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The ROCAF museum is located near the GangShan Air Force Base at Gan Shan , Kaohsiung.

Article and pictures by Ronald de Roij

A visit to the museum at Gangshan gives a nice offer view of different aircraft types used by the ROCAF. In addition it tells the story about ‘Mainland China’ defectors – or freedom-seekers, spy flights over mainland China as well as the story about the world-famous “Flying Tigers”.
 

 

     

The museum consist of three part, the old outside display area and museum building, this part of the museum was constructed in 1983 together with the overall planning of the air force academy. It consists of a military history museum and military aircraft exhibition ground.

Part of the museum is also paying tribute to the Republic of China’s War of Resistance against Japan between 1937 and 1945, and the subsequent development of Taiwan’s military during the Cold War and beyond.

 

     

Of special interest is the exhibition about the history of U2 pilots flying in the famous “Black Bat Squadron“, the squadron flew surveillance missions over mainland China from 1962 to 1974. It gives an insight about a story that has been “secret” for a long time. The Black Bat Squadron adopted its name, 34th Squadron, in 1958 for official use and the Emblem came into use in the same year. The Squadrons conducted special operations between 1952 to 1972 and in these years, there were a total of 148 casualties and 15 aircraft lost.

On the exhibition ground next to the hall aircraft are displayed that are either too big for the new museum on the other side of the base or are a duplicate in the collection. The state of these aircraft really shows how long these have been outside in the elements.

 

     

The newly completed Aviation Education Exhibition Centre is on the other end of the air base. This round building has on display around 40 planes from the different elements of the Republic of China defence forces. The aircraft are displayed on two levels, the ground floor and suspended from the sealing, most aircraft are in a good position for photographs although the lighting conditions can be challenging on some of the exhibits.

The museum shows a wide array of fighters, transport planes, submarine destroyers and training aircraft although there are some helicopters on display. Most aircraft are of American origin, as the US authorities willingly assisted Chiang Kai-shek, in building up an Air Force.
A special part of the collection consist out of aircraft from China that were flown to Taiwan by Chinese defectors, they include an IL-28 bomber and different early MiG fighters in what some call a MiG ally.

 

     

The Republic of China Air Force operated a large variety of aircraft since its formation; the types on display in the Hall are mainly the post-war types with the exception of a few and some live size models. Aircraft from WWII and before were probably scrapped before there was even a notion of preservation. And many of the US aircraft types in use in the 50s and 60s by the Republic of China Air Force like for example the RF-84F, RB-57D, F-86 were returned to the US after they were no longer off use.

With the edition of a Grumman S-2 Tracker and a Northrop F-5 Tiger lately the museum is preserving the history as aircraft are leaving operational service with the different elements of the Republic of China defence forces.

 

     

With the will of supplying new aircraft to the Republic of China Air Force by foreign countries changed due to politics in the later part of the last century, Taiwan started its own aerospace industry.
Some locally build aircraft are on display including a prototype of a light attack aircraft the XA-3 and some training aircraft. Due to operational needs no locally build AIDC F-CK-1 Ching-kuo air on display.

 
         
           

There are relatively few reconnaissance planes on display for the fact that they once accounted for a large percentage of different aircraft used by the air force with the Black Bat Squadron. The airbase in Gangshan was known for organizing spy flights, it’s enough to mention that it was here that the famous U2 planes, the Dragon Lady, took off and landed.

 One of the exceptions is a Douglas A-26 Invader witch was traded for two F-5’s with a museum in the USA. The aircraft is one of the original aircraft flown by the Black Bat squadron. The Invader from the Classic Aircraft Aviation Museum, Serial #: 44-35444 was built in 1944 and served in World War II with the USAAF, the Korean War for the USAF, and served in the Republic of China Air Force Black Bats 34 Squadron until 1969, when it was decommissioned and entered into civilian service.

The plane was disassembled and shipped to the Taiwan in January 2012 where the Air Force restored it, and painted it in black and marked it with the squadron number “844,” the number of an invader flown by the Black Bats.

 
           

The museum would like to do more off these trade deals to complement the collection, but finds it hard to find parties willingly to do a deal with them due to mainly politics.

 
           


In addition to the aircraft the museum host a collection of engines, bomb and other artefacts associated with the operations of the Republic of China Air Force.
The museum is well worth a visit during a stay in Taiwan, look at the website for the moments and ways foreigners can visit the museum as the museum is on an active base.
 

 
 

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