On March 29, 1944, Sofia was again bombed by Anglo-American aviation.
The bombing of Bulgaria was a series of attacks against Sofia and other Bulgarian cities and villages by the British Air Force and the US Air Force during World War II.
They began in the spring of 1941 and continued until the fall of 1944. They were real combat actions against the civilian population.
In all these attacks, Sofia was defended only by anti-aircraft artillery, because, as mentioned above, the Bulgarian aviation did not have night fighters.
On March 30, 1944, the heaviest air attack on Sofia was carried out. It was carried out by 450 B-24, B-17, B-25 "Mitchell" bombers. and Handley Page “Halifax”, which are guarded by about 150 P-38 “Lightning” fighters.
The 1/6, 2/6 and 3/6 Orlyaks, led by their commanders - Captains Rusev, Boishakov and Toplodolski, take part in the defensive battles.
The 1/6 Orlyak takes off from the Marno Pole airport, Karlovsko, with 28 “Devoatin”, and the 2/6 Orlyak (based at Vrazhdebna airport) takes off with 25 aircraft - 19 Me-109 G-2 and 6 “Devoatin”. The 3/6th Orlyak, stationed at Bozhurishte Airport, took off with 20 Me 109G-6s.
A quartet of "Avia" B-135 combat training fighters took off from the Fighter School in Dolna Mitropolia, led by Captain Krastyu Atanasov (head of the school), which also included the instructor pilots: Lieutenant Petar Manolov and Feldwebels Yordan Ferdinandov and Nedyu Kolev.
On that day, the Bulgarian fighter pilots shot down 4 bombers. Second Lieutenant Hristo Kostakev was particularly distinguished, hitting a fortress that exploded in the air and destroying another one flying next to it.
The other two bombers were shot down by Lieutenant Nedelcho Bonchev and Second Lieutenant Viktor Atanasov. 9 bombers were damaged. 3 P-38 “Lightning” fighters were also shot down - by Lieutenants Bogdan Iliev and Vasil Shishkov and by Second Lieutenant Gencho Dimitrov.
3 enemy fighters were damaged.
Lieutenant Ivan Boyadzhiev and Feldwebels Yordan Kubadinov and Hristo Tsankov were killed. Second Lieutenants Bozhidar Kuzmov and Ivan Kasiyanov jumped by parachute.
The last bombing raid on Sofia took place on April 17, 1944. 350 B-24, B-17 and “Sterling” bombers took part in it. They were guarded by 100 P-47 “Thunderbolt” and P-51 “Mustang” fighters. The strike was carried out at 12.20 pm in 8 waves, with groups coming from the west, northwest, north and northeast.
The anti-aircraft artillery participated in reflecting the strike with all 12 heavy batteries.
From 2/6 Orlyak, 16 Me-109 G-6s and 2 "Devoatins" took off, carrying out their first attack clearly over Sofia. Surprised by the enemy's strong fighter cover, the Orlyak split into two groups, which continued their attacks as they flew over the Kyustendil region.
From 3/6 Orlyak, 14 Me-109 G-6s took off. The Orlyak managed to carry out one attack on the enemy before he left for Sofia, then pursued him to the Kyustendil-Gorna Dzhumaya railway line.
Only 5 "Devoaten" from 1/6 Orlyak took off and appeared over Sofia after the enemy withdrew.
During the unequal air battle, a B-24 was shot down by a ram, carried out by Lieutenant Nedelcho Bonchev from 2/6 Orlyak. This was the second ram in Bulgarian aviation history after that of Captain Dimitar Spisarevski.
Lieutenant Bonchev managed to escape by jumping with a parachute. 5 enemy bombers and 1 fighter were damaged.
In this air battle, the Bulgarian fighters suffered the greatest losses of the entire war.
This was due to the fact that for the first time they participated in an air battle with the single-engine P-51 "Mustang" fighters. In silhouette, the latter closely resembled the Messerschmitts and at the beginning of the battle, our pilots considered them their own. Some of them even invited them to approach by shaking their wings.
When the mistake was discovered, it was too late. 4 pilots from 2/6 Orlyak (Second Lieutenant Vesselin Rachev, Lieutenant Hristo Arnaudov, Lieutenant Dimitar Popov and Petty Officer Atanas Krastev) and 2 pilots from 3/6 Orlyak (Lieutenant Lyuben Kondakov and Second Lieutenant Ivan Stefanov) were killed.
Due to damage to the aircraft and injuries in the air battles, 3 pilots made forced landings, and another 3 were rescued by parachute (among them the commander of 2/6 Orlyak, Captain Nikolay Boshnakov).
In the history of Bulgarian fighter aviation, April 17, 1944 remains as the “black" Easter.
After this date, Sofia was no longer bombed.
The goal set by the Anglo-Americans, Bulgaria's exit from the war, was not achieved.
Now the efforts of the Allied aviation were directed against the Romanian oil center at Ploiești. In this situation, the new task of our fighters was to intercept the American bomber formations returning from Romania.
By August 26, 1944, when the last air battle over Bulgaria took place, our fighters shot down 37 bombers and 16 fighters.
48 bombers and 22 fighters were damaged.
120 enemy aircraft fell on the territory of Bulgaria, killing 256 people.
329 Allied pilots were captured.
On the Bulgarian side, 16 fighter pilots died in air battles, and another 6 in the performance of their duties.
This is the dry language of statistics, but behind it lies the enormous courage and will of the Bulgarian pilots in their fight against enemy aviation.
Despising death, each time they took off to defend their homeland with the clear awareness that the probability to die is many times greater than to survive!
And today, more than 60 years after the last air battles over Bulgaria, we continue to draw inspiration from the feat of those worthy Bulgarians who defended their native skies in 1943-1944.