1958 C-130 shootdown incident

1958 C-130 shootdown incident

C-130A-45-LM (57-0453), modified to represent 56-0528, on display at the National Cryptologic Museum, Fort Meade, MD
Incident
Date	September 2, 1958 (1958-09-02)
Summary	Shot down by four Mikoyan-Gurevich MiG-17 interceptors
Site	near Yerevan, Armenian SSR, Soviet Union 40°33′0″N 44°6′0″E / 40.55000°N 44.10000°E / 40.55000; 44.10000Coordinates: 40°33′0″N 44°6′0″E / 40.55000°N 44.10000°E / 40.55000; 44.10000
Aircraft
Aircraft type	Lockheed C-130A-II-LM
Operator	United States Air Force on behalf of the USAFSS
Registration	56-0528
Flight origin	Incirlik Air Base, Turkey
Destination	Incirlik Air Base, Turkey
Passengers	11 mission crew from the United States Air Force Security Service (USAFSS)
Crew	6
Fatalities	17 (presumed – only the six flight crew remains were repatriated)
Survivors	0

The 1958 C-130 shootdown incident was the shooting down of an American Lockheed C-130A-II-LM reconnaissance aircraft which had intruded into Soviet airspace during a reconnaissance mission along the Turkish-Armenian border.

Incident[]

The gun-camera photo from Sr. Lieutenant Kucheryaev as his MiG-17 attacks the C-130.

On September 2, 1958, a Lockheed C-130A-II-LM (s/n 56-0528), from the 7406th Support Squadron, departed Incirlik Airbase in Turkey on a reconnaissance mission along the Turkish-Armenian border. It was to fly a course parallel to the Soviet frontier, but not approach the border closer than 100 miles (160 km). The crew reported passing over Trabzon in Turkey at 25,500 feet (7,800 m) and then acknowledged a weather report from Trabzon, but that was the last communication received from the flight. It was later intercepted and shot down by four Soviet MiG-17s 34 mi (55 km; 30 nmi) north-west of Yerevan.^[1] The six flight crew were confirmed dead when their remains were repatriated to the United States, but the 11 intelligence-gathering personnel on board have never been acknowledged by Soviet / Russian authorities.^[2][3][4][5] After the fall of the Soviet Union a US excavation team found hundreds of skeletal fragments; two remains were identified.^[6][7] A group burial of the 17 crew remains was held at Arlington National Cemetery.^{[citation needed]}

The crash site of 60528

Probable cause[]

The exact cause of why the aircraft strayed into Soviet airspace is unknown, but according to the Aviation Safety Network, the crew may have confused a radio beacon in the USSR with similar frequencies to the Turkish beacons they were briefed to use, or it may have been a deliberate maneuver to obtain better data.^[4]

Memorial[]

Joint US-Armenian memorial stone in Sasnashen, Armenia

In 1993, Armenian sculptor Martin Kakosian unveiled a khachkar, a traditional Armenian cross stone, at the site of the aircraft's crash in the village of Nerkin Sasnashen. Kakosian had witnessed the crash as a college student on a field trip in 1958. This khachkar later fell over and cracked, and a joint US-Armenian memorial was built to commemorate the site.^[8] In 2011, the US Army Office of Defense Cooperation renovated the village kindergarten in appreciation of the villagers' commemoration of the downed airmen.^[9]

References[]

External links[]

• NSA website of C-130 shootdown
• Crew Of A United States Air Force at ArlingtonCemetery•net, an unofficial website^{[better source needed]}