Bulgarian Top Ace 

by Carmel J. Attard

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Me-109E and Me-109G in front of a Do-11

 

Bulgarian top Ace: STOYAN STOYANOV 

Stoyan Stoyanov was Bulgarian ace fighter pilot No1 in WWII with 15 victories. Bulgaria was then unfortunately on the side of Germany and was obliged to fight against the US and British bombers and fighter planes that flew over Bulgarian their way to Romania to bomb the fuel storage facilities in Ploesti and again during the return trip to Italy. Bulgarian pilots fought against odds at times outnumbered at 20:1 against. Close to half of the Bulgarian pilots lost their life in these uneven fights while defending towns from the bombings. 

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Me-109 E-7 BAF 1942

  

Me 109 G and 109E

  

stoyanov standing in front of his 109

Stoyanov who trained in Germany on Me-109s used to surprise everyone in his skill and talent at flying right from his early training days. Among the type of aircraft that he shot down during the war are P-38 Lightning and Liberator Bomber aircraft. Stoyanov got his first recognition of his fighter skill as ace No1 of the Bulgarian AF during WWII after the communist regime finished in Bulgaria in 1989 and he was then finally raised to the rank of retired General- Major by the first non-communist government in 1992. Some years later he passed away quietly. 

There were other heroes like D.Spissarevsky who was also nicknamed in Bulgaria as, ’Live Torpedo’ who is known to have destroyed B-17 Flying Fortresses by ramming his aircraft into two of them and died in the sky over Sofia. 

 Me-109G undersurfaces

Stoyanov was trained that theoretically 4-engined bombers like the B-24 and B-17 can only be attacked from the rear by at least a group of planes. Attacking with 1 or 2 fighters would be suicidal, as all the bombers in box formations would direct all fire on them. On one particular occasion there were 18 bombers that were on a raid over the city of Sofia. So he overtook the formation at a speed of 150mph faster than them and at one point from a higher level of 3,000 ft and when ahead of the formation he made a ‘u’ turn and attacked the leading bomber of the formation from front and coming from the sun side so that the bombers could not see him. Stoyanov opened fire on the bomber bearing in mind that if he succeeds his strike this would deter any desire for them to attack the city. He pressed the trigger and watched how the gunshots making tracers and hit the glass nose of the heavy bomber. The B-24 returned fire, which came close to the attacking 109 but did not hit and at one point he flew just 15 feet from the bomber. Stoyanov understood clearly that flying so close and at speed also puzzled the defensive gunners on the bombers in case they return fire for fear that they hit their own bomber tail. The flagman B-24 sank down and disappeared from sight. The 109 drew fire from all sides of the accompanying bomber formations and turned his plane towards the safety of cloud cover as he squeezed himself and the plane through the flying bomber group with directing fire from them. Following that he took again some breath and cooled down for a while and landed back at Vrazhdebna airfield. 

Carmel 

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Bulgarian AF insignia in WWII

  

stoyanov E7 White4 the one he flew in 1943

  

stoyanov 's Me-109G6R3

   Nota Bene. Incidentally at one time my father did mention that during the Ploesti raids a crippled B-17 and a B-24 did manage to reach Hal- Luqa airfield, Malta, returning from raids over Romania and everyone on the island was fully aware that important raids on Ploesti oil fields were under way and the airfields on the island were fully alerted for any incoming crippled bomber returning from the raids. Malta was in close proximity to the operational area and in fact closer than the bomber airbase in Italy. The fate of the bombers that landed here remained unknown but very likely these were in such bad shapes that were probably scrapped.

Photos and text © by Carmel J. Attard