After the end of the Second World War, Bulgaria fell in total dependency
upon the Soviet Union as a direct result of the 1944 Yalta agreement on
the 'spheres of influence' division of Europe. The Bulgarian Air Force
was radically reformed in the Soviet style and rapidly re-equipped with
huge numbers of front-line aircraft.
The strengthening of the Bulgarian air arm became a high priority as the
Cold War in the Balkans gathered speed, and small incidents near the
southern and western borders of the country began to occur with
increasing frequency. The extensive 'Sovietisation' of the Bulgarian air
arm led to the eventual change of its official title in late 1949,
becoming identical to its Soviet counterpart, the Voennovazdushni Sily
(VVS), featuring a structure identical to that of a Soviet front-line
air army.
In April 1951, the Bulgarian Air Force entered the jet era with the
delivery of the first batch of Yak-23 fighters, followed not after long
by the MiG-15.
The hot period of the Cold War in the early and mid-1950s saw frequent
night overflights by US aircraft ferrying CIA teams to be delivered by
parachute to Bulgarian territory, and often to Romania and the southern
parts of the Soviet Union.
This tense situation required a constant high alert state, but the
Bulgarian jet fighters and anti-aircraft artillery proved largely
unsuccessful in countering the night intrusions. They were more
successful, however, in countering the flights of high-altitude balloons
with photo reconnaissance equipment launched by the US intelligence in
an effort to gather information on the countries behind the Iron
Curtain.
The only occasion of a foreign aircraft being shot down was El Al Flight
402, a Super Constellation on a regular passenger flight between London
to Tel Aviv via Vienna and Istanbul. The ill-fated airliner, known as
one of the greatest victims of the Cold War tensions, nervousness and
distrust, was attacked by Bulgarian MiG-15 fighters on 27 June 1955
after it erroneously strayed off course into Bulgarian territory,
killing all 58 people onboard.
The formation of the Soviet Union-dominated Warsaw Pact Treaty
Organisation on May 14, 1956 heralded the beginning of a new era in the
VVS' development. As one of the most enthusiastic Warsaw Pact members,
Bulgaria was readily supplied with huge numbers of combat jets,
anti-aircraft artillery, surface-to-air missile systems and early
warning radars in an effort to boost up the pact's southern flank
defence.
