Product Description

In 1939, Slovakia signed a protection agreement with the German Reich and joined the attack on Poland, where its Avia B-534-equipped fighter squadrons claimed their first kills. In October 1942, having made do with obsolete aircraft, the Slovaks were equipped with Bf 109Es and eventually acquired 43 Messerschmitt fighters. The Slovaks would claim over 215 kills. Although it supported German efforts in Yugoslavia and Greece, Bulgaria did not declare war on Russia. First seeing action in August 1943, Bulgarian fighter pilots used their Bf 109Gs to good effect. From late 1943 through to mid-1944, the Bulgarian pilots attempted to defend the country from American bombers, and Stoyanov and Bochev made ace during this period.

Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #675505 in Books
• Published on: 2004-02-25
• Released on: 2004-02-25
• Number of items: 1
• Binding: Paperback
• 96 pages

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From the Publisher
Osprey's Aircraft of the Aces series combines full colour artwork, the best archival contemporary photography, and first hand accounts from aces to bring history's greatest airborne conflicts to life.

About the Author
Jiri Rajlich is an aviation historian based in the Czech Republic. He is head curator of the Aviation Museum in Prague-Kbely, the nation’s main airport. This is his first book for Osprey.
Stephan Boshniakov is an aviation researcher based in Sofia. He has done work for the Bulgarian Aviation Museum. This is his first book for Osprey.

Customer Reviews

Biased but useful
The book presents useful data about Slovak air aces, though the political slant is at times annoying. Slovaks who fought for Hitler are "traitors," Slovaks who fought for Stalin "patriots."
Perhaps Tiso's Slovakia was a "puppet" regime, but then so was
postwar Czechoslovakia.

The editors of the series could have worked more closely with the authors (who grew up in Communist Czechoslovakia and seemingly were brainwashed there)to edit out such bias. But, though annoying, the slant does not detract from the usefulness of the book, since little information on Slovak air aces is available otherwise. I would have welcomed a brief biographical dictionary, though, for all aces, instead of just 3 of them.

More Gold from Osprey
Typically well-produced in Osprey fashion, this volume covers (mainly)Slovakian and Czech uprising air units and pilots; by comparison the Bulgarian half is somewhat short-changed. I would have liked a little more on the early (39-40) period included in the Bulgarian coverage. However, many of the photos (and color illustrations) are new to me, including a unique Dewoitine 520 in Bulgarian markings with a Luftwaffe-style winkel and bars (the French magazine Avions, which arrived the next day and has an article on Bulgarian 520's, shows the rudder as white, the Osprey shows it as yellow, take your choice). Well worth the price.