"Смерть шпионам!" ( "Smert Shpionem!" / "Death to the spies!")


On September 2, 1958, this US spy plane with tail identification 60528 (USAF serial number 56-0528), belonging to the 7406th Support Squadron of the United States Air Forces in Europe (based at Rhein-Main Air Base), flew over Armenia in Soviet airspace shot down...:




The crew of the spy plane consists of six members of the flight crew and eleven language specialists from the 6911th Radio Group Mobile (radio reconnaissance).

A formation of four MiG-17s prepared to intercept, with pilots Gavrilov, Ivanov, Kuzheryaev and Lopatkov….





...from the Leninakan air base (today: Gyumri) the C-130 meets about 55 kilometers northwest of Yerevan and attacks them with on-board weapons and air-to-air missiles.

The shooting camera of the Soviet leader's MIG captures the moment immediately before the impact of two Soviet "Strela" missiles in two images...:







The impact damaged the right wing of the "Hercules" and severed the tail from the fuselage, causing the plane to crash and burn.

All 17 crew members are killed.

A memorial at the US base "Fort Meade" (Maryland) commemorates the shooting down today...:

And still in Service, 68 years after its introduction....