This was inspired by Alex's use of the Romanian United Principalities:
http://beyondthesprues.com/Forum/index.php?topic=8050.msg144111#msg144111In my What-If scenario, Eastern Rumelia survives into the 20th Century as a
vilayet or autonomous territory of the Ottoman Empire. Rumelia (as it preferred to call itself) was bound to its Ottoman overlords to the south-east, faced chilly relation with Greece to the south-west, and outright hostility from its northern neighbour - '
Ostanal bulgariya' or 'Rump Bulgaria' as it was known to the Rumelians.
Although Rumelia was predominantly ethnic Bulgarian, union with '
Ostanal bulgariya' was thwarted, in part, by continuing Bulgarian instability - social, political, and economic - continuing beyond 1885. Rumelia was also more ethnically diverse and, unlike Bulgaria, guaranteed minority rights to its Muslim population ('Pomaks') and ethnic minorities - Turks, Greeks, Roma, Jews, and Armenians. It helped that the Sultan chose to keep the Ottoman Empire neutral during the Great War while Bulgaria belatedly joined the Central Powers hoping to expand its frontiers.
In 1918, '
Ostanal bulgariya' lost even more territory - Macedonian areas went to the Yugoslav state which had eclipsed Serbia and all of Dobrudja went to Romania. An indirect result was an indecisive Rumelian-Bulgarian border war in 1925. The conflict between Bulgaria and Bulgaria turned into a lengthy stalemate ... finally broken as tensions mounted in 1938.
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In the summer of 1938, the penultimate conflict broke out between Bulgaria and its southern neighbour, Rumelia. Bulgaria was relying upon the international treaties preventing central Ottoman forces from reinforcing their comrades in Rumelia. The latter was in the process of rearming and Sofia gauged that an early attack would catch Rumelian forces before they were fully prepared. At first, the Bulgarian scheme seemed to be playing out as planned ...
Here we cover two of the fighter aircraft types of the Rumelian air arm - the
Rumeli Av Alayi (RAA or Rumelian Air Combat Regiment).
At the beginning of the 1938 conflict, the RAA had 14 ex-Ottoman Curtiss
Hawk II fighters - known locally as the
Yastreb. As a fighter, the Curtiss was completely outclassed by newly-delivered Bulgarian PZL P.24 monoplanes. Initially, 2 Ty.Bl
Yastrebs flew intercept missions (sometimes with P.11Ts flying top cover). Later on, the Curtiss fighters were forward-deployed to act as nocturnal escorts for the 'Loire' light bombers of 15 Ty.Bl. [1]
(
Top) A Curtiss
Yastreb in its noctural escort scheme. Note over-painted Rumelian insignia with the individual aircraft number (27) chalked on to the newly-applied night finish. This aircraft was the mount of
Chavus Pilotu (Sergeant Pilot) Adil Gyulistan.
Although due to receive new PZL P.11TsO (
Osuvremenyav or Updated) fighters, the RAA's premier fighter at the outbreak of war was the lower-powered PZL P.11Ts. These fighters were distinct to Rumelia. Built by IAR in Romania and assembled in Anatolia at Kayseri, the Rumelian P.11Ts fighters were powered by the same 710 hp Wright
Cyclone (
TSiklon in Rumelian Bulgarian) engines as the Curtiss
Yastrebs. Aside from those engines and some equipment, the P.11Ts were identical to Romanian IAR-made PZL P.11f fighters. [2]
(
Bottom) An IAR-built, Kayseri-assembled PZL P.11Ts
Lovniya (Saker falcon) fighter flown by future Rumelian ace pilot,
Yusbashi (Capt.) Ali Yumer, this aircraft served with 1 Ty.Bl,
Av Tabura first out of RAA Filibe (Plovdiv), later out of RAA Stara Zagora (aka Eski Zagra).
Ali Yumer's PZL is painted in the standard Rumelian day camouflage scheme for combat aircraft - dubbed MPZ for
Maslineno zeleno (Olive green),
Pole zeleno (Field green), and
Zemen (Earth) applied over
lazuren (sky blue). Rumelian 'national' markings were a white
balkan-naprechno (Balkan cross) in six position's. [3] As a
vilayet of the Ottoman Empire, Rumelian military aircraft featured red rudders marked with the Sultan's
polumesets i zvezda (cresent and star).
On arrival at Stara Zagora,
Yusbashi Yumer displayed two very unofficial Bulgarian 'kill' markings on his aircraft's tail. The first was for a '
Leshoyad' (Vulture) [4] heavy bomber shot down on the first evening of the war. The second mark was for two '
Svraka' (Magpie) [5] reconnaissance bombers shared with his 1 Ty.Bl squadron mates a week later. Buy the end of the 1938 'season', Yumer would have racked up seven kills - including two '
Garga' (Jackdaw) and one
Garvan (Crow) fighters. [6]
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[1] Twelve French Loire-Gourdou-Leseurre LGL-32 were delivered to the Ottoman
Kuvai Havaiye Subesi but not accepted. The KHS immediately passed on these surplus aircraft to Rumelia's 2 Ty.Bl. Judged inadequate as fighters, the Loire biplanes were converted into single-seat light bombers and served with 15 Ty.Bl throughout most of the 1938 conflict.
In the RAA unit numbering system, all fighters were assigned to single-digit squadrons. The LGL-32 flew as light bombers but, as a 10-series squadron, were technically part of the
Kesif Taburu (Reconnaissance Battalion) not the 'heavy'
Bombardiman Taburu (Bomber Battalion) with its 20-series squadrons.
[2] Romania was in near-constant dispute with Bulgaria over the Dobrudja region. As a result, Bucharest was happy to provide Rumelia with modern armaments. IAR Brasov designated the 'Rumeliac' P.11Ts fighters as P.11Ci (for
Ciclon). Like FARR P.11f fighters, all Rumelian P.11Ts were armed with four machine guns (Turkish calibre 7.65 mm FN Browning machine guns in place of the Romanians' 7.92 mm FNs).
[3] A feature of the Rumelian
balkan-naprechno was the superimposition of a small designator of the pilot's ethnicity on the fuselage 'cross' only. As an ethnic Bulgarian Muslim, Ali Yumer's aircraft had a red-green-black 'Pomak' roundel imposed upon the fuselage
balkan-naprechno.
[4] The RAA applied unflattering bird name codes to all Bulgarian warplanes. '
Leshoyad' (Vulture) was the code name for the Dornier Do 11D night bomber - known to the Bulgarian as their
Prilep (Bat).
[5] '
Svraka' (Magpie) was the Rumelian code name for the Heinkel He 45 recce-bomber - known in Bulgaria as the
Shturkel (Stork).
[6] The '
Garga' (Jackdaw) was the Rumelian code name for the Heinkel He 51B - known to Bulgarians as the
Sokol (Falcon). '
Garvan' (Crow) was code for opposing PZL P.24s - known, somewhat confusingly, in Bulgarian service as the
Yastreb (Hawk).