The yearly small open day at Bezmer is a very enjoyable event. For the serious aviation enthusiast, many good opportunities are created by the base staff, resulting in great shots of the local Su-25 fleet.
Bulgaria has been one of the early users of the Su-25 "Grach", the first of forty being delivered in October 1986 already to the Bulgarski Voenno Vzdushni Sili. These were manufactured at the Tblisi factory in Georgia, where a production line was set up for the Su-25K and Su-25UBK export variants destined for Warsaw Pact countries and other potential export customers.
Operating unit from the get-go was the 22nd Fighter-Bomber Regiment (22 IBP, 22-рa Изтребително-Бомбардировъчен Полк) at Bezmer. On 1 September 1993, this unit was rebranded 22nd Assault Airbase (22-ра Щурмова Авиобаза (22 ЩАБ) or 22-pa Shturmova Aviobaza (22 ShtAB). It is still known as such today. Seen is one of their machines in 2002.
Back in 2002 the 22 ShtAB also still operated the venerable Su-22M-4. Of these, 18 single-seat and three two-seat Su-22UM-3K were used until 2002.
Bezmer itself was created as an air base on 5 October 1951. To commemorate the 50th anniversary, a bottle of fine Bulgarian wine was given to guests. We were lucky enough to receive this during our 2002 base visit. Fast-forward to the 2026 open day. After seeing the stunning announcement on the Bulgarian Air Force's recruitment site, we saved the date and planned our visit to Bulgaria!
Two Su-25K were parked on the static allowing close inspection. One of them was in the new "digital'' colour scheme and the other was in its older scheme, with special tail markings for the 30th anniversary of the Su-25 in Bulgarian service.
As a special treat to the aviation enthusiasts, both from Bulgaria and abroad, the flight line was the next port of call.
And there our old friend "240" was also present again. It is among seven aircraft that are painted in the new colour scheme.
Then it was off to the runway for some spectacular shots of the aircraft taxiing in, head-on with the dual brake shutes behind.
In that western corner of the base the taxi way curves into the shelter area where some aircraft are kept in reserve.
We were standing close to the dispersal where three old soldiers in the shape of Su-22s were parked in front of hardened aircraft shelters. Two were parked west, sister-ships 612 and 613...
...while another was parked east of that, serial number 502.
The last very pleasant surprise was that we got to double back to the flight-line on foot! So we could see some extra aircraft parked in dispersals among which was this stunning special painted Su-25K serial 196.
This also allowed us to inspect some of the aircraft's "triangles". For those of you who are not aware of these, the Bulgarian Air Force uses an intricate system to identify individual aircraft. The so called 'nomenclature' has changed in format over the years. The current system has the manufacturer's type number, 081 for the Su-25K and 201 for the Su-25UBK and, underneath that, the last five of the manufacturer's serial number, also referred to by most aircraft enthusiasts as construction number.
Some more taxi shots and we left the base very happy indeed. Thanks to the base command staff and pilots that spared no effort to give us the best possible photo opportunities!
