Georgi Benkovski Bulgarian Air Force Academy

The school traces its roots to the earliest Bulgarian aviation schools. The first Aviation School, headed by Radul Milkov, was founded in 1914. It was followed in 1915 by the Aeroplane School under Prodan Tarakchiev, which was demobilised in 1918 under the terms of the Treaty of Neuilly-sur-Seine and resumed activity in 1923. From 1928, junker pilots were also trained at the Military School in Sofia. In 1936 a network of air training schools was established, which in 1940 was consolidated into a single Air School training pilots and other aviation specialists.^[1]

In 1945, the National Air Force School was founded at Vrazhdebna near Sofia. In 1948 it was relocated to Dolna Mitropoliya, while the school for navigators and signallers operated at Bozhurishte and technician schools at Lovech and Gorna Oryahovitsa.^[1][2]

By Decree No. 350 of the Presidium of the National Assembly of 18 July 1959, the aviation schools were merged into a single Higher People's Air Force School "Georgi Benkovski" (VNVVU) at Dolna Mitropoliya, conceived as a unified centre for the training of aviation cadres. The reform lengthened cadet training from three to five years, reflecting the growing technical demands of modern aviation, and in 1964 the school produced its first graduating class of pilots and engineers with higher-education degrees.^[1] After 1990 the institution was renamed Higher Air Force School "Georgi Benkovski".^[1]

On 1 September 2002, by a decision of the 39th National Assembly, the Higher Air Force School was absorbed into the Vasil Levski National Military University in Veliko Tarnovo as its "Aviation" Faculty. During this period the Dolna Mitropoliya campus continued to train pilots and aviation engineers but lost its status as an autonomous institution.^[1][3]

On 18 April 2019, the National Assembly voted unanimously to re-establish an autonomous Georgi Benkovski Higher Air Force School and to close the "Aviation" Faculty of the Vasil Levski National Military University, whose activity was transferred to the new institution. The decision, which took effect on 1 January 2020, was motivated by what the government described as a growing need to adapt the model of specialist training to contemporary requirements of the Air Force and civil aviation.^[4][1]

By Presidential Decree No. 289 of 16 December 2019, Colonel Yulian Radoyski was appointed the first commandant of the re-established school and promoted to the rank of brigadier general.^[1][5]

The school is a state military higher-education institution accredited to award bachelor's, master's and doctoral degrees, with an official founding year of 2020 in European quality-assurance records maintained by the EQAR.^[6] It combines theoretical instruction with practical flight and engineering training and offers programmes in both military and civilian aviation specialties.^[7]

Cadet pilots train alongside the 12th Air Training Wing at Dolna Mitropoliya Air Base, whose fleet includes Aero L-39ZA Albatros jet trainers and Pilatus PC-9M turboprops; graduates continue on to the MiG-29 and Su-25 fleets of the Bulgarian Air Force.^[2]

The school's mission, as articulated by its own leadership, is to educate cadets and civilian students to become "leaders of knowledge, character and discipline", to contribute to the interoperability of European Union member states and to promote the European security and defence culture.^[7]

• Dimitar Stoyanov, Bulgarian Air Force colonel and caretaker Minister of Defence (2022–2023)
• Rumen Radev, former President of Bulgaria (2017–2026) and former commander of the Bulgarian Air Force, general major
• Georgi Ivanov, Bulgarian cosmonaut, general major