WesWorld

January 4
It was announced that the cruiser Stara Zagora will be decommissioned sometime this year. The old cruiser, laid down in 1902 as SMS Hamburg, is the oldest ship in the Navy and although well-maintained is no longer able to keep pace even with the battleship Varna. Since 1935 she has been used as a training ship, but the construction of a dedicated training ship, the Balgarski Lav, will make her obsolete in these respect as well.

The Stara Zagora has been offered as a museum ship to original owner Germany, but if Germany is uninterested, the ship will be scrapped before the end of 1940.

January 16
A DAR testpilot has flown the first production DAR-14(Sz) Dogan ("Hunting Hawk") [1] today. The plane was scheduled for a first flight on January 13th, but the pilots all reported they would not make a first flight on Friday the 13th, as it would establish bad precedent. Their caution apparently paid off, as the Dogan flew beautifully and without incident.

January 18
The main Sofia passenger airport will be closed from February 6th to February 20th as construction companies are rebuilding the runway. Civil traffic should route to the military airstrip of Dobroslavtsi, which has appropriate facilities to handle passengers.

February 20
The Sofia airport will remain closed for the foreseeable future, as the contractor rebuilding the runway laid half of the concrete in "haphazard and shoddy fashion" and the work is deemed unsafe for aircraft to land.

February 22
Kazanlak Arsenal has begun producing STPR-36 Radichkov rifles in contract with the Swiss arsenals. The rifles are being manufactured jointly by Kazanlak and Switzerland's Sig Sauer to fill an Argentine contract for 40,000 rifles. [2]

March 1
The Bulgarian government has released a study showing that Bulgarian manufacturing and industrial jobs have expanded substantially in the last decade, and now account for almost 18% of all jobs in Bulgaria, compared to slightly over 13% in 1929. Much of this economic improvement is due to Bulgaria's membership in the Pan-European Trade Agreement (since 1935) and the strongly improving trade relationship with Romania, Byzantium, and Turkey.

March 15
Tsar Boris and a number of government ministers have left for meetings in Bucharest and Warsaw.

March 16
Torpedo boats Bulgarophygon and Ovche Pole collided today while on maneuvers off Cape Emine, sustaining heavy damage. The two torpedo boats were engaging in mock anti-aircraft exercises alongside the cruiser Maritsa and the Destroyer Division. According to initial reports, the Maritsa's rudder locked hard-over during a planned maneuver, and the cruiser swung around in a circle at twenty-eight knots. Bulgarophygon, to starboard of the cruiser, executed an emergency crash stop and hard turn to starboard, only to be rammed amidships by her division mate Ovche Pole.

A horrifying chain of events rapidly began to unfold which nearly doomed the two ships. Ovche Pole's stern depth charges were heavily-jarred by the impact, and all six Obrazets 1930 depth charges on the racks fell into the sea. Although they should not have been armed, one of the depth bombs exploded beneath Ovche Pole, the concussion then setting off the rest. Ovche Pole rapidly began taking on water from split seams and the collision damage. Aboard Bulgarophygon, the collision and effects of the exploding depth charges started a fire on the torpedo decks, threatening to set off the torpedoes stored there.

As Captain Petar Kanev formed up firefighting and damage control teams on the Bulgarophygon's forecastle, first officer Lieutenant Kiril Ianevski charged into the amidships inferno. Lieutenant Ianevski managed to jettison all six of the loaded 45cm torpedoes overboard and unquestionably saved the ship, but he himself was overcome and perished before he could escape the fires still raging aboard Bulgarophygon.

Other ships were quick to respond to help. The destroyer Pazardzhik came alongside Bulgarophygon, sending aboard firefighting teams and turning her own on-deck hoses onto the fire. The destroyer Hrabri and torpedo boat Hristo Botev rendered emergency assistance to the Ovche Pole, with the Hrabri sending over her emergency pumps, an act which kept the ship afloat until the tugboat Paidushko Horo and minesweeper Musala arrived to assist them.

