© Photo: lostbulgaria.com

A group of pilots from the aviation school of Louis Bleriot among whom are Hristo Toprakchiev and Simeon Petrov

Bulgaria made perfect preparations in terms of technical equipment as it relied on achieving a victory mostly through the military equipment and technology rather than soldiers. This was so because the number of the Turkish soldiers was much greater than that of Bulgarian ones. One year before the Balkan War, a new military power emerged in Northern Africa. This was the military aviation. It was tested successfully by the Italian army in the Italian-Turkish war for conquering Libya. The Bulgarian commanders saw new perspectives in this new weapon. Moreover, there were many brave and talented people at that time who were ready to develop in this sphere.

In the summer of 1912, three Bulgarian pilots went to France to go under military training. These were Simeon Petrov, Hristo Toprakchiev and Nikifor Bogdanov. The French commanders were amazed by their skills and bravery. Simeon Petrov succeeded to land a plane with a failed engine and later, together with his French colleagues, he developed a new method for landing a plane with a dead engine. Petrov conducted the first night flight in the French history together with Louis Bleriot. Post cards with the faces of Petrov and Toprakchiev were made in France.

In September 1912, Simeon Petrov became a commander of the first plane division in the Bulgarian army. When the war started, Bulgaria had 2 planes and 2 observation balloons. However, the number of airplanes rapidly went up in the course of the military actions, reaching 29.

© Photo: www.lostbulgaria.com

Airplane squad based near the village of Bulair, the Mediterrabean, 1913

On October 16, the first military flight over the Edirne fortress was conducted by a Bulgarian military plane named Albatros. It was made in Germany. The flight had an intelligence mission. The plane was flown by Radul Milkov. Officer Prodan Tarakchiev was the observer in this mission. Although the mission was very risky, it was successfully completed. The Turkish soldiers were in panic when they saw the new weapon approaching them. Soon after this flight, the soldiers recalled the legend about the Bulgarian craftsman Manol who was imprisoned by the Turkish sultan in the minaret of the Sultan Selim mosque in Edirne. The craftsman constructed wings and flew out of the minaret, thus winning back his freedom.

Aviation was developing rapidly during the first phase of the war. Between October and November 1912, tens of military flights were conducted. This was the time when Bulgarian pilots began to bomb the enemy by throwing bombs from their aircrafts. The number of the pilots in this mission reached 26. Half of them were foreign volunteers from Italy, Russia, France and Great Britain.

The start of the Balkan War was the first baptism of fire for pilots from several countries. The first air strike in this war was over military targets near the town of Odrin (Edirne). It was conducted by a joint Bulgarian-Italian crew. They faced huge risk during the mission. The fragile planes were flying at a low altitude and they could reach a maximum speed of 80-85 kilometers per hour. They were vulnerable to enemy attacks by cannons and machine guns. Hristo Toprakchiev lost his life during a mission. However he was not killed by the enemy but became a victim of a bad weather and poor technical equipment. On October 19, he took off to test one of the newest planes delivered for the battles. The strong wind crashed the plane though.

However, not only male pilots took part in this war. On October 30, a woman took part in a military flight for the first time. This was Raina Kasabova. She was a nurse and a volunteer. She took part as an observer during a flight over Odrin and was throwing leaflets which were calling people to cease fire and bloodshed.

Tens of military flights were conducted during the second phase of the war- during the winter and the spring of 1913. Three airplane detachments were in action at the three strategic fronts- the besieged the Odrin fortress, Chataldja - near the gates of Istanbul and Bulair - which was a battle that took place near the Dardanelle strait. The third detachment carried out the most successful mission - it managed to bomb a Turkish communication center at the Gallipoli peninsula and to carry out an intelligence mission over the Asian shore of the Dardanelles. This was the first flight between 2 continents in the aviation history, though covering a short distance, as Asia and Europe are at a very close distance at the Dardanelles.

Bulgaria had significant contribution during the first period of military aviation and the Bulgarians are proud of this. The Bulgarian pilots fought bravely during this war and later during the WW2. They were fighting only armed enemy and never bombed civilians. This is also something the Bulgarian people can be proud of.

English version: Kostadin Atanasov