Chinese Aviation Museum

Main building of the museum

Entrance area

The Chinese Aviation Museum ( Chinese 中国航空博物馆 , Pinyin Zhōngguó Hángkōng Bówùguǎn , including Datang Shan Chinese 大湯山 , Pinyin Datang Shān called, Eng. China Aviation Museum ) is the largest aviation museum in the People's Republic of China . The museum, located in the Changping district of the Chinese capital Beijing , about 50 km north of the city center, is partially housed in a tunnel-like gallery that originally belonged to the bunker-like aircraft cavern of the Shahe military airfield in Datang Shan Mountain. The Chinese Aviation Museum was opened on November 11, 1989 on the occasion of the 40th anniversary of the establishment of the Air Force of the People's Republic of China . The collection includes over 200 civil and military aircraft from Chinese and Soviet production as well as some Japanese and US war booty from the Second World War and the Korean War .

exhibition

In the central rock massif there is an aircraft cavern, the largest tunnel of which can be accessed from two sides via taxiways and which once served as a protected aircraft hangar. Now over 50 aircraft are exhibited on both sides of the flat vaulted ceiling. Chinese as well as captured Japanese aircraft from World War II are located at the entrance of the hall. The following are models from the post-war period such as the MiG-15 and MiG-17 as well as their Chinese counterparts J-2 and J-5, some J-6, Chengdu J-7 and a Shenyang J-8 . Some older J-2 and J-5 have markings underneath the cockpit for successful kills from Korean and US aircraft from the Korean War . Five MiG-15s of the Korean Air Force are also on display. Furthermore, fighter bomber of the type Q-5 B-5 and three (the Chinese version of Iljuschin Il-28 strung). At the end of the tunnel there are foreign types such as an F-86 “Saber” of the Pakistani Air Force , a Bell UH-1H “Huey” helicopter of the United States Army captured in the Vietnam War , an F-104S “Starfighter” that was retired from the Italian Air Force "As well as a scale model of a Boeing AH-64" Apache " .