Aragatsotn | Bureau of Aircraft Accidents Archives

The crew was completing a crop-spraying flight on vineyards for the sovkhoz (state farm) "Arteni" located in the Talin district of Armenia. While cruising at low height in a visibility limited to one km, the single engine aircraft collided with a high-voltage powerline located 400 metres north of the Arteni railway station. Out of control, the airplane crashed 85 metres further on. Both pilots were seriously injured while the sole passenger, a local guide, was killed.

Crash of a Lockheed C-130A-II Hercules near Talin: 17 killed

Date & Time: Sep 2, 1958 at 1400 LT

Type of aircraft:

Lockheed C-130 Hercules

Operator:

Registration:

56-0528

Flight Phase:

Flight

Flight Type:

Survey / Patrol / Reconnaissance

Survivors:

Site:

Plain, Valley

Schedule:

Incirlik - Incirlik

MSN:

3136

YOM:

1957

Location:

Country:

Region:

Crew on board:

Crew fatalities:

Pax on board:

Pax fatalities:

Other fatalities:

Total fatalities:

Circumstances:

The crew departed Incirlik AFB near Adana on a survey flight over Turkey. The mission consisted of an overflight of the region of Trabzon and Van, maintaining a minimum distance of 160 km with the Turkey/Armenia border. The crew passed over the city of Trabzon at an altitude of 25,500 feet and instead of changing its direction to the south bound for Van, the airplane continued to the east. While flying over Armenia at an altitude of 22,000 feet, the Hercules was shot down by an air-air missile fired by the pilot of a Soviet fighter. Out of control, the four engine aircraft dove into the ground and crashed near the city of Talin. Few weeks later, the bodies of six crew members were transferred to the US Authorities while nothing was heard anymore about the 11 intelligence-gathering personnel belonging to the United States Air Force Security Service (USAFSS).

Probable cause:

Shot down by a Soviet Air Force fighter after it flew into the Soviet Airspace without prior permission. The C-130 crew may have become disoriented by Soviet navigational beacons which were on frequencies similar to those at Trabzon and Van, one signal in Georgia was stronger than that in Trabzon. More than 30 years after the event, top-secret documents were declassified and transmitted to the medias, stating that the crew was in fact involved in the identification of the Soviet defense radar systems and testing their performances. US Authorities confirmed they obtained the authorization to examine the aircraft's debris in August 1993.