On December 20, 1943, Lieutenant Dimitar Spisarevski carried out the first aerial ram in the history of Bulgarian aviation and shot down the heavy strategic bomber B-24 "Liberator", BTA recalls. From the strong hit with the fighter "Messerschmitt-109" the enemy bomber broke into three parts and fell near the Sofia village of Dolni Pasarel.
Captain Dimitar Spisarevski was born on July 19, 1916 in the town of Dobrich, not far from the place where his memorial plaque is placed today. He graduated from the Military School of N. V. school in Sofia and specialized in the prestigious fighter school in Werneuchen, Germany, after which he served in various parts of Bulgaria.
In the summer of 1943, with another Bulgarian pilot, he was sent to the English Channel, where he participated in air exercises and mastered the modern tactics of German pilots in combat conditions.
Dimitar Spisarevski, the first living Bulgarian torpedo bomber, was posthumously promoted to the rank of captain. He was buried in the Central Sofia Cemetery, Pilots' Alley. The pilot was credited with three aerial victories for shooting down one four-engine bomber. He was posthumously awarded the Cross for Bravery.
Petty Officer Robert Henry Renner, the only survivor of the crew of the downed bomber, later asked to see Spisarevsky's mother to present her with his medals and orders as a sign of deep respect for her son's feat.
On December 20, 1943, the 15th Air Force of the US Air Force carried out an attack on Sofia.
150 "Liberator" bombers were used - B-24 Liberator, twin-engine biplane fighters Lockheed P-38 Lightning.
On December 20, 1943 American aviation dropped 270 bombs, managing to destroy 113 buildings and a railway line. On that day alone, about 100 people died and as many were injured.
The bombings were mainly directed against civilian objects, with Sofia suffering the most damage - hospitals and orphanages were destroyed, the Great Sofia Synagogue was seriously damaged, the famous Jewish library, which housed a huge collection of rabbinical works, was burned, a direct bombing attack was carried out against the Russian church of St. Nicholas, and many more temples and cultural monuments were destroyed.