Bulgarian Air Force

[nuuumannn]

The Heinkel He 51 was a German single-seat biplane which was produced in a number of different versions. It was initially developed as a fighter, and a seaplane variant and a ground-attack version were also developed. It was a development of the earlier He 49. At least 12 of these fighters were acquired by Bulgaria.

Terrific range of different types, gekho and Jarda; the top shot shows an Fw 56 Stoesser (Goshawk) at the front of the row of He 51s.

 

[Gnomey]

Good stuff!

 

[Wayne Little]

keep 'em coming...

 

[CATCH 22]

Under # 58 - the last 3 photos are of Hungarian Ar-96 - only the first one is Bulgarian.
Under # 46 - the designation of the Bulgarian Avias is B-135. They differ in some details from the standard B-35 (e.g. have retractable landing gear).

 

[le_steph40]

Hello,
A little question on this thread to know the color of the numbers on the Bulgarian Bf 109G-6.
One of my projects is a Bf 109G-6 very often depicted as "green 1" flown by Stoyan Stoyanov during Spring or Summer 1944.
This one:

But I read somewhere that the the color of the flights were: 1st flight has White serial numbers, 2nd flight - Green, 3rd flight - Red and Staff flight - Yellow.
Stoyan Stoyanov was a member of 3.6 Orlyak, so the number should be "red 1". Like this illustration:

Does anyone can confirm or not the color of the flights in Bulgarian Air Force during WW2 please ? TIA
Steph

 

[CATCH 22]

But I read somewhere that the the color of the flights were: 1st flight has White serial numbers, 2nd flight - Green, 3rd flight - Red and Staff flight - Yellow.
Stoyan Stoyanov was a member of 3.6 Orlyak, so the number should be "red 1". Like this illustration:
View attachment 366652
Does anyone can confirm or not the color of the flights in Bulgarian Air Force during WW2 please ? TIA
Steph

Hi Steph!
The organization of the Royal Bulgarian Air Force was quite similar to this of the Luftwaffe. The formations were called Yato (Staffel), Orliak (Gruppe) and Polk=Regiment (Geschwader). All fighters belonged to the 6-th Regiment. This is the reason why the orliaks (groups) have numbers 1/6, 2/6 and 3/6. Every Orliak (group) had 3 Yatos (squadrons). The a/c numbers in the 3 squadrons were in different colours: white (1-st), green (2-nd) and red (3-rd). The Staff flight (usually 4 planes) had yellow numbers. And all those were not serial numbers but "in squadron" numbers.
Stoyan Stoyanov was squadron leader of 2-nd yato (squadron) of 3-rd orliak (group). He had a green number.

BTW the photo you posted above shows "green 1" but the pilot is not Stoyanov, but his successor squadron leader Petar Manolev.
Below is the "green 1" of Stoyanov, summer 1944:

As you see the markings are different - Stoyanov's has no fuselage band and the wing tips are yellow (lower surfaces only). Manolev's has white fuselage band and white wing tips, top and bottom. His photo is from September 1944 when Bulgaria already changed sides and fought against Germany. At that time all yellow bands and recognition markings were changed to white.
The painting you posted above hypothetically shows a "red 1" from the 3-rd Yato (squadron) of the 3-rd Orliak (group).

 

[Gnomey]

Nice shots!

 

[Old Wizard]