In view of several missed previous events and the retirement of the Bulgarian MiG-21s announced for this year, a visit to the biggest Bulgarian aviation event of the year, the Bulgarian International Air Fest Plovdiv-Krumovo on September 3 and 4, was of course a must. Even though the retirement was postponed by a year and the MiG-21 performance during the event was rather meagre, the days before and after alone were worth the trip.
This had never happened before: a friendly digger driver built a "spotter hill" especially for us at the edge of the airfield.
Arrival of the participants: on the morning of the day before, everyone flew in: Su-25s from Bezmer, ...
... AW109 of the Bulgarian border police and ...
... MiG-29s from Graf Ignatievo.
Then the highlight: twice the MiG-21 from Graf shot across the airfield ...
... before landing and taxiing to its parking position.
A visit from the neighbours: IAR 99 Şoim from Romania.
Practice for a display that did not take place like this (at least on Saturday).
The flypast with flag also needs practice.
In view of the forthcoming procurement of a successor type for the MiG-21, no fewer than four Gripens flew in from Sweden, including two two-seaters, which were used extensively for guest flights.
Despite state bankruptcy, there was still some money left for kerosene: Greek Texan IIs approaching Krumovo.
Bulgarian PC-9 from the Bulgarian Air Force Academy at Dolna Mitropolia.
Two MiG-21s, flying with such a large interval that only one ever fitted into the picture, escorted an "airspace violator", ...
... represented by a C-27, until it landed.
The factory demonstrator MiG-29OVT gave an impressive display, but did not come close to exploiting its capabilities.
The burning of harvested fields, popular everywhere in Bulgaria, ...
... not only brought out interesting fire engines, ...
... but – after all other measures had failed – ...
... also gave the helicopters from Krumovo a real fire-fighting mission.
On the first day of the show, a Mi-8 VIP helicopter brought the patron of the event, Bulgarian Prime Minister Boyko Borisov.
Bulgaria Air took part in the event with a short display of an A319. Later the aircraft could be visited on the ground.
Tactical air landing: while a Su-25 provides cover from the air ...
... a Cougar drops members of a special forces unit.
Further soldiers were landed and flown out again by Mi-17s.
MiG-29 takes off "without landing gear". In the drag race against a Formula 2 racing car, the MiG-29UB crew retracted the landing gear so early that behind the tall grass it looked as if it had never been extended.
The German Eurofighter gave an attractive display. Given the price, however, the chances of a procurement by Bulgaria are probably extremely slim.
The static display included the hosts with Mi-24 ...
... and Mi-17, ...
... a Romanian C-27 and ...
... the MiG-21 from the day before.
As the author had to leave on Sunday, he missed the MiG-21's take-off at Krumovo, but on the way to Sofia airport he had the opportunity for a detour to Graf Ignatievo, ...
... where the MiG-21s made two flypasts as a pair ...
