EestiTiger
Active Member
- Joined
- Mar 8, 2015
- Posts
- 546
Probably not your ‘normal’ destination guide, but in an aviation focussed forum, I am sure there are a few more AV-Geeks who might find this of interest.
In 2014 due to some AY flight routing, I found myself in Moscow for a few days. No doubt there are some incredible things to see and do but one of my must do things was a trip to the Central Air Force Museum just outside of Moscow.
I did a lot of research prior to the trip, even down to studying satellite imagery to try to work out how I was going to get there! Below are a few of my tips and of course photos of some amazing aircraft.
I found this guide here [url]http://www.dictatorshipoftheair.com/2007/06/29/the-russian-air-force-museum-at-monino-pt-1/[/URL] and it was the basis of my plan. Such detailed instructions.
I had Monino written in cyric script and basically showed that at the train station and just smiled and looked stupid. The babushka in the ticket office sorted me out a ticket and I was on my way!
The local train takes a bit over an hour to get to Monino and I enjoyed looking out the window at a part of Moscow not many tourists probably get to see.
At Monimo you have a bit of a walk from the station. I use Nokia Here Maps which stores maps locally and enables you to just follow your nose. I had a pretty good sense of where I had to go so just headed that way and referred back to phone when I got a bit closer. There are a couple of unmanned gates to walk through. It felt a bit strange to just walk through them. But I just keep going as if I knew what I was doing and had no hassles with anyone I ran into .
At the museum… When I went to the main office to buy a ticket they told me they were closed that day! I tried the ‘I have come all the way from Australia’ but to not much avail. There was a local boy there who told me if I only wanted to see the planes, the gate is open just walk in! So that is what I did and saved money by not having to buy a ticket! I would have liked to see some of the museum collection but I was there for the planes so wasn’t too worried.
What can I say about the collection of old planes! It was one of the coolest things I have seen for a long time. Having grown up in the cold war and being fascinated with soviet fast jets it was amazing to see them up close. This was something that I never thought when I was a kid, I’d ever be able to do. There were a couple of staff around and not many tourists. I spent a solid couple of hours there and could easily have spent longer.
One of the highlights for me was seeing the last existing VVA-14 prototype. It was something I had read about and been fasinated about and here it was - admittedly in very poor condition.
Once I had finished I walked back the way I came to the station. I had the train times written down (I think I did this when I got to Monimo from their station board) so I timed my arrival back at the station accordingly.
If you aren’t confident in doing this yourself there are tours available from Moscow in a private car with a guide. They cost around USD$200. I enjoyed the challenge and the adventure doing it myself.
So some pictures...
M-50 Bounder
VVA-14 - Hidden away in the distance behind an AN-22
EPOS
TU-144 "Concordski"
I have a heap more pictures of MIG-29s (my favourite little jet), SU-27s, MI-12, T-4 but alas, I can only post 5 pictures at a time. Actually 4, I deleted a MIG-31 and wanted to add another picture instead but I think there is a bug in the forum software. If people are interested I can post some more here tomorrow.
In 2014 due to some AY flight routing, I found myself in Moscow for a few days. No doubt there are some incredible things to see and do but one of my must do things was a trip to the Central Air Force Museum just outside of Moscow.
I did a lot of research prior to the trip, even down to studying satellite imagery to try to work out how I was going to get there! Below are a few of my tips and of course photos of some amazing aircraft.
I found this guide here [url]http://www.dictatorshipoftheair.com/2007/06/29/the-russian-air-force-museum-at-monino-pt-1/[/URL] and it was the basis of my plan. Such detailed instructions.
I had Monino written in cyric script and basically showed that at the train station and just smiled and looked stupid. The babushka in the ticket office sorted me out a ticket and I was on my way!
The local train takes a bit over an hour to get to Monino and I enjoyed looking out the window at a part of Moscow not many tourists probably get to see.
At Monimo you have a bit of a walk from the station. I use Nokia Here Maps which stores maps locally and enables you to just follow your nose. I had a pretty good sense of where I had to go so just headed that way and referred back to phone when I got a bit closer. There are a couple of unmanned gates to walk through. It felt a bit strange to just walk through them. But I just keep going as if I knew what I was doing and had no hassles with anyone I ran into .
At the museum… When I went to the main office to buy a ticket they told me they were closed that day! I tried the ‘I have come all the way from Australia’ but to not much avail. There was a local boy there who told me if I only wanted to see the planes, the gate is open just walk in! So that is what I did and saved money by not having to buy a ticket! I would have liked to see some of the museum collection but I was there for the planes so wasn’t too worried.
What can I say about the collection of old planes! It was one of the coolest things I have seen for a long time. Having grown up in the cold war and being fascinated with soviet fast jets it was amazing to see them up close. This was something that I never thought when I was a kid, I’d ever be able to do. There were a couple of staff around and not many tourists. I spent a solid couple of hours there and could easily have spent longer.
One of the highlights for me was seeing the last existing VVA-14 prototype. It was something I had read about and been fasinated about and here it was - admittedly in very poor condition.
Once I had finished I walked back the way I came to the station. I had the train times written down (I think I did this when I got to Monimo from their station board) so I timed my arrival back at the station accordingly.
If you aren’t confident in doing this yourself there are tours available from Moscow in a private car with a guide. They cost around USD$200. I enjoyed the challenge and the adventure doing it myself.
So some pictures...
M-50 Bounder
VVA-14 - Hidden away in the distance behind an AN-22
EPOS
TU-144 "Concordski"
I have a heap more pictures of MIG-29s (my favourite little jet), SU-27s, MI-12, T-4 but alas, I can only post 5 pictures at a time. Actually 4, I deleted a MIG-31 and wanted to add another picture instead but I think there is a bug in the forum software. If people are interested I can post some more here tomorrow.
