Bulgarian Bomber

Photo of Bulgarian airmen prepare for a mission to drop a bomb by hand on Adrianople (now Edirne, Turkey), from their Bleriot XI aircraft, during the First Balkan War, circa 1913. The Bulgarian Air Force was the first to use aircraft for offensive military action.

Bulgarian airmen in a Blériot XI-2 set out on a bombing mission against Ottoman defenses in Adrianople (present-day Edirne, Turkey) in 1913 during the First Balkan War. (Branger/Roger VIollet, FPG, Print COllector, Corbis (Getty Images))

Branger/Roger VIollet, FPG, Print COllector, Corbis (Getty Images)