A strange place where to meet a Star...

[Capitaine Vengeur 263]

Last summer, I enjoyed a trip in Albania (took off from Tirana and took pictures over Durrës just 4 hours before the major earthquake that mauled the area on 21 September, by the way!) There, I visited the nice medieval Castle in Gjirokastra, which was once the National Museum of Arms during the Communist era (still contains dozens of WW2 artillery guns). And on the top of this fortress, I unexepectedly stumbled on this wreckage faded by 50 years of careless outdoor exposure. On 23 December 1957, this USAF Lockheed T-33A Shooting Star (number 51-04413) was forced to land by two or three MiG-15bis, while flying off-course over Communist Albania during a transit from France to Greece. Major Howard J. Curran claimed he planned to land anyway due to instruments failure and lack of fuel; he was relased as soon as 9 January 1958. The plane has been exhibited in Gjirokaster since 1969, as a captured spy-plane and a war trophy over the Imperialist powers. Typical Cold War era...

 

 

[+whiteknight06604 934]

they sure kept it in great shape.......

[+whiteknight06604 934]

On 12/8/2019 at 1:30 PM, whiteknight06604 said:

they sure kept it in great shape.......

not to pile on the Albanians but they were pretty far behind even eastern european standards during the cold war.I wouldn't be surprised if they cannibalized this plane to keep a couple horse drawn farm wagons going.