1958 C-130 shootdown incident

File:C 130A-II Hercules Cryptological Museum.jpg, Fort Meade, MD]]

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-Soviet border. It was to fly a course parallel to the frontier, but not approach the border closer than {{convert|100|mi|km}}. The crew reported passing over Trabzon in Turkey at {{convert|25500|ft|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 {{convert|34|mi|km nmi|abbr=on}} north-west of Yerevan.[https://www.nsa.gov/news-features/declassified-documents/c130-shootdown/assets/files/60528s_Last_Flight.pdf NSA PDF file]

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.{{cite web|url=http://www.nsa.gov/public_info/_files/c130_shootdown/60528s_Last_Flight.pdf|website=nsa.gov|publisher=National Security Agency|title=60528's Last Flight|date=August 31, 2009|accessdate=April 13, 2017|url-status=dead|archiveurl=https://web.archive.org/web/20160410093512/https://www.nsa.gov/public_info/_files/c130_shootdown/60528s_Last_Flight.pdf|archivedate=April 10, 2016}}{{cite web|title=The Shootdown of Flight 60528 |url=http://www.nsa.gov/about/cryptologic_heritage/vigilance_park/shootdown_flight60528.shtml |publisher=NSA |accessdate=25 April 2014 |url-status=dead |archiveurl=https://web.archive.org/web/20140601044753/http://www.nsa.gov/about/cryptologic_heritage/vigilance_park/shootdown_flight60528.shtml |archivedate=1 June 2014 }}{{cite web|title=Criminal Occurrence description|url=http://aviation-safety.net/database/record.php?id=19580902-2|publisher=Aviation Safety network|accessdate=25 April 2014}}{{cite web|title=Lockheed C-130A-II....|url=http://www.spyflight.co.uk/c130.htm|accessdate=25 April 2014|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20130803013335/http://www.spyflight.co.uk/c130.htm|archive-date=3 August 2013|url-status=dead}} In 1993, after the fall of the Soviet Union, a US excavation team working in newly-independent Armenia found hundreds of skeletal fragments; two remains were identified.[http://www.koreacoldwar.org/pdf/2018/KoreanNewsletterFeb2018.pdf Korea Cold war org Feb 2018 Newsletter][https://www.nsa.gov/news-features/declassified-documents/c130-shootdown/assets/files/shoot_down_60528.pdf NSA news relief of the incident naming those who perished] A group burial of the 17 crew remains was held at Arlington National Cemetery.{{citation needed|date=January 2021|reason= See EL below, which is not RS}}

File:The crash site of 60528.jpg

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.

When NSA cryptologists William Hamilton Martin and Bernon F. Mitchell defected to the Soviet Union in 1960, they listed the C-130 flight as one of their reasons. They contended that it was designed to gain an understanding of Soviet defenses, and that it therefore possibly represented an American interest in attacking the Soviets rather than defending against them.New York Times: [https://www.nytimes.com/1960/09/07/archives/text-of-statements-read-in-moscow-by-former-us-security-agency.html "Text of Statements Read in Moscow by Former U.S. Security Agency Workers", September 7, 1960], accessed January 6, 2010 James Bamford, an investigative journalist and author, agreed that their assertions had merit.Bamford, The Puzzle Palace, 232ff.

File:Joint US-Armenian memorial to lost Airmen.jpg

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.{{Cite web|last=Mirror-Spectator|first=The Armenian|date=2018-08-10|title=60th Anniversary of Shoot-Down of USAF Aircraft over Armenia|url=https://mirrorspectator.com/2018/08/09/60th-anniversary-of-shoot-down-of-usaf-aircraft-over-armenia/|access-date=2021-03-01|website=The Armenian Mirror-Spectator|language=en-US}} In 2011, the US Army Office of Defense Cooperation renovated the village kindergarten in appreciation of the villagers' commemoration of the downed airmen.{{Cite web|title=USACE, EUCOM team up to deliver kindergarten to Armenian community|url=https://www.army.mil/article/65316/usace_eucom_team_up_to_deliver_kindergarten_to_armenian_community|access-date=2021-03-01|website=www.army.mil|date=12 September 2011 |language=en}}

The shootdown features in the British documentary "Spies in the Sky" (October 22, 1994), an edition in the BBC's Timewatch' series. It includes footage of the 1993 unveiling of the Nerkin Sasnashen memorial, attended by the sister of one of the USAF crewmen.[https://genome.ch.bbc.co.uk/e45becd793ff4df780b7cbac50c7835c] BBC Timewatch episode "Spies in the Sky", 22 October 1994, Episode 3.

• 1960 RB-47 shootdown incident
• 1960 U-2 incident
• Air-to-air combat losses between the Soviet Union and the United States
• Martin and Mitchell defection

{{reflist}}

• [https://www.nsa.gov/Helpful-Links/NSA-FOIA/Declassification-Transparency-Initiatives/Historical-Releases/C130-Shootdown/ NSA website of C-130 shootdown]
• [http://www.arlingtoncemetery.net/armenia.htm Crew Of A United States Air Force] at ArlingtonCemetery.net, an unofficial website{{Better source needed|date=January 2021|reason=WP:SPS, provides pictures, but does not have attribution for the text}}

{{Aviation accidents and incidents in 1958}}

{{Aviation accidents and incidents in the Soviet Union in the 1950s}}

{{Aviation accidents and incidents in Armenia}}

Category:Violations of Soviet airspace

Category:Soviet Union–United States military relations

Category:Aviation accidents and incidents in the Soviet Union

Category:Cold War military history of the United States

C-130 shootdown incident

C-130 shootdown incident

C-130 shootdown incident

Category:Accidents and incidents involving the Lockheed C-130 Hercules

Category:20th-century aircraft shootdown incidents

Category:Aviation accidents and incidents in Armenia

Category:1958 in Armenia