Elke oorlog die de Bulgaarse luchtmacht heeft uitgevochten
Bulgaria fought on the side of Germany in both world wars and against Germany from September 1944, and both are recorded. Where a consolidated sortie or loss figure exists in the official record it is given here; where accounts disagree, the range is shown and the disagreement named. Blank cells are blank because no figure could be verified, not because the fighting was small.
From Edirne in 1912 to NATO air policing today.
| Conflict | Jaren | Tegen | Hoofdvliegtuig | Uitvallen | Vliegtuig verloren | |
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| De BalkanoorlogenEdirne, 1912–1913Bulgarian Army Aeroplane and Balloon Section | 1912–1913 | Ottoman Empire and Serbia, Greece and Romania (Second Balkan War) | Albatros, Blériot XXI, Balloon Sofia-1 | 76 | ||
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Reconnaissance, bombing and balloon observation for the Bulgarian army. Bulgaria went to war in October 1912 with a newly trained group of army pilots and a handful of aircraft ordered abroad that summer. On 15 October Lieutenant Yordan Kazandzhiev took the balloon Sofia-1 to 600 metres for the first aerial observation over Edirne, and on 16 October an Albatros flew the first Bulgarian combat mission near the city. The Ministry of Defence calls that flight the birthday of Bulgarian military aviation, and Bulgarian accounts describe it as the first combat use of an aircraft in Europe; Aeroflight describes it more narrowly as Europe’s first reconnaissance flight in combat. Over the winter Bulgarian crews flew reconnaissance over the besieged fortress and dropped small bombs; English Wikipedia counts 70 combat sorties including 11 bombing raids. The Second Balkan War in the summer of 1913 was short and disastrous for Bulgaria, and its aviators flew only six sorties. Resultaat Edirne fell in March 1913; Bulgaria then lost the Second Balkan War. Claims to be the first combat flight or first bombing in Europe are contested: Italian aircraft had flown combat missions in Libya in 1911. The names of the 16 October crew were not confirmed on a source reached for this page. Dates may be given in the Julian or Gregorian calendar in different sources.
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| De Eerste Wereldoorlogthe Macedonian frontBulgarian Army Aeroplane Section | 1915–1918 | France, United Kingdom, Serbia and Greece | LVG B.II, Otto C.I, Albatros C.IIIen nog 4 | 255 | ||
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Reconnaissance and air defence alongside German units on the Macedonian front. Bulgaria joined the Central Powers on 4 October 1915 with a single aeroplane squadron of five aircraft and a balloon squadron. It flew first from Kumanovo in support of the advance into Serbia, then from Belica and Xanthi with German LVGs. The best-remembered action came on 30 September 1916, when a French Farman F.40 of Escadrille 384 bombed Sofia: Captain Marko Parvanov in a Fokker E.III and the German instructor Feldwebel Wagner attacked it and forced it to land, capturing the crew — the Krumovo museum’s calendar records it as the first enemy aircraft shot down by a Bulgarian pilot. Six LFG Roland D.II fighters arrived in June 1917, and on 8 July 1917 Uzunov and Balan shot down a British B.E.2. The navy ran seaplane stations with Friedrichshafen FF.33s on the Black Sea. Numbers stayed tiny: about eleven aircraft in early 1917 and ten in 1918, three of them captured. The last combat mission was flown on 28 September 1918. Resultaat Bulgaria signed an armistice on 29 September 1918, the day after its last combat mission. The wording of the 1916 action differs: the air force site describes the Farman as damaged and forced down rather than shot down.