Fires on Bulgarophygon were extinguished in less than an hour, but her aft and amidships was virtually gutted by the flames. Ovche Pole was in similarly dire straits, but the commander of the minesweeper Musala used a clever trick to slow her flooding, using a number of canvas tarpaulins to fit over the ship's most damaged underwater areas. [3] The canvas slowed the rate of flooding enough that the surviving and borrowed pumps could keep up with the flow, and eventually make headway.

There was loss of life aboard both ships. A number of Bulgarophygon's crew were killed in the initial collision and the resulting fire, with seventeen men being missing or known casualties. Two of Ovche Pole's "black gang" were drowned when their compartment flooded, and several more narrated close escapes from flooding compartments. A petty officer from the Pazardzhik was also overcome while leading a firefighting team on the Bulgarophygon.

Both badly damaged ships were towed into Bourgas, the nearest port (20nm W) and given over to dockyard hands.

Bulgarophygon rated at 18%.
Ovche Pole rated at 32%

March 22
The Sofia airport is reopened to civilian traffic after a complete rebuilding of the runways.

[Note 1] DAR-14(Sz) is the Swiss EKW C-3603, built from kits by DAR.
[Note 2] Kazanlak's small-arms division is managed by Sig-Sauer and conforms to the same quality control specifications as the Swiss manufacturers do. Kazanlak has been manufacturing K-31 Schmidt-Rubins since 1935 and STPR-36s since 1937 under Swiss oversight.
[Note 3] In the Age of Sail this trick was known as "fothering".

April 3
The Navy announced that, budget permitting, they would locally-build two submarines in 1940, using the design of the French Daphne-class submarines. The boats will be named Akula (Shark) and Zmiorka (Eel).

April 14
The Bulgarian Navy has announced that inspectors have declared the torpedo boats Bulgarophygon and Ovche Pole, damaged on March 16th, as constructive total losses and recommended that they be scrapped.

May 6
As is recent custom, the Bulgarian Army made it's customary ceremonial march through Sofia and other major towns in celebration of St. George's Day. 1939's parade in Sofia was the largest in twenty years, with honorary contingents from nations around Europe invited to trail the Life Guards in the vanguard. For the first time, a Yugoslavian Army unit made an appearance. [1] Trailing the Life Guards and the foreign troops marched nearly ten thousand of the Fatherland's [2] finest soldiers, demonstrating for the first time in public much of the newly-received equipment that has been purchased for the Army. Most notable to spectators was the entire strength of the newly-formed Fourth Armoured Battalion, with sixty Atlantean-built AT-36 tanks and supporting equipment, and the even more impressive 13th Independent Armoured Squadron, with twenty AT-37 heavy tanks. Trailing the armoured formations came the artillery, with token complements of the Kanone 1935 L42, 76.2mm divisional guns, and ML-20 152mm Howitzer-Guns; then the infantry, with their Danish-made halftracks. The contingent from the Naval Rifle Regiment, notable for their black and white telnyashkas, took up the tail of the parade.

As the troops passed the palace - where Tsar Boris, Tsaritsa Ioanna, and Prince Kyril of Preslav (the tsar's brother) observed - the VNVV made an appearance with their customary intent to overshadow [3] the Army [4]. The VNVV pulled out all the stops to arrange an impressive display of aerial might, with over two hundred and fifty single-engine and fifty twin-engine machines passing overhead.

In Varna, the Navy also opened the battleship Varna to guided tours.

According to Bulgarian Army spokesmen, a total of approximately forty thousand troops, eight hundred planes, and one battleship participated in St. George's Day events around the country.

May 7
Dimitar Peshev, Deputy Speaker of the Sobranje, has been sent as a temporary special ambassador to Geneva to meet with Yugoslavian minister-without-portfolio Boris Furlan. The government has declined to comment at present about the outcome of the meeting, but political commentators have noted recent conciliatory comments to Yugoslavia from Deputy Prime Minister Marco Goleminov, apparently acting as a stalking horse for Tsar Boris and Prime Minister Georgi Kyoseivanov.

May 20
A visiting Canadian team once again proved victorious in the Second Annual Zamboni-Jousting Spring Tourney, held this year in Kazanlak. The Canadians defeated a German team 4-0.

After the tourney was over, the contestants lined their zambonis up outside, got their last set of lances, and chased a trolleybus filled with Bulgarian Association of People Against People Having Fun members. "It looked like the Charge of the Light Brigade," a visiting British journalist said.

In other sports-related news, a young American entrepreneur is running a thriving new business in Varna importing American-made surfboards.

May 26
The Bulgarian Air Force has announced an aerobatic contest and airshow to be held in Sofia on September 22nd of this year. This event, the Den na Nezavisimostta Otvoreno (Independence Day Open), is open to any country that wishes to send an aerobatic team. The Bulgarian Air Force will field a six-plane aerobatic team, Cheren Orel Eskadrila (Black Eagle Squadron), using Avia B534 biplanes [5], and also have a demonstration flight composed of the latest Bulgarian Spitfires.

Teams must announce their intent to participate by July 1st.

June 12
The Bulgarian Navy announced the capture of a trawler carrying ten tons of the dangerous hallucinogenic drug "borandis". The trawler was seen drifting for hours outside the three-mile limit, and the Bulgarian destroyer Pazardzhik inquired if the ship had suffered mechanical failure. When initial inquiries were not answered and the trawler attempted to steam further out into the Black Sea, the Bulgarian captain suspected a rat and ordered the trawler to heave to for inspection. Though the vessel flew an Italian flag, naval authorities have quickly concluded that the ship is not registered in Italy.

NB:
Further June news may potentially be added later.



[Note 1]: Yugoslavian contingent formed from the No.1 Coy, 1st Guards Infantry, No.3 Coy, 2nd Guards Infantry, one platoon, No.13 (AT) Coy 3rd Guards Infantry, one platoon, No.14 (IG) Coy 3rd Guards Infantry, one troop, 7th Armoured Cavalry Regiment.
[Note 2]: Unlike their fellow Slavs in Russia and elsewhere, Bulgarians use "Fatherland" instead of "Motherland".
[Note 3]: Pun totally intended.
[Note 4]: There's no rivalry as unrivaled as inter-service rivalry.
[Note 5]: Low-hours planes acquired unarmed from Czechoslovakia specifically for this purpose.

Australia will send their 'Black Swans' flight demonstration team flaying all-black Gloster Gladiators.

Den na Nezavisimostta Otvoreno (Independence Day Open) Participants
- Black Eagle Squadron (Bulgaria), flying Avia B534 biplanes
- VNVV Demonstration Team (Bulgaria), flying Spitfire MkIIIs
- Black Swans team (Australia), flying Gloster Gladiators
- #41 Squadron (Yugoslavia), flying Bf109As
- Red Angels Squadron (Atlantis), flying Spartan F-8 Cylones
- Black Knights/57th Demonstration & Adversary Squadron (Atlantis), flying I-02s.
- Imperial Hawks Display Team of the IJAAS (Japan). Four Nakajima Ki-43 fighters led by Colonel Yasuda.
- Manzo's Flying Circus Display Team of the IJNAS (Japan). Six Mitsubishi A6M3 fighters led by Colonel Oonishi (*).
- Hiryuu Dasanteki Sentai of the IJAAS (Japan). Twenty Nakajima Ki-71 fighters led by Colonel Shinrei.
- Tatsumaki Solo Display Team (Japan). One Kawasaki Ki-61X "Super Hien" flown by Yamamoto 'Tatsumaki' Maki.

Yugoslavia proposes to send a flight demonstration team drawn from No.41 (Fighter Interceptor) Squadron, equipped with the Bf109A.

The team will be led by Captain Milislav Semiz, with Lieutenants Leonid Bajdak, Mihail Bjelanovic, and Petar Dobnikar.

Atlantis will send the Red Angels flight demonstration team in their F-8 Cylone Bi-plane fighters along with the newly formed Black Knights from the 57th demonstration and Advasary squadron in their all black I-02's.

The German army attache' found the AT-37s of great interest, and will be reporting back to Berlin both the count and his impressions. The fact that Bulgaria has acquired a number of copies of FAR's new heavy tank is of more than a little interest.

Japan will be sending the three teams it sent to the Hendon Review a few years back + a solo one.

- Imperial Hawks Display Team of the IJAAS. Four Nakajima Ki-43 fighters led by Colonel Yasuda.
- Manzo's Flying Circus Display Team of the IJNAS. Six Mitsubishi A6M3 fighters led by Colonel Oonishi (*).
- Hiryuu Dasanteki Sentai of the IJAAS. Twenty Nakajima Ki-71 fighters led by Colonel Shinrei.
- Tatsumaki Solo Display Team. One Kawasaki Ki-61X "Super Hien" flown by Yamamoto 'Tatsumaki' Maki.

(*) so they'll probably end up somewhere in Africa after their display.

Quoted

Originally posted by Rooijen10
- Manzo's Flying Circus Display Team of the IJNAS. Six Mitsubishi A6M3 fighters led by Colonel Oonishi

"Oh God, Oh God, we're all gonna die?"

Especially since they're not flying to Bulgaria.

And for the colors of the planes...

Nakajima Ki-43 of the Imperial Hawks.


Mitsubishi A6M3 32 of Manzo's Flying Circus.


Nakajima Ki-71 of the Hiryuu Dasanteki Sentai.


Kawasaki Ki-61X of Yamamoto 'Tatsumaki' Maki.

[SIZE=1](I'm not good enough to create a proper side view of this plane)[/SIZE]

Quoted

Originally posted by Rooijen10


[SIZE=1](I'm not good enough to create a proper side view of this plane)[/SIZE]

Curse You!

Now I have a craving for a cigarette...

The RAF will send something. Probably Spitfires.
Not sure what display teams the RAF has at this point in history. The 1950s and 1960s teams were far more famous. I'm not away of any permanent display team in the 1930s.

[No I'm not forming the Red Arrows yet before someone asks... ]

Just create a few teams, just like the others are...
... and how about the Red Bows.

Quoted

Originally posted by Hood
I'm not away of any permanent display team in the 1930s.

I think it was more individuals rather than teams. It wasn't particularly organised though. I seem to remember Bader doing aerobatic shows pre-crash in the 1930s.

Alex Henshaw did quite a few wartime displays in the Spitfire, but he wouldn't be working for Supermarine in WW.

Gavin,
That was my impression, individual pilots displaying at the air open days and reviews etc. The late 1930s were golden days for airshows like the Empire Air Days etc. Bader is in the WW RAF again so is a possible pilot to send (also this event doesn't clash with Talons too much).

Guess I'll hustle up some fighter pilots and let them off on a jolly to Bulgaria. Spitfires are just the best for this kind of display although the CFS could send some Gipsy Moths for a more lower-end peformance.

Quoted

Curse You!

Now I have a craving for a cigarette...

Japan kindly asks you to go to this little room if you plan to smoke.

that looks too much like a gas camber for my linking...
Poland only draws the line at smoking dooring intercourse(some one can get burned)

as for the malboro racing hien, I can draw it for you.

Quoted

that looks too much like a gas camber for my linking...

Good motivation to quit smoking...

Quoted

as for the malboro racing hien, I can draw it for you.

Well, I have done that colour scheme for the Ki-37...

... and made this top view one of the Tony...
http://i249.photobucket.com/albums/gg240…us/Racetony.png
(just the link as it is rather big)
... but with only that frontal view available, I'm not sure how the side view would actually look... and I'm not really satisfied with the way it tured out on the Ki-37...

I know it will be a challenge.
I was thinking about McLaren F1 race cars paint of the early 1990's(with was a inspiration of this paint,I guess).

As for smoking, here everybody smokes. If I quit I'll be left out, plus those that quits are are getting irritated over the people that did not... I rather smoke and have a peace of mind.