Shot in Albania
- haeberlin5
- Jun 12
- 2 min read
Treasures from The Pioneer Era, reported by Ernie Tanner:
After the communist regime was overthrown in Albania the country was opened up and we had the opportunity to fly countless operations with our Jet Ranger in the mountains. The level of poverty was beyond description and there was great hunger. Albania was considered one of the poorest countries in Europe.
As frequently happens in such situations, the distribution of relief supplies was problematic, sometimes even dangerous. Many times, villagers ripped the parcels from our hands or quarreled with one another over them. Once we were threatened with stones. Several times I had to make a quick getaway to bring myself and the helicopter to safety.
But in most cases, the people were affectionate and thankful. In many villages, they gave us sheep. That was all they had to give. I had to tie them up and transport them in the luggage compartment of the helicopter. I then donated the meat to people I knew in the capital who were often worse off than the peasants in the mountains.
This occurred when my wife came to visit me. This time, we had landed in several villages and had no idea that on our flight home we had come within 6.5 feet (2 m) of certain death. In the evening at the base, when our co-pilot and mechanic was giving the helicopter a thorough clean, he discovered two bullet holes in one of the rotor blades. They were only 3 inches (8 cm) apart. For two bullets to hit the same rapidly rotating blade they must have come from a machine gun. They had penetrated the extremely strong titan sheet. If the sniper had hit the cabin, made of light aluminum sheet, we would most certainly have been hit too, and probably would have crashed. We had been saved from the worst by a miracle. The helicopter was immediately grounded, the blades dismantled, packed up and sent to Switzerland. The sniper was never discovered. But this serious incident didn’t stop us from continuing our relief flights with new rotor blades.
Comments