site.btaUPDATED President, Defence Minister, Deputy Chief of Defence to Pay Homage to Monument of Airman

President Rumen Radev will participate in the celebration of the Day of Aviation and the Air Force on 16 October, the press office of the head of State said. Radev will receive the guard of honour in front of the Monument to the Bulgarian Airman and will honour the memory of the aviators and paratroopers who died for their country. October 16 marks the 111th anniversary of the establishment of the Bulgarian combat aviation.

Defence Minister Todor Tagarev and Deputy Chief of Defence Lt. Gen. Mihail Popov will also participate in the commemoration dedicated to the 111th anniversary of the first combat flight in Bulgarian history and the Aviation and Air Force Day on Monday,  the Defence Ministry said in a press release here on Sunday.

The officials will pay homage to the memory of airmen who died in war and peacetime by laying wreaths and flowers at the Monument to the Airman located next to the National Assembly in Sofia.

On October 16, 1912, lieutenants Radul Milkov and Prodan Tarakchiev made the first combat flight in Bulgarian history, throwing two hand grenades over the Karaagach railway station in Adrianople [later known as Edirne] in Turkey. This was also one of the first combat flights in world history of aviation.