|
Hunting for Migs in Bulgaria,
Not a well-visited aviation country,
Bulgaria is now mostly visited by organised spotter groups and
individuals at the time of major aviation events. Its flying force, the
Balgarski Voennovazdushni Sily (BVVS) or ‘Bulgarian Air Force’ has
suffered badly from cutbacks in the nineties and its former strength in
numbers has been replaced by smaller numbers of upgraded Russian jets
and helicopters. Opportunities to see the MiG’s and Mi’s in the wild are
scarce, so any opportunity is sought after to see their equipment up
close.
Bulgaria, like in Thailand and other countries, has a ‘Day of the
Children’; in Bulgaria this is the first of June. On this day several
bases (may) have an open day lasting from 09:00 till 13:30. With bases
being few and far apart, not more than one can normally be visited, with
the exception of Graf Ignatievo and Krumovo situated at either end of
the city of Plovdiv. After last years’ failure to gain access to Graf
Ignatievo due to the pending arrival of an Oregon Air National Guard
F-15’s deployment, followed by a late arrival at Bezmer, we decided to
give it another go this year.
Via contacts with Bulgarian spotters, we found out that Graf Ignatievo
was definitely open and Krumovo ‘maybe’. On arrival at Graf Ignatievo
only a handful of people were at the gate and we were on base in no
time. It is amazing how little people are coming to such an event like
this. Even with Plovdiv - a city of some size - nearby.
At this moment, Graf Ignatievo is the only fighter base of the Bulgarian
Air Force and one of five remaining air bases in the country. In its
history after the Second World War, it has been the home to the HQ and
1st and 2nd Squadron of the 19th FAR, 10th Composite Air Corps, flying
with types like the MiG-15, MiG-17, MiG-19 and MiG-21. In 1994 it became
the 3rd Fighter Air Base (3.IAB) of the Tactical Air Corps, with the
MiG-21Bis. Finally ‘Graf’ was transferred to the Air Defence Corps,
which was created in 1996 and after the closure of Ravnetz Air Base in
2000 all MiG-29s were also transferred to the base.
At the moment there are two squadrons flying at Graf Ignatievo, one is
the 1/3 Iztrebitelna Avio Eskadrila, flying the Mig-21Bis and -UM and
the other 2/3 Iztrebitelna Avio Eskadrila, flying the MiG-29A and -UB.
Also present are large numbers of Mig-21’s stored on several aprons
around the base and many have already found their way to the dump as it
is filling up with more and more Mig-21’s.
Coming back to the Open Day, one must not become overly expecting; it is
more about quality than quantity. On the static were a MiG-21Bis,
MiG-21UM and a MiG-29A, next to some airport equipment. The flight line
had a MiG-21UM and a MiG-29UB; the main types of this modest and
friendly Open Day.
The flying display turned out to be bigger than the static part of the
program. A MiG-21Bis, MiG-21UM and a MiG-29UB in the first wave and
three MiG-29A and a MiG-29UB in the second wave. All aircraft were
passing by in front of the visitors on the roller track, which gave
excellent photo opportunities. The flying consisted of some touch-and-go’s
and a dogfight between two MiG-29’s, although the latter did not provide
for any photo opportunities due to the high altitude of the
demonstration.
A big surprise was a Mi-24 destined for the African country of Mali.
It was pulled out of one of the maintenance hangers for the first time
since being ‘117’ of the BVVS and it made some engine runs, as part of a
pre-delivery inspection. After the flying display we took some distant
pictures of the QRA Mig-21’s and the gate guards and were off to Krumovo.
Krumovo has a long association with helicopter flying. It was the
post-war home of the 44th Helicopter Regiment of 10th Composite Air
Corps, with Mi-2, Mi-8 and Mi-17 based. It also houses a military
aviation repair factory. In 1994 Krumovo was re-designated 24th
Helicopter Air Base (24.VAB) of the Tactical Air Corps. Now, its tenant
units are 1/24 Vertoletna Avio Eskadrila, flying the Mi-24, 2/24
Vertoletna Avio Eskadrila, flying the Mi-17 and the AS 532 (twelve
ordered examples are now on delivery) and Otdelna Uchebno Aviozveno with
the Bell 206. All BVVS helicopters are now based at Krumovo.
During our visit to Graf Ignatievo, it came to our attention that
Krumovo was not open this year, because of some rotary transport being
put on transport to Afghanistan, for which an AN-124 was present. Next
stop was the Bulgarian Museum of Aviation, located next to Krumovo’s
main gate. Established in 1991, the museum has around 60 aircraft on
display.
One of the more unique aircraft there is an Arado AR-196 combat
floatplane, surrounded by most of the types used by the Bulgarian Air
Force since WWII. The exhibits itself not being the only goal of the
visit, since we saw some AS523’s flying while on the ring road. The
museum itself provides opportunities for nice photos of aircraft on the
active field. This time we where lucky enough to catch some Mi-24’s in
the take-off and a Mi-17 passing by the museum yard.
On last place that was visited is Katunitza, on a local yard there are
10 Mig-23 BN stored. These came from the nearby Cheshnegirovo-Sadovo air
base, former home of the 25 IBAB. The future of these planes in
uncertain.
Compared to last years’ failure to see any active flying at all, the
visit in June was a great success with pictures that show the great
opportunities of graphing Bulgarian MiGs.
A word of advice to anyone thinking about doing the same next year: in
principle there should be an Open Day on the first of June, but if it is
really going to happen is something completely different. As operational
demands can easily cancel a day, like at Kromovo this year.
|