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| De luchtverdediging van Bulgarijethe bombing of SofiaRoyal Bulgarian Air Force (His Majesty’s Air Troops) | 1943–1944 | Verenigde Staten en Verenigd Koninkrijk | Bf 109G-2 and G-6, Dewoitine D.520, Avia B-534 | |||
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Intercepted US and British bombing raids on Sofia and other cities. The air war reached Bulgaria on 1 August 1943, when B-24s returning from Ploieşti crossed its territory. Ten Bf 109s from Karlovo and fourteen Avia B-534s from Bozhurishte and Vrazhdebna intercepted; Peter Bochev, Chudomir Toplodolski, Stoyan Stoyanov and Hristo Krastev scored their first claims and were decorated by Tsar Boris III, though only two B-24s are recorded as crashing in Bulgaria. From 14 November 1943 the raids on Sofia came in earnest. On 20 December Lieutenant Dimitar Spisarevski, 27, rammed the leading B-24 of a formation with his Bf 109G-2; the bomber broke up and he was killed, and was credited posthumously and promoted captain. On 10 January 1944 the museum records 16 Bf 109s and 23 D.520s in action against 280 American aircraft. On 30 March 1944 some 450 heavy bombers with 150 fighters destroyed about 3,575 buildings. The Bulgarian pilots fought formations many times their size, and their claims were generous; the civilian toll was heavy. Resultaat The raids stopped after Bulgaria left the Axis in September 1944; Sofia had been heavily damaged. Victory claims and losses vary widely between sources and are given as ranges. Building and casualty figures come from English Wikipedia’s article on the bombing and were not checked against Bulgarian archives.
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| De campagne tegen DuitslandYugoslavia and Hungary, 1944Bulgaarse luchtmacht | 1944 | Duitsland | Ju 87 D-5, Bf 109G | 32 | ||
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Ground attack, reconnaissance and transport in support of the Bulgarian army, now fighting on the Soviet side. After the Soviet army entered Bulgaria and the government changed on 9 September 1944, the air force that had fought American bombers weeks earlier was turned against the Wehrmacht retreating from Greece through Macedonia and Serbia. Ju 87 dive bombers, Bf 109 fighters and reconnaissance aircraft attacked German columns, railways and airfields. Aeroflight counts more than 1,200 sorties between 9 September and 7 October; Bulgarian Wikipedia gives 3,744 combat sorties for the first phase at a cost of 32 aircraft and 18 crews, and 4,424 in all. Air combat ended on 2 December 1944, after which Bulgarian aircraft flew transport and liaison for the First Bulgarian Army in Hungary and Austria until the end of the war. Resultaat Combat operations ceased on 2 December 1944; the air force then flew transport and liaison for the First Bulgarian Army. Sortie totals differ by a factor of three to four between Aeroflight and Bulgarian Wikipedia, probably because they count different periods and types of mission; the aircraft types listed are those known to be in Bulgarian service and were not confirmed mission by mission.
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| Het neerhalen van El Al vlucht 402Luchtverdediging tijdens de Koude OorlogBulgarian Air Force (air defence) | 1955 | MiG-15 | 2 | 0 | ||
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Two MiG-15s intercepted and shot down an Israeli airliner that had strayed into Bulgarian airspace. On 27 July 1955 El Al’s Lockheed Constellation 4X-AKC, flying London–Vienna–Istanbul–Tel Aviv, strayed over Bulgaria. Two MiG-15s flown by pilots named in the record as Petrov and Sankiisky were scrambled from Dobroslavtsi on the orders of the deputy commander, General Velichko Georgiev, and shot the airliner down; all 58 aboard died. Bulgaria’s government first said the aircraft had violated its airspace without authorisation; it later apologised, said the pilots had been “too hasty” and agreed to compensate the families. Israel protested that its investigators were kept out of the inquiry and took the case to the International Court of Justice, which found it had no jurisdiction. In the same decade Bulgarian MiG-17PFs shot down seven American reconnaissance balloons. Resultaat Bulgaria apologised and agreed to compensation; the International Court of Justice declined jurisdiction over Israel’s case. The pilots’ full names were not confirmed. This was a peacetime incident, not a war, and is listed because it is the air force’s best-known use of force after 1945.
