USAAF claims against Bulgarian AF

[Santiago]

Hello
I been doing a lot of research on the Bulgarian air force during WWII and recently I adquired the two of the three volumes of the work BULGARIAN FIGHTERS PART .II by Dimitar Nedialov, Propeller Publishing, Sofia 2006.

Quite an interesting book about the Bulgarian fighters vs the USAAF mostly agaisnt the P-38 and later the P-51 and P-47 that were involved in the escort of USAAF bombers. Its there a listing of USAAF claims against the Bulgarian by group or pilots available.

Cheers
Santiago A. Flores

[RossGmann]

Is the following site any help?
http://www.aeroflight.co.uk/waf/bulg...ve_history.htm

In part it states

Operation Tidal Wave, a massed air raid by American B-24 Liberators on 1 August 1943 was intercepted by Bulgarian fighters as it headed towards Romania. The Royal Bulgarian Air Force was now able to claim its first aerial victories, with Bf 109G pilots managing to bring down four B-24s. 14 November 1943 marked the start of a series of nine daylight air raids on the Bulgarian capital, Sofia. A late warning hindered the defences and only one escorting P-38 was shot down. Subsequent raids were heavier and involved aircraft from the Italian-based US 15th Air Force as well as the North African-based 9th Air Force. Bulgarian air defences became increasingly well organised, but despite fierce fighting could only bring down and average of 2% of the enemy raiders (39 aircraft in total) for the loss of 14 of their own. Eight night raids were also staged, but the lack of night fighters and night flying skills left aerial defence to the anti-aircraft artillery. After April 1944 the Allied bomber offensive returned to attacking Ploesti, with only sporadic air engagements occuring over Bulgaria.

Kind regards
Ross

[CENTURION]

Hello Santiago,

here are US claims (and losses) in 1943 / 44 over Bulgaria:

14/11/43 82nd FG Claims: 3 Me109 + 2 FW190 for 1 P38 (lost an engine in the target area, disappeared over Yugoslavia)
24/11/43 82nd FG Claims: 2 Me109 for 1 P38 (out of fuel)
10/12/43 82nd FG Claims: 8 Me109 + 1 FW 190 for 1 P38
20/12/43 82nd FG Claims: 2 Me109 + 1 FW 190 for 3 P38
04/01/44 82nd FG Claims: 1 Me109 (damaged)
10/01/44 14th FG Claims: 5 Me109 + 4 FW 190 for 2 P38 (one for crash landing at the airfield)
30/03/44 82nd FG Claims: 4 Me109 + 1 FW 190
30/03/44 14th FG Claims: 1 Me109 for 1 P38
30/03/44 1st FG Claims: 6 D520
17/04/44 31st FG Claims: 3 Me109 for 1 P51 (mechanical failure)
17/04/44 325th FG Claims: 4 Me109
11/06/44 52nd FG Claims: 13 Me109 + 1 FW 190 for 1 P51
24/06/44 82nd FG Claims: 7 Me109

Sources:
"Adorimini - A history of the 82nd FG" by Steve Blake
"The 14th FG in WW2" by J. Lambert
"Spitfire and yellow tail mustangs (52nd FG)" by T. Ivie
"An escort of P-38 (1st FG)" by J. Mullins
"In a now forgotten sky (31st FG)" by D. Kucera
"USAAF MTO Claims" by F. Olynyk

Let me know if you need the name of the american pilots.
Also, I wonder if you can provide the list of Bulgarian fighter losses in the same period.

Thanks

Regards
Marco

[Burdokva]

As this is my first post on the forum, let me say "hello" to everyone!

CENTURION, the VnVV (Bulgarian AF) lost 23 pilots and 27 fighters (machines that were completely destroyed or too badly damaged to be repaired). Here's a full list of the pilots, the day of their deaths in air combat and the type of fighter they perished in, as written on the new memorial in Sofia.

http://edinzavet.wordpress.com/2008/...#1092;и/

The site is in Cyrillic , but if anyone's interested I can translate it.

It includes only the pilots who fell in the defence of Bulgaria against the USAAF, not those who perished fighting against the Germans from September '44 to May '45.

[CENTURION]

Burdokva,

thank you for the list you provided.
I wonder if you have the dates related to the four losses not included in the list, and of eventual fighters damaged and forced to crash landing.


Regards
Marco

[Steve_Fossey]

Hello,

There is an Me-109 and pilot listed as lost on 24-05-1944. Most of the USAAF 15th Air Force went to Austria but USAAF Combat Chronology also lists Zagreb as a target. Is Zagreb where the Me-109 was lost and do you know anything about what happened?

Thanks,
Steve

[Burdokva]

Actually, two dates are mistaken on the link (thanks to CENTURION in pointing it out in the thread about the air combat on June 11th) - Ivan Bonev died on 11th June, not August. Tzvyatko Zagorski perished on 24 June 1944 when "bounced" by a force of P-38s , probably from 82nd FG. I have a detailed account of the air combat, if anybody's interested I'll post it here.

EDIT: CENTURION, according to the book "Air Power of the Kingdom of Bulgaria. Part 4" FARK OOD, Sofia, 2001 of the 27 Bulgarian fighters listed as lost, 14 were downed or damaged beyond repair and 13 were seriously damaged to various degrees. The volume is both in Bulgarian and English and is a good study on the aerial conflict, but it covers only the period from August 1943 to April 1944 (against the USAAF; there's a brief section on the campaign against the Germans), and not the summer battles (which lasted until August 26th 1944).
Several fighters belly landed after damage to the engine, or if the pilot was wounded, but these were quickly repaired. I'll check on the other losses, they are probably from the (incomplete) 1st and (training) 4th orlyaks with D.520s, which were pressed to join the defence of the capital.

[Martin Gleeson]

Hallo Burdokva,

Yes, I for one would be very interested in details of any engagement between Bulgarian and 82nd FG pilots.

Thanking you in advance,

Martin Gleeson.

[Dénes Bernád]

Originally Posted by Burdokva

Actually, two dates are mistaken on the link (thanks to CENTURION in pointing it out in the thread about the air combat on June 11th) - Ivan Bonev died on 11th June, not August. Tzvyatko Zagorski perished on 24 June 1944 when "bounced" by a force of P-38s , probably from 82nd FG.

I think the date of the first pilot's death is also listed erroneously, as according to my info Por. Luka I. Obreykov of 672 Yato died on 09-aug-43, when crashed near Lyabzhena.

P.S. I think it's very commendable that a German pilot who died in defence of Bugaria is also listed on the monument (Hptm. Gerhard Wengel, Gruppenkommandeur of I./JG 5, KIA on 10 Jan. 1944).

[Steve_Fossey]

Let me ask a general question, did Bulgarian fighters intercept USAAF bombers headed to or from Ploesti that may have passed over or very close to Bulgaria or were they primarily just assigned to the defense of Sofia and the rest of Bulgaria?

In particular, A/C 42-31825, a B-17G of the 775th BS/ 463rd BG crashed probably in Bulgaria on 18 May 1944 (MACR 5791). The return flight from Ploesti to Foggia crossed over Orekhova. '825 had dropped out of formation and was not seen again, all ten crew were KIA. Is there any record on the Bulgarian side?

Thanks,
Steve