![[Bulgarian roundel]](../images/b/bg^round.gif)
by Ivan Sache
Last modified: 2011-07-02 by rob raeside
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by Ivan Sache
The modern Bulgarian roundel has the classical concentric pattern, red - green - white, but the red ring is narrower than the green one. This replaces the previous design I sent a long time ago (with a vertical white bar through the disk).
Source: Album des Pavillons, correction # 30, July 1998.
Ivan Sache, 30 July 1998
based on Cochrane & Elliott (1998) and http://www.skytamer.com/roundels/bulgaria/01.htm
During the Balkan wars of 1912-13, large areas of the wingtips were painted
green (port wingtip) and red (starboard wingtip). The aircraft rudder carried
the national colours in horizontal bands: white-green-red reading from top to
bottom. (http://www.aeroflight.co.uk/waf/bulgaria/bulg-nat-markings.htm)
[can't see the wingtips.....but this is the only image from this era that I
located -
http://www.angelraybooks.com/books/images/apkb1.jpg]
Bulgaria joined World War I on the side of Germany in 1915. As
virtually all of the aircraft operated came from Germany, the German national
markings were retained, although in some instances a green stripe along the
trailing edges of the wings was added. (http://www.skytamer.com/roundels/bulgaria/02.htm)
[standard German crosses - see
http://www.angelraybooks.com/books/images/apkb2.jpg]
During the summer of 1918, a specifically Bulgarian national marking was
introduced. This consisted of a black saltire cross on a white square. The
marking was carried on the wings and fuselage sides. This marking does not
appear to have been widely used, with most aircraft retaining German national
insignia.
(http://www.skytamer.com/roundels/bulgaria/03.htm)
[This was the first appearance of the saltire -- to be seen again].
As reported in
Cochrane & Elliott (1998) -- between
1918-1920, naval planes carried a triangle in the national colours and a black
lion rampant. (http://www.skytamer.com/roundels/bulgaria/04.htm)
[No air force existed between 1920 and 1937.]
With the official establishment of a small air force in 1937, a new national insignia was introduced, in the form of a roundel in the national colours. The rudder marking is not known. It is also mentioned in Cochrane & Elliott (1998) but there was no plate. It could be the roundel of 1946 or its mirror, the current one.
In 1938, a completely new national insignia was officially introduced. This
marking was based on the royal coat of arms and consisted of a rampant red lion
on a red and yellow Maltese cross with two yellow crossed swords. On a few
aircraft a red outline was applied to the fuselage roundel. The rudder marking
consisted of horizontal stripes in the national colours - white, green and red
from top to bottom. (http://www.skytamer.com/roundels/bulgaria/05.htm)
[see
http://www.angelraybooks.com/books/images/apkb3.jpg]
When Bulgaria joined World War II on the side of the Axis Powers in 1941, a
diagonal black cross on a white square marking was adopted. This marking existed
in at least two varieties -- with and without a thick black border. In addition,
both varieties were displayed with and without horizontal rudder stripes in the
national colours.
Two variants are presented by Cochrane & Elliott (1998)
-
http://www.skytamer.com/roundels/bulgaria/06.htm and
http://www.skytamer.com/roundels/bulgaria/07.htm with the only
difference in the black border in the first and lack <?> to the white stripe in the second. It
seems that the first was more in use. See
http://eaw.wz.cz/images/bulhar.jpg
and
http://www.angelraybooks.com/books/images/apkb4.jpg
The threat of invasion by the Soviet Union forced Bulgaria to change sides in
1944. The cross marking was abandoned and replaced by a roundel marking. The
roundel comprised a white disc with a red disc in the centre and a green
horizontal bar across the middle. On the aircraft wings, the green bar was
aligned fore-and-aft in the direction of flight, rather than parallel to the
wing, as might be expected. Horizontal stripes in the national colours extended
across both the fin and rudder, in the order white-green-red from the top. (
http://www.skytamer.com/roundels/bulgaria/08.htm)
[This time a real plane --
http://www.md.government.bg/nvim/_en/samoleti/j5s-m.jpg]
Adopted at the same time as the above roundel marking, and eventually
replacing it, was another roundel design. This roundel was much simpler, in that
consisted of the three colours in concentric rings - white, green and red with
white outermost and red in the centre. Horizontal stripes in the national
colours extended across both the fin and rudder, in the order white-green-red
from the top. (http://www.skytamer.com/roundels/bulgaria/09.htm)
[Exactly opposite to the current roundel.]
After the communist government took over, a new insignia consisting of a red
star with the Bulgarian green-red-white roundel in the centre was introduced in
1948. Similar style markings were also introduced at the same time in Hungary
and Romania. This marking was displayed in all six positions on aircraft (above
and below each wing and on the fuselage sides) and was also used as a rudder marking. Helicopters carried it on the fuselage sides only. (http://www.skytamer.com/roundels/bulgaria/10.htm)
[Cochrane & Elliott (1998) show the inner
roundel wrong - the center should be white and not red and the outer ring red
and not white - the correct one is reported by
Wheelock (1986). Many photos
can be found -
http://www.airliners.net/open.file/451444/L/ ,
http://www.airliners.net/open.file/451445/L/ ,
http://www.airliners.net/open.file/451443/L/ and interesting one at
http://www.md.government.bg/nvim/_en/samoleti/i4s-m.jpg (with the star
looking
like Solomon's seal....)]
The main marking is normally displayed in four positions (i.e. on the fuselage
sides and below each wing) on fixed-wing aircraft - but the MiG-29 and Su-25
don't carry fuselage roundels. The same marking is also used as a fin flash on
fixed-wing aircraft. National markings are NOT carried on wing upper surfaces.
Helicopters display the main marking on the fuselage sides and under the
fuselage. No service titles are carried. (http://www.skytamer.com/roundels/bulgaria/11.htm)
[The website shows a thin red ring as we do above based on
Album des Pavillons (2000).
Cochrane & Elliott (1998) show a regular-size ring. I think that the thin ring is incorrect - see
http://www.airliners.net/open.file/391363/L/ ,
http://www.airliners.net/open.file/270690/L/ and
http://www.scramble.nl/bg.htm]
Dov Gutterman, 12 June 2004
