The History of Bulgarian Air Power

The History of Bulgarian Aviation is a story that begins with Bulgarians' initial efforts to fly at the turn of the 19th and 20th Centuries, when the first successful experiments with heavier-than-air flying machines took place. The apogee was in the Balkan War when the Bulgarians organised and waged the first aerial war in world history. Shortly after, Bulgarian aviation participated ably in the Second Balkan War and the Great War.

Wartime collapse did not stop the Bulgarian thrust for the skies. Between the Wars, Bulgaria created indigenous aircraft design and manufacture and rapidly restored its air power. In the Second World War, the Vazdushni Voyski defended the homeland from Anglo-American air raids in 1943 and 1944 before offering air support to advancing Bulgarian land forces in late 1944. While the Paris peace treaty temporarily restricted development, after 1950 Bulgaria began a massive rearmament of its combat aviation.

By 1955, the Bulgarian Voennovazdushni Sili were the Balkans' most powerful airforce: an advantage retained through the rest of the Cold War. The system's transformation to date winds up the story. The hardback volume illustrated by over 700 quality photographs and aircraft drawings, 32 diagrams and 13 tables remains the sole book covering more than 110 years of Bulgarian combat aviation.