to participate in the interrogation of Petty Officer Ayarov after a civilian investigator beat the arrested person. He declared to his colleague Pavlov: “Get out, get out, we have no business here. Idiots, they will slap a Bulgarian soldier!”.
In the summer of 1943, Spisarevski was sent with another Bulgarian pilot to familiarize himself with the tactics of Anglo-American aviation and the methods of combating it. He was sent to the English Channel, but did not participate in air battles. He mastered the tactics of German fighter aviation in air battles over the English Channel in combat conditions.
After returning to Bulgaria, he was briefly assigned to Karlovo Airport as a company commander. On 11.12.1943, he was assigned to the 3/6th Orlyak, located at Bozhurishte Airport for the defense of the capital. The Orlyak led combat operations against American bombers, which attacked Sofia three times in November and December 1943.
Black Nicholas Day:
On December 20, 1943, at an altitude of 7,000 meters, a group of 37 American B-24 bombers headed for another bombing raid on Sofia. The planes were from the 376th Heavy Bomber Group of the 15th US Air Force. The formation was accompanied by 50 Lockheed P-38 Lightning twin-engine fighters from the 82nd Fighter Group. The Bulgarian air defenses shot down only 38 aircraft against 87 enemy aircraft. The enemy was met by Messerschmitt Me-109 G-2 fighters, taking off from Bozhurishte airport and Devotin D.520 fighters, taking off from Vrazhdebna airport. The Bulgarian Orlyak 3/6 from Bozhurishte airport took off in a formation of 16 Messerschmitt Bf-109G-2 fighters. Its task was to engage the enemy fighters. The Orlyak from Vrazhdebna – 2/6, took off in a formation of 22 Devotin D.520 fighters. Its task was to attack the bombers and force them to drop their bombs outside Sofia.
The B-24 came to Sofia in two groups: a northern one consisting of 21 bombers and a southern one, intercepting, of 16 bombers from the direction of Pancharevo in a wedge formation in threes, echeloned in a rear column, the end of which was lost to the horizon. The Bulgarians bravely stood up with only 38 machines against 87 enemy ones. They formed an opposing battle line, echeloned in a row, in fours in a rear column. They flew against the enemy planes at an altitude of 6,000 meters.
Lieutenant Dimitar Spisarevski of the 3/6th Fighter Eagle was one of the pilots on combat duty at Bozhurishte Airport, who were to intercept the attacking bombers on December 20, 1943. This was his first combat flight, for which he had been preparing for a long time. Spisarevski took off in a reserve aircraft, after the others. When he reached the bombers, the air battle was already underway.
Spisarevski broke away from two American fighters and headed towards the southern group of 16 B-24, which had set course for Sofia. He targeted one aircraft, attacked it swiftly, without deviating from the fire of its fighter cover.
Spisarevski performed a maneuver and rammed the leading heavy American bomber of the formation. The bomber exploded twice and broke up in the air into three large pieces. Only the tail gunner was saved, who was thrown out along with the machine guns by the shock wave.
Spisarevski’s Messerschmitt Me. 109 G-2 crashed at the heights above the village of Dolni Pasarel, Pancharevo district, Sofia region. His body was found by locals among the debris. Parts of the stricken four-engine bomber fell on the other side of the village. The only survivor of the crew, the tail gunner Petty Officer Robert Henry Renner, reached the crash site. The locals took him to the town hall. Instead of the hostility he expected, he met with humane treatment and was fed. The nine dead crew members of the American B-24 bomber rammed by Spisarevski, with the call sign “Big Nig” and tail number 92, were buried in the cemetery of the village of Pancharevo.
There are different accounts of the ramming. The closest eyewitness was Lieutenant John McLendon, an American pilot of a Lightning fighter cover, tail number 43-2352 of the 97th Fighter Squadron. Shortly afterwards, McLendon was also shot down and captured. He gave the following description and assessment of Lieutenant Spisarevsky’s actions:
Six minutes before I was shot down, I witnessed something unheard of and terrifying… the Bulgarian fighter flying like a whirlwind moved away from our “flying fortress” that was already defeated and falling to the ground and, throwing itself with all its might towards another one, crashed into it, cutting off its tail and the fortress collapsed like a large oak tree struck by lightning… A truly terrifying death even for the bravest pilot!
Lieutenant Edward Tinker (Lightning pilot of fighter cover, tail number 43-2413, of the 97th Fighter Squadron), a participant in the air battle on December 20, 1943, stated: The Bulgarian pilots were better trained and fiercer than any others we faced.
Dimitar Spisarevski once told before he fly off from the airfield Bozhurishte to stop Anglo-American attack: You’ll crash and shoot down a bomber, but you won’t let it fly over this sacred land and sprinkle it with bombs!
Radio London answer towards Bulgaria after the Spisarevski made the taran:
Bulgarian pilots, we know that you are brave and ready to defend your homeland to the death, but there is no point to crash into our fortresses, because you are few and we are thousands.
I hope you in the next battle pass or event to show Bulgaria either during Bulgarian Air Force holiday or when Bulgarians celebrate our liberation on the 3 of Mart with Dimitar Spisarevski with his Bf.109 G-2/Me. 109 G-2 or other Bulgarian plane and camoflage.
