Albanian Air Force The Albanian Air Force ( " Forca Ajrore Shqiptare " , FASH ) is the national Air Force of the Albanian military . The headquarters is located in Tirana and it operates two airbases , Kuçova Air Base and Tirana Air Base . History . Military aviation started in Albania in 1914 , when the Albanian government ordered three " Lohner " Daimler aircraft from Austria to form the " Albanian Air Corps " . As a result of the outbreak of World War I , the order was cancelled . Albania did not have the resources to restart the development of a proper Air Force during the 1920s and 1930s . After World War II , the Albanian Air Force finally came into existence when Albania was equipped with Soviet aircraft . The first squadron was equipped with Yakovlev Yak - 9 s . The first jet fighter to enter service was the MiG - 15 , dating officially the 15th of May 1955 , followed by the MiG - 17 . Some of the MiG - 15 s were Soviet fighters used and then withdrawn from the North Korean Air Force . The backbone of the Albanian Air Force jet fighters became MiG - 19 ( NATO code " Farmer " ) . 12 MiG - 19 PM were delivered by the USSR in October 1959 and on the same year pilots and specialists were sent in USSR to train with the all - weather interceptor MiG - 19 PM . After the collapse of USSR - Albanian relations , significant numbers of Shenyang J - 6 fighters ( Chinese copy of the MiG - 19 S ) , were acquired from China . In the early 1970s , Albania exchanged its lot of Soviet - made MiG - 19 PM ( NATO code " Farmer - E " ) fighters equipped for beam - riding missiles , with 12 , more advanced , Chengdu J - 7 A fighters ( Chinese copy of the Soviet - built MiG - 21 ) . Two of them were lost in incidents in the early 1970s , eight had problems with lack of batteries in the early 1980s . In total , during the 70s and early 80s , the Albanian Air Force was able to deploy 142 airplanes , between Shenyang J - 6C s , 12 Chengdu J - 7A s , a fighting squadron equipped with MiG - 17 s , a considerable number of MiG - 15 ( both " BIS " and " UTI " versions ) , and 4 Soviet - made Il - 14 transport aircraft . A squadron of Shijiazhuang Y - 5 was deployed in Tirana and the " Air Force Academy " in Vlora had 2 squadrons of Yak - 18 for basic pilot training purposes . The helicopter component consisted in 18 Harbin Z - 5 ( Chinese copy of Mil Mi - 4 ) helicopters based in " Farka " Tirana , meanwhile there was a single prototype of a light H - 5 bomber based in " Rinas " . Due to relations collapse between Albania and the Chinese , maintenance became extremely difficult and the number of deadly incidents involving Mikoyan fighters increased . Despite Albanian efforts and some initial success in repairing the engines of the MiGs , the lack of specific jet fuel forced authorities to start production in a national scale , thus resulting in a low - quality production ( The first attempt dates on 1961 , when the " Kuçova " factory produced the special Jet kerosene called " TSI " ) . The fuel conditioned the life - time of the jet engines and often was blamed as the main reason of the deadly incidents ( 35 Albanian pilots lost their life from 1955 to 2005 mainly due to MiG ' s mechanical failures ) . In the early 90s , in an effort to keep the MiGs flying , the Albanian Air Force received spare parts from Bulgaria and engines from the ex - GDR . As of 2004 , Albania still had 117 J - 6C aircraft , although mostly were not operational and only 12 Chengdu J - 7A . The Albanian fighter jets were definitively withdrawn from active service in late 2004 after the last deadly incident involving a J - 6C during take - off from the military area at " Mother Teresa Airport " in Tirana . Currently , the Albanian Air Brigade does not operate any old Soviet aircraft . Since 2011 , 9 Shijiazhuang Y - 5 are retired from service . 5 Eurocopter AS532 Cougar are to be bought by the Albanian air force . Aircraft Inventory . Current . The Albanian Air Force has retired all its fixed wing aircraft and now operates various types of helicopters . Also , close to NATO Integration the Air defense has become a secondary priority for the Albanian military . Current plans are to reduce the manpower of the Albanian Air Force to around 1 , 400 . Retired . All of the Albanian fixed - wing aircraft ' s have been withdrawn from active service in 2005 .