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| NAVO en nationale luchtbewakingwith allied helpBulgaarse luchtmacht | 2004– | MiG-29, F-16 Blok 70 | 0 | |||
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Keeps fighters on quick reaction alert under NATO’s integrated air defence, with allied jets reinforcing since 2017. Since joining NATO in 2004 Bulgaria has guarded its own airspace, but with too few serviceable fighters it has increasingly shared the task. In 2017, when the defence minister said Bulgarian pilots flew about 40 hours a year, Italian Eurofighters joined the air policing mission. After Russia’s 2022 invasion of Ukraine four Spanish Eurofighters with 130 personnel operated from Graf Ignatievo from 11 February to 31 March 2022, followed by four Dutch F-35s from 6 April to 31 May, and USAF F-35s flew a long-range mission to the base. Bulgaria signed cross-border air policing memoranda with Romania and Greece, with Türkiye in February 2024 (ratified on 8 August 2024) and, on 6 August 2026, a trilateral agreement with Romania and Spain. The MiG-29s remain the national alert aircraft: on 30 June 2026 one launched at 13:54 to escort a LOT Airbus squawking a hijack code, handing it to Turkish F-16s, and a drone exploded just inside Bulgaria near the Romanian border on 8 August 2026. Resultaat Continuing; MiG-29s still held the alert in 2026. Dates of the Italian deployment and any other allied rotations after 2022 were not confirmed; the list of allies is limited to deployments and agreements found in the sources.
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Niets komt overeen met die zoekopdracht.
Elk cijfer, gecontroleerd
- Bulgaarse luchtmacht: geschiedenis – Eerste WereldoorlogDeelname aan de oorlog 4 oktober 1915; Farman boven Sofia 30 september 1916 (Parvanov en Wagner).
- Ministerie van Defensie: Luchtmacht – geschiedenis en missiesBallonteam 1903; luchtvaartdetachement 1906; 16 oktober 1912, eerste gevechtsmissie, geboortedag van de militaire luchtvaart.
- Aeroflight: een verhalende geschiedenis van de Bulgaarse luchtmachtGedateerde geschiedenis 1906–2000: Neuilly, heroprichting in 1934, 1943–1944, verdragslimiet in 1947, naamswijziging in 1992, basissysteem in 1994.
- Luchtvaartmuseum Krumovo: kalender van de militaire luchtvaart15 oktober 1912 ballonobservatie; 30 september 1916 overwinning van Parvanov; 8 juli 1917; 10 januari 1944.
- Sofia Globe: Ministerie van Defensie bevestigt overlijden piloot (10 juni 2021)Majoor Valentin Terziev, 47 jaar.
- The Sofia Globe: Italiaanse luchtmacht helpt Bulgaarse luchtbewaking in de zomer van 2017 (23 februari 2017)Italiaanse Eurofighters; ongeveer 40 vlieguren per jaar voor Bulgaarse piloten.
- The Sofia Globe: Vier Spaanse Eurofighters arriveren om de luchtpolitie in Bulgarije te ondersteunen (11 februari 2022)Graf Ignatievo, 11 februari – 31 maart 2022, 130 personeelsleden.
- Sofia Globe: Nederlandse F-35's van de luchtmacht arriveren om het Bulgaarse luchtruim te helpen beschermen (6 april 2022)Vier F-35's, 6 april – 31 mei 2022.
- The Sofia Globe: F-35's van de Amerikaanse luchtmacht voerden een langeafstandsmissie uit naar Bulgarije (1 juni 2022)Van Spangdahlem naar Graf Ignatievo.
- The Sofia Globe: Bulgaarse parlementsleden keuren overeenkomst met Turkije over luchtbewaking goed (8 augustus 2024)Ondertekend in Ankara in februari 2024; soortgelijke memoranda met Roemenië en Griekenland.
- The Sofia Globe: Roemeense, Bulgaarse en Spaanse luchtmacht tekenen overeenkomst voor luchtbewaking (6 augustus 2026)Trilaterale grensoverschrijdende overeenkomst in het kader van NATINAMDS.
- Sofia Globe: Premier Radev – drone ontploft in Bulgaars luchtruim (8 augustus 2026)Nabij het voormalige Kardam-controlepunt; Cougars en Su-25's gestationeerd sinds 31 juli 2026.
- Sofia Globe: Jachtvliegtuig van de luchtmacht stijgt op om civiele Airbus te escorteren (30 juni 2026)MiG-29 vanaf de 3e luchtmachtbasis om 13:54; overgedragen aan Turkse F-16's.
Cijfers geverifieerd op 29-09-2026. Back to the Bulgarian Air Force.