I going to visit Albania from 27okt. Until 06nov. 2017.
I have a great interest in aviation and would like to visit the old Migs which are stored in the tunnels and parking space at Kuçovë Air Base and other bases.
Hi Jan. Hope you can pick this up where you are now. Drove past Kucove last week on a coach en route to Berat but sadly not able to stop. Outside the cavern hangar were an An2/Harbin fuselage, CJ2, Mig 15UTI, 2 Mig 15s and a Mig 21 (or Chinese equivalent of these). My local guide advised that there is now a museum at the base which includes access to the cavern. Unable to verify this but you may be able to check locally. Grateful,if you do go, for any identities of those outside the hangar.
We are planning a family holiday in Albania and i want to know if there is a possibility to visit the caves an the derilict aircraft outside? Or do i need to try to get a base visit?
The only two storage mountain hangars were at Gjader and Kucove. From GE images, it looks like Gjader is now completely abandoned and I haven't seen any reports from it for over 10 years. I would assume that one is empty...?
At Kucove, the GE images now show even more planes in front of the hangar. All planes from the airfield have been removed, except for the gate guard, and most of these are now parked near the hangar. I 'think' you could see several from the public (dirt)road that crosses the taxiway right in front of the hangar. Some planes seem to be only meters away from that road. However, I doubt there are still any planes inside the hangar.
I don't really know anything about the above mentioned museum at Kucove. Some planes that were mentioned as being in that museum used to be on the airfield (not near the hangar) and those are no longer there.
ehusmann wrote: ↑27 Dec 2023, 15:28
The only two storage mountain hangars were at Gjader and Kucove. From GE images, it looks like Gjader is now completely abandoned and I haven't seen any reports from it for over 10 years. I would assume that one is empty...?
The wrecked EC145 FA-637 is (was?) inside at Gjader at some point. Dunno if still there.
If you have a spare hour you can try;
40.773818,19.928271
Walk up the hill and wander around!
Cheers,
Jan.
I was there a few weeks back, it is accessible. Due to time constraints we drove by, but you are able to stop there. The fence is even broken, so if you want to risk it...
ehusmann wrote: ↑27 Dec 2023, 15:28
The only two storage mountain hangars were at Gjader and Kucove. From GE images, it looks like Gjader is now completely abandoned and I haven't seen any reports from it for over 10 years. I would assume that one is empty...?
At Kucove, the GE images now show even more planes in front of the hangar. All planes from the airfield have been removed, except for the gate guard, and most of these are now parked near the hangar. I 'think' you could see several from the public (dirt)road that crosses the taxiway right in front of the hangar. Some planes seem to be only meters away from that road. However, I doubt there are still any planes inside the hangar.
I don't really know anything about the above mentioned museum at Kucove. Some planes that were mentioned as being in that museum used to be on the airfield (not near the hangar) and those are no longer there.
The caverns at Gjader were still guarded last year despite the air base being abandoned so there might still be some aircraft inside.
At Kucove the aircraft that were relocated from the base were indeed in front of the cavern and very close to the fence. However, also well guarded.
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