site.btaGeneral Toshevo Marks 37 Years since Two Pilots Give Lives to Save Hundreds in Town
General Toshevo Sunday marked the 37th anniversary of the self-sacrificing act of two pilots, Captain Venko Savov and Senior Lieutenant Yordan Tenchev, at the Wing Memorial in the northeastern town. Wreaths and flowers were laid by Mayor Valentin Dimitrov, Deputy Mayor Roumen Mountyanov, former colleagues of the two pilots from the division in Balchik (on the Black Sea), and citizens.
On August 27, 1986, Captain Savov and Senior Lieutenant Tenchev's MiG-21 failed over General Toshevo during flight training. The two pilots, aged 34 and 26, could save themselves by ejecting but instead chose to fly the aircraft beyond the town's limits to save hundreds of workers in General Toshevo's industrial zone. At that time, there were 400 people in the town's shoe factory alone.
The Wing Monument was built on the crash site in 1996, for the 10th anniversary of the heroic act, using the wing of an aircraft provided by the division in Balchik.
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