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80 years ago today: Hero fighter pilot saves Sofia

Dimitar Spisarevski crashed his own plane into an American bomber during the Second World War.
The gravestone of the World War II hero Dimitar Spisarevski.
Photo: Wikipedia

Today marks the 80th anniversary of the day when fighter pilot Dimitar Spisarevski saved the city of Sofia during the Second World War. He died defending the capital from American bombing. On 20 December 1943, during a night-time bombing raid, the 27-year-old pilot shot down two American bombers, but when he ran out of ammunition to shoot down the second plane, he used his own plane as a battering ram, losing his own life. 
He has since been dubbed "the human torpedo" and his actions are studied in many air combat textbooks, BTA recalls. Although there were 36 Bulgarian aircraft in the bombing raid and the enemy had about 200, the Bulgarian squadron entered the air battle, shot down three bombers and seven enemy fighters and managed to delay the air attack on Sofia. Officers Dimitar Spisarevski and Georgi Kyumurdzhiev were killed in action. Spisarevski was posthumously awarded the Order of Valour and promoted to the rank of Colonel.

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