This volume is subtitled "The Bulgarian Air Force in the 1950s' and covers a 10-year period during which it modernised, expanded, modelled itself on best Soviet practice and became a reasonably effective fighting force. The text, by two Bulgarian authors/historians/ journalists, relates events in a degree of detail that only someone 'in-country' and speaking the Bulgarian language could hope to achieve. There were several notable occurrences during that time. One involved the shooting-down by Bulgarian MiG-15s of El Al Constellation 4X-AKC flying from London to Tel Aviv in July 1955. This resulted from incorrect identification of the 'intruder' (it was not a 'CIA spyplane'), poor command and control and trigger-happy pilots. Fifty-eight persons died in an event which further strained already tense East-West relations. The text covers much which has not appeared in print before, at least in English. Illustrations, all in black-and-white, are decently reproduced.
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