Albania in the news (1 Viewer)

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msr

AHHHHH FUCK
Albania’s Underground Air Force Doesn’t Look So Good
For sale: Cold War Albanian fighter jets, gently used.

Back in 2016, Albania accounted that a slew of vintage jets dating from the 1960s have were up for sale. Since then, however, legal red tape has prevented would-be buyers from swooping in and taking the air relics home. But now, at least, we're all getting a cool look at the collection:
The jets, some of which look quite grim, are located at Gjader Air Base in underground storage facilities built during the Cold War. Albania’s Stalinist dictator of the time, Enver Hoxha, was a deeply paranoid man who had 170,000 bunkers built across the tiny Mediterranean country, as well as up to 7,000 larger underground facilities. Gjader was built to resist air attack, allowing fighters to hole up inside the mountain and then take off to defend the country.

Approximately 50 obsolete jets are located inside the base. The collection includes 1960s MiG-17s and Vietnam War-era MiG-19s and F-7As (a Chinese copy of the MiG-21). The fighters, bare metal with a red and black roundel painted on the tail, were the pride of the Albanian Air Force. The jets were grounded after the Cold War. Today Albania no longer flies fighter jets at all.

In 2016 the Albanian government planned to put the jets up for auction to raise an estimated $485,000. It’s not clear what happened to the sale, but AFP reports there is a waiting list to buy the planes that including plane collectors and flight schools.

The end of the (original) Cold War released many jets into the hands of private institutions, and these Albanian jets represent perhaps the last supply of vintage fighters untapped by the worldwide collector’s market. The jets appear to be in fair condition, mostly untouched by looting. Some of the metal shows signs of corrosion, while in some places hardware, particularly navigation lights, appear missing.

The underground facilities at Gjader are impressive, consisting of nearly 2,000 feet of tunnels large enough to store, service, fuel, and arm combat aircraft. Or at least they used to be. The base was overrun by protesters and looters in 1997. And without electricity or anyone to perform basic housekeeping duties, an underground base can start to look really sad really quickly.

Today, some equipment looks vandalized. Graffiti covers steel doors designed to keep out bomb blasts. Plants and trees are growing over entrances to the outside world.

It’s not clear if anyone on the waiting list will ever get their jets. Despite being a relatively poor country, the Albanian government doesn’t seem to be in a hurry to get a good price for them. If you’re in the market for a F-7A or MiG-19, you may want to shop around.
Albania’s Underground Air Force Doesn’t Look So Good - news - att.net
 

McM

ARSELING
Shame their's only One pic of a plane in a bunker. Would have liked to have looked at more. Thanks for the post.

Most known were these pillboxes, placed everywhere in different sizes.


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