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