Since the establishment of the Albanian military aviation, on April 24, 1951, today marks 72 years.
But on this significant day, aviation has been left in the shadows and does not have the former importance.
“In my time there was an air fleet and it consisted of more than 250 pilots, today there are 20 or 30. Aviation has been closed, in Kuçova, Rinas or Berat”, says former pilotKoço Biku.
“I regret that we gave our soul and blood for aviation. I am touched when I see that our airspace is guarded now by Greek or Italian pilots, when I remember how good we were. We need to invest more”, states Bebeqi.
Koço Biku and Petrit Bebeqi were the first pair of pilots in the supersonic Russian Mig-21 aircraft, and since then they have remained inseparable friends.
During their work as pilots, there were not a few cases when they were faced with unknown and suspicious situations, which they remember now in retirement with enthusiasm, asthey passed the tests successfully.
“The moment I found myself close was when I encountered the armed Yugoslav plane in our airspace. I was scared, but it turned out that it was by mistake as like a young pilot he had messed up the road”, said Biku.
“On the third flight, I was taken to China together with Koco, on the fastest plane we had in Albania. Even the Chinese didn’t trust me because of the few hours I had in flight, and they didn’t want to let me carry out the mission. But the first pilots said either we go all or none and they agreed, because otherwise relations between the countries could be broken”, recalls pilot Petrit Bebeqi.
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