They died honorably while engaged in the Silent War - AIRBORNE RECONNAISSANCE. Now we are creating a memorial honoring them. While on a routine mission along the Turkish-Armenian border on September 2, 1958, a U.S. Air Force C-130 crew inadvertently entered denied airspace over Armenia. Four Soviet MiG-17 pilots intercepted the C-130 - tail number 60528 - and shot it down, killing the seventeen Americans aboard. The crew consisted of six flight crew members and eleven United States Air Force Security Service reconnaissance crew members.
Our efforts to honor those seventeen lost airmen have paid off with authorization to create a memorial at the National Security Agency, Fort Meade, MD. The memorial will consist of a C-130 aircraft, bearing tail #60528, on display in an air park setting and a memorial display in the co-located National Cryptologic Museum. The C-130's exterior is being refinished in 60528's original C-130A-II fit and form so that it will look identical to 60528 on the date that it was shot down. The display in the Museum will contain related artifacts. So, what do we know about the shoot down? Of all Cold War air incidents involving the Soviets, the shoot down of 60528 is the most controversial.
Four Soviet MiG pilots took turns firing on the unarmed transport. Unlike other incidents where American aircraft were lost over water, 60528 crashed on Soviet soil. Not willing to admit that 60528 was on a spy mission, the U.S. Government did not confront the Soviets until September 6, when the Soviets denied all knowledge of the incident. They stated on September 12 that they had found a destroyed airplane, and based on discovered remains, "it may be assumed that six crewmen perished." In response to a U.S. demand for information about eleven missing crew members, the Soviets stated on 19 September that "no other information on crew members is at the disposal of the Soviet side." A status quo ensued and the Soviets provided no additional info on the eleven missing airmen. Finally in 1991, Russian President Yeltsin began releasing 'available' information on the shoot down.
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