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- Museums, warbirds, monuments
Uzbekistan is a wonderful country with friendly people and a rich heritage. The number of preserved aircraft was minimal, but recently several new parks have been landscaped holding various exhibits. Let us explore!
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Hungary still has lots of aircraft preserved or discarded to warrant a visit by the serious aircraft archeologist. This year's Keckskemet airshow was a good reason to explore the country.
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Moldova is a small country between Romania and Ukraine and seldom visited. That is a bit of a shame because the people are friendly and some gems for aircraft enthusiasts can be found there.
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On the south western edge of Europe, Portugal is a country with a long aviation history. The South Atlantic crossing by seaplane and the colonial wars in Africa were significant events in Portuguese aviation history.
But let us start with this motivation booster for future Portuguese pilots at the air force Academy at Sintra, a T-38A displayed in spectacular fashion along the parade ground.
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Most aircraft aficionados that go to Beijing will know and visit Xiaotangshan, but downtown Beijing houses the Military Museum of the Chinese People’s Revolution in a recently refurbished and properly impressive palace.
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Finland is a very aircraft minded country and that means lots of historic aircraft for us to enjoy! They have sourced aircraft from both sides of the former Iron Curtain, so let us start with the MiG-15UTI (MU-)1 in Halli outside the Hallinportti Ilmailumuseo.
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Most aircraft enthusiasts go to Japan to take photographs of the active aircraft. We spent some time in the middle of the Cherry Blossom season scooping up preserved aircraft!
Mount Fuji can be seen looming in the back of this Mitsubishi F-1 90-8231, it can be found at Oyama-cho, Shizuoka-ken.
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South Africa has a huge aviation scene and is keen on preserving its (military) aviation heritage. Let us show you what is to be found. Cover shot is a Mirage 3CZ. Becoming increasingly rare, this one is in No.2 Squadron's shelter area at AFB Makhado.
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Baku is a beautiful town. In Azerbaijan not many aviation monuments exist and the Military History Museum, Azərbaycan Hərb Tarixi Muzeyi, is the only one of its kind in the country.
We bring you an exclusive report.
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Piana delle Orme, located near Borgo Faiti is a historical park about 100km south of Rome. It focuses on the history of the area and has a very interesting collection including aircraft, tanks, locomotives etc. One of our aviagraphers went south on one of the many ways leading from the ancient city of Rome, to indulge in a surprising display of contemporary history!
If an aircraft is displayed nose inwards at the entrance, an aviagrapher has only one choice: to picture the entrance from the back…
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Not widely known, the first use of a combat aircraft in Europe was made by two Bulgarian pilots during the Balkan War in 1912. The conflicts propelled the development of military aviation in this beautiful Balkan country and over the years, Bulgaria developed its own aviation industry, which flourished in the late 30s. After the Second World War, it opted to join the Warsaw Pact, leading to massive acquisitions of Soviet hardware to the aviation-loving country. Bulgaria’s love story with military aviation is probably best witnessed by the omnipresent monuments of military aircraft in the country.
Ribaritsa is a lovely town in central Bulgaria, where this MiG-21UM enjoys its retirement in a military holiday resort.
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In a suburb of Astana sits the Museum of Military Technics on the premises of the 6866 Garrison. It keeps a collection of aircraft, radars and guns.
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During the inaugural Kuwait Aviation Show held from 17 to 20 January 2018 at the Amiri terminal ramp in Kuwait City's international airport, we had the opportunity to visit the Kuwait Air Force Museum. This is situated at the co-loacted Al Mubarak Air Base. Outside sits this TA-4KU. Because most of the surviving Super Skyhawks were sold to Brazil, only a handful remain as monuments in Kuwait.
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Brazil has a long and distinguished aviation history, from the first powered flight of Santos Dumont and aerial battles over Italy in WWII to successful aircraft manufacturing by Embraer. We present a survey of some of the aircraft monuments in the fifth-largest country of the world.
T-27 Tucano 1374 sits in Pirassununga town faced by a Cristo Redentor replica.
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The China Aviation Museum in Xiaotangshan trumps all others in the world with regard to sheer numbers of aircraft. But it also has some rare and exotic types and offers a great place to get acquainted with Chinese military aviation history. You will need the best part of a day just to see it all, let alone if you really want to explore and take things in. Enjoy our selection!
To start of with a rare one, this eyecatcher is the first Nanchang J12, '01' red.
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We have visited many museums throughout the world, but the park-like layout and immaculately kept collection of the Pakistan Air Force Museum is rare. Although it proves challenging to get clear shots of the aircraft, we decided to illustrate the full inventory as a tribute to the efforts in preserving Pakistan's military aviation heritage. Divided in the main sections of the museum, all are in alphabetical order of aircraft type.
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Pakistan is keen to preserve its aviation heritage. Indeed, during various wars and conflicts with neighbouring India, PAF aircraft saw action and downed IAF adversaries. Moreover, Pakistan honours its pilots and provides a sample of resilience to its students at various colleges. In all, nearly 300 aircraft are preserved on air bases, in parks, museums and at colleges. Just a handful are shown here. This F-86F marked '53-1127' is preserved in Gushan-e-Iqbal park, Sialkot, Punjab. Its real serial is unknown.
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In the far north east end of the Netherlands, the private airfield of Oostwold organizes what has become the largest warbirds event in the country: the Oostwold Air Show. The Pentecost weekend of 2017 attracted thousands of people and an interesting line-up of historic aircraft made the event well worth a visit. Of course, one over our Aviagraphers drove all the way to this remote corner of The Netherlands and came home with a set of pictures.
Without doubt the star of the show, the only Noorduyn Norseman still flying in Europe, is this Norwegian Norseman coded R-AF. It flew all the way from Norway across the sea to attend the show, much to the delight of numerous aviation enthusiasts and the general public.
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Argentina is a country with a rich aviation history. Air transportation has been instrumental in developing this large country, and in the fifties of the 20th century, Argentina developed its own aviation industry. The Malvinas (Falklands) War of 1982 once again highlighted the importance of aviation to reach the country’s strategic goals. As a result, retired aircraft can be found all over the country, reflecting history and inspiring future generations.
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The largest gathering of aircraft on the planet is held during the last week of July at Oshkosh, Wisconsin. The EAA Air Venture promotes aviation like no other event. A week full of activities, ranging from workshops to warbirds and sea planes crossing the skies, Oshkosh is one of a kind. Aviagraphers was present to witness this year’s buzz and bizz…
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In 2011 the interesting collection of the Myanmar Defence Services Museum was transferred from, then capital, Yangon to Naypyidaw, the new government seat. In a couple of years an enormous facility was created, seldom visited by foreigners so it seems. Enough incentive for Aviagraphers to visit this remarkable place in September 2016.
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