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The Central Museum of the Air Forces at Monino

 

 

The Central Museum of the Air Forces at Monino, Russia is located approximately 38 kilometres from Moscow along the Gorky Highway in a wooded area. The museum was formerly known as The Russian Federation Air Force Museum and, prior to that, The USSR Air Force Museum.

 

 

 

 

The museum is on a facility what was an operational air base from 1932 through 1956. The museum was founded in 1958 and opened in 1960 at the original airfield location with the original airfield structures.

The area was off-limits to civilians during the Soviet era so it has been neither easy to find nor easy to access. Advance permission to visit the museum was recently required for non-Russian citizens. Despite this, it is the finest Russian aviation museum in existence.

The facilities are largely unimproved and the majority of aircraft are exposed to the harsh Russian weather. The museum has long been run by the Russian government and many of the Russian aviation Design Bureaus (Tupolev, Ilyushin, Antonov, Mikoyan, etc.) have contributed exhibits and resources to the museum and its maintenance. Despite these conditions, the aircraft are in surprisingly good shape.

After the museum was opened a lot of afford wend in to find aircraft of the early period of the Soviet air force types included in the Po-2, Pe-2, Tu-2, DB-3, SB, IL-10, they are displayed in a new hanger

 

     

The Central Museum of the Air Forces at Monino, Russia is located approximately 38 kilometres from Moscow along the Gorky Highway in a wooded area. The museum was formerly known as The Russian Federation Air Force Museum and, prior to that, The USSR Air Force Museum.

The museum has examples of pretty much every single type of Russian jet fighter, arranged by manufacturer with separate sections for Sukhoi, Mikoyan-Gurevich (MiG) and Yakovlev. unlike most other museums which preserve production examples, Monino is home to numerous prototypes and demonstrators, often not well known in the West. As such it provides some unique insights into the vast development and production effort expended by the Soviet military-industrial complex during the Cold War period.

 

     

For example the Sukhoi T-10 Flanker A. This is an early prototype of the Flanker, prior to the extensive redesign of the airframe to the now “classic” Su-27S Flanker B configuration. The differences are much more prominent than observed in most western redesign during de development.

Next to the more well known type’s on displays the collection of less known aircraft is very interesting like the the Myasischev M-50 "Bounder" a supersonic intercontinental nuclear bomber which first flew in 1959. Or the Sukhoi T-4, a Russian attempt to emulate the USAF XB-70 Valkyrie mach-3 bomber.

A Tupolev Tu-128 Fiddler A Often described as the largest fighter ever built, the Fiddler was a long range interceptor developed to engage and defeat the US Air Force B-52 fleet over the vast northern frontiers of Soviet Russia. Just to name a few.

 

     

Early models of the jet age are present in type not well known in the west . Like the Mikoyan MiG-9 Fargo The MiG-9 Fargo was one of the earliest Soviet turbojet interceptors and drew heavily on captured German jet technology. The cannon armament was designed for interception of USAF and RAF heavy bombers. The Lavochkin la 15 fantail was an early Soviet jet fighter and a contemporary of the Mikoyan-Gurevich MiG-15. It is rumoured that its design is base on the wartime Focke-Wulf Ta 183 . The Lavochkin La-250 "Anakonda" was a high-altitude interceptor aircraft prototype developed in the Soviet Union in the 1950s. Test flights of the five prototypes were plagued by crashes and the project was abounded with the sole survivor being at Monino

 

     

From the navel site there are some interesting aircraft on display as this is a separate part of the Russian defence not all are present. But there are some interesting planes on display likea two-engined Beriev Be-12 "Mail" seaplane and a Yak-38 "Forger", which is a vertical takeoff and landing fighter which went into production in 1975 and served aboard Soviet Kiev-class aircraft carriers. Near the Yak-38 was another Yakovlev designed VTOL naval fighter, the supersonic Yak-141 "Freestyle" and a the navalised Mikoyan MiG-29K a direct derivative of the Fulcrum A, with a tailhook and structural changes for shipboard operations.. From the naval helicopters used a Kamov Ka-25 is present but currently not on display.

 

     

The Mi-6 Hook for many years the Mi-6 was the largest helicopter in the world, able to carry twice the load of the largest helicopter ever produced in America.
There are three Mi-6s at the museum. The most interesting one being a Hook B a Command post, electronic warfare helicopter, then a grey regular version with the wings mounted just behind the rotor head and a fire-fighting version without the wings. In the nose is a water cannon and pipes under the fuselage could be lowered in flight to suck up water.

 
         
           

Sins a couple of year some aviation enthusiasts, retired Air Force pilots, pilots, ground personnel, and students studying all roles in aviation formed a group and then a non-profit organisation called "Aviarestorer". Do all sorts of volunteer work: from cleaning the museum grounds and aircraft to actually restoring the museum aircraft - inside and out. There goal is to preserve the display aircraft and restore them to the condition they were in when they landed for the last time at Monino. You can follow there progress on there website aviarestorer.ru

 
           

The museum in Monino is a must fore everybody interested in Russian aviation. For a visit contact the museum to arrange the visit as the are not always open. For the precise information have a look at there website
 

 
 

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