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Re: P-38 lost over Bulgaria on 26 August 1944?
According to my files Stoyanov was credited with damaging a Lightning on December 10, 1943 (no points), and shooting one down on January 10, 1944 (one point). The August 26, 1944 claim (one point) occurred at Pafla, Vrachansko (which is my transliteration of the Bulgarian, and could be wrong). I have not attempted to locate Pafla, Vrachansko.
So Stoyanov had encountered P-38s earlier, and would certainly be expected to be able to correctly identify them. So my guess at this point is that the date is wrong somehow. Perhaps Dénes can comment on the sources for this date. Because the only other conclusion I can see is that Stoyanov is lying. Either about the fact of a combat of any kind, or about the aircraft he shot down. If he had actually shot down a Russian aircraft (depending on where Pafla is) this might cause major problems, because I do not believe that Bulgaria was at war with Russia, although Russian forces were certainly very close to the Bulgarian border at this point. I cannot see any reason for Stoyanov to be lying about the fact of a combat. And as far as I know the Russians never flew the P-38 in combat, and only had access to a few "left lying around".
Enjoy!
Frank.
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