The Secret Life of 60528

Back in 1997, on a sliver of land wedged between a gas station and a car park, a lone C130 Hercules could be found. It was mounted there near the entrance to the National Security Agency at Fort Mead in Maryland for a good reason. Not the original aircraft, as that crashed on foreign soil, it had been painted with the tail number 60528 to represent it.

The memorial to the crew of 60528

The C130 airborne

The plot of 60528 and the track of the intercepting fighters.

A Mig 17

Gun camera film from the attacking Mig17s

Gun camera film from an attacking Mig 17 showing the C130 in flames

The crash site of 60528

A USN Neptune

A Mig15

An LA11

An RAF Lincoln

The U2 spy plane

Gary Powers

The memorial to the crew of the C130

Arlington Cemetery

Images under Creative Commons licence with thanks to the NSA, Soviet Defence Archives, 1Lt Kucharyaev, Soviet Air Force, Kirill Pisman, Adam Jones, Garry Goebel, RIA Novosti archive and IP Singh.