Bulgarian Pilot Wing

[hunmilitaria]

Hi,

I found this is extremely rare circa early 1930s Bulgarian Secret Military pilot exam wing. Maker mark with 3-23-89 at center.

Some information from intertnet:
After World War I, Bulgaria kept training pilots despite being forbidden from having an official Air Force by treaty. The wing is a generic-looking eagle with detailed wings and has a maker mark on reverse.

It's interesting the name or something other on it.

[hunmilitaria]

2

[hunmilitaria]

3

[Gene]

I too have one of these wings and would like to know more about them.

[Theodor]

That's a 30s wing, which replaced the French FIX wing, which was used before that. This one was used until 1937, when the Air Force was officially re-established and a new wing was introduced, gold plated with the royal letter of king Boris III.

The stamp is the name, the address and the phone number of the popular badges manufacturer Miloshev. The owner's name is scratched - Valtchev, pilot. The first and middle names are probably there, too, the last letters of the middle name are seen.

[Theodor]

Well, you're lucky No other names are present, upon closer look, the second line reads 60 B, or 60th vipusk - class, of the Military of H.M. School.

In other words, this is Ivan Valtchev, born 25 january 1919 in a village near the town of Kula, who joined the Military School in 1937 as a cadet, which means he studied there his last 2 school years. After that he directly continued there his officer studies and successfully graduated in 1941, being promoted to first officer rank - Podporuchyk - on 16 april 1941

His pilot training must have started in 1939, probably that year he got the first pilot exam and the badge. And yes, the badge does not match the year. By that time he should have received the later type with the royal letter. However in the graduation album of the 60th officer class, the quite large group of pilots wear different badges - some have the later type of badge, a few have that older type of badge, many have the Hungarian eagle badge /having been sent for pilot training to Hungary/, some wear the Italian eagle badge /having been trained in Italy/ and finally, some wear nothing for the photo. See the photos below, this is your pilot, that's 1941, shortly before graduation, still with the Military School uniform.

And just to finish his biography - 16 april 1944 he was promoted to Poruchyk /that's Lt./, 20 july 1946 - Captain. The same year he was fired from the army. In the period September 1944 - 1947 the reds expelled the royal times officers. Many were killed or jailed right after the communist coup, others were sent in the war against Germany and killed, jailed or expelled from the army only after returning back, some were kept on service in 1946-47, as officers were needed after all, but having educated /though uneducated in fact/ their own officers, the reds fired the last royal officers in 1947. Just a few remained on service in the 50s, mostly a handful who changed their political color in order to save their bottoms. But these were really just a few men. The rest faced a life of prosecution, prison terms on stupid accusations, years in deadly labor camps, not accepted into civil universities, hardly finding jobs mostly as laborers. "Royal officer"was a black stamp on the biography, which followed not just the man himself, but also his relatives, being a barrier for study, good job, traveling abroad, etc. That's a little off-topic, but it's really what happened to these men, whose belongings we hold in possession now, so it must be known.

And the final line, he was a bomber pilot. In 1946 he moved to the fighter regiment, but as already known, he was fired from the army that same year.

The photos:

[Gene]

That's fantastic detective work Ted!

[Lubo]

Hi Guys,
Ted, where did you dig out all this info on this pilot?
I've got a nice group on a late 1920s pilot, but just got the first name and picture ofcourse?!
About these wings:
I have a few, these are die cast, heavily faked over the years, including the fact that some originals are of such a low quality that they look like a fake, anyway, over the years I've learned how to discern between fakes and good ones, since they are all cast!
I've never seen a die struck original of this type and I don't think it exists, but who knows!
IMO the production by the firm of MILOSHEV started in the early 1930s and not before and went all the way into the midst of the war and NOT as thought before - till 1937 when the new pattern was introduced!

[Lubo]

Here are a few originals

[Lubo]

More

[echoe]

bulgarian background

"That's fantastic detective work Ted!"

I second that!!! Well done

[New World]

Nice research Theodor!!!

[Theodor]

Having the name and the officer class, it is not that difficult to find some basic information. It is not always possible to find anything, but this time we were lucky