1957 United States Air Force incursion into Albanian airspace

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1957 United States Air Force incursion into Albanian airspace
Part of The Cold War
Gjirokastra US airplane.jpg
The USAF Lockheed T-33 fighter jet at Gjirokastër
DateDecember 23, 1957
Location
Rinas, Albania
40°04′25″N20°08′24″E / 40.0737°N 20.14013°E / 40.0737; 20.14013
Result

Albanian Victory [1]

  • Aircraft seized
  • American pilot arrested but later released
Belligerents
Flag of Albania (1946-1992).svg Albania Flag of the United States.svg United States
Commanders and leaders
Flag of Albania (1946-1992).svg Anastas Ngjela Flag of the United States.svg /Flag of NATO.svg Howard J. Curran (POW)
Units involved
Fin flash of Albania.svg Air Force of the Albanian People's Army Military service mark of the United States Air Force.svg United States Air Force
Strength
2 MiG-15 [1] [2] 1 Lockheed T-33 [2]
Casualties and losses
None 1 T-33 captured [3]
1957 United States Air Force incursion into Albanian airspace

The 1957 United States Air Force incursion into Albanian airspace (Albanian : Incidentet e para ajrore), was a Cold War air-to-air combat incident. [1] [4] [3]

On December 23, 1957, an American T-33 fighter jet violated Albanian airspace. [5] Two MiG-15 aircraft took off from Kuçova Air Base, piloted by Anastas Ngjela and Mahmut Hysa. [6] [7] [8]

The American fighter jet was surrounded and forced to land on the unfinished runway at Rinas airport, now known as Tirana International Airport Nënë Tereza. [9] [10] The plane was impounded and the American pilot Major Howard J. Curran was arrested. [11] Curran was released on January 11, 1958, while the plane was placed in the Gjirokastër Fortress museum. The T-33 air incident was just one of at least eight that occurred between Albania and foreign powers from 1948 to the late 1970s. [1] [12]

References

  1. 1 2 3 4 "Koha kur avionët e Enverit luftonin me botën". Konica.al. November 24, 2019. Retrieved December 3, 2022.
  2. 1 2 van Gerven Oei 2015, p. 180.
  3. 1 2 ""Në vitin 1957, një pilot i NATO-s, me gradën e majorit, uli avionin e tij "T-33" në aeroportin e Rinasit"/ Dëshmia". Memorie.al (in Albanian). February 13, 2020. Retrieved December 3, 2022.
  4. ↑ "A 'Dead' Flier Safe at Home". Life. September 4, 1970.
  5. ↑ Spektër (in Albanian). 2001. p. 19.
  6. ↑ van Gerven Oei, Vincent W. J. (2015). Workers Leaving the Studio. Looking Away from Socialist Realism. Punctum Books. ISBN   978-0-692-48041-0. OCLC   945783129.
  7. ↑ {{Cite web |last=zgjohushqiptar.info |date=January 25, 2019 |title=Koha kur avionët e Enverit luftonin me botën, ndersa sot avion shqiptarë …një ëndërr |url=https://www.zgjohushqiptar.info/2019/01/koha-kur-avionet-e-enverit-luftonin-me.html |access-date=2022-12-03 |website=Zgjohu Shqiptar |language=sq}
  8. ↑ bionelda (November 24, 2019). "Koha kur avionët e Enverit luftonin me botën" [The time when Enver's planes fought the world]. Konica.al (in Albanian). Retrieved October 22, 2025.
  9. ↑ Regnery, Alfred S. (2019). Unlikely pilgrim : a journey into history and faith. New York, NY: Beaufort Books. ISBN   978-0-8253-0800-0. OCLC   1082977970.
  10. ↑ Gibler, Douglas M. (2018). International Conflicts, 1816-2010: Militarized Interstate Dispute Narratives. Lanham, Maryland: The Rowman & Littlefield Publishing Group, Inc. ISBN   978-1-4422-7558-4. OCLC   1030585387.
  11. ↑ Keesing's Contemporary Archives. University of Illinois in Urbana-Champaign: Keesing's Limited. 1957. p. 15984.
  12. ↑ Hewitt, Stephen (April 25, 2021). "T-33 USA military plane and misleading text exhibited in Albania, 2009". Cambridge Clarion. Retrieved October 22, 2025.
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