Saturday, 20 August 2016

Avia B-135, Bulgarian Users

The Avia B-135 was a Czechoslovak monoplane fighter that was used by Bulgaria.

Back in the late 1930s, the Bulgarian DAR company bought a license to locally build the Avia B-135, which was to be known as the DAR 11 Lyastovitsa (Bulgarian word for "Swallow") but the DAR factories proved to be unsuitable for producing the airplane and only the 12 Czechoslovak made fighters ended serving in the Bulgarian Air Force.

As they were giving engine problems, they were mainly used on training duties. However, four of them were used in combat on 30th March 1944 when they intercepted some USAAC bombers returning from a bombing mission in Ploesti, Romania. Apparently an Avia B-135 piloted by Yordan Ferdinandov managed to shot down a B-24 bomber which crashed into Bulgarian soil that day.










Sources:
1. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Avia_B-135
2. Salamander Books - The Complete Book of Fighters

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