Russian Air Force Museum - Monino

Kane and Yak 141 'Freestyle'

WARNING: This blog may not be of much interest to non-aviation enthusiasts.

Tu 95 'Bear'

On my final day in Moscow, I took a gamble and decided to visit the Monino Air Force Museum, about 30 miles east of the city. As my train for Warsaw was scheduled to depart at 5pm, it was a little risky trying to get to Monino and back due to unpredictable public transport links.

MiG 25 'Foxbat'

The risks paid off handsomely and I was extremely lucky with the Russian public transportation system on my journey back into Moscow. On the way to Monino, I decided to have a stress free and speedy journey there by taxi. It was anything but - the taxi driver got completely lost and spent expensive minutes driving around fields and forests trying to find the museum.

MiG 29 'Fulcrum' and Tu 144 'Charger'

Monino has to be a Shangri-la for aviation fans. I absolutely loved seeing the exotic planes on display - real legends of aviation. Wonderful! I spent around 2 hours there and did two circuits of the outdoor exhibits. The first circuit using my wide angled lens and the second was reserved for zoom lens shots.

Yak 130 and Sukhoi T4

The only disappointing aspect of the museum was seeing such remarkable exhibits slowly rotting in the open air. Clearly very little money is spent preserving these aircraft and it can only be a matter of time before some are sent to the scrappers yard. If it had been a museum in the USA, these aircraft would be in pristine condition within a hanger.

Tu 22 'Blinder'

After my successful return to Moscow, I met Joep for an hour and then found my train bound for Warsaw via Belarus. Apart from being woken up and quizzed by Russian and Belorussian border guards, the journey to Warsaw was quite uneventful. It was a little odd not having Joep around with his regular guidebook sourced km-by-km updates of the route. Inspired by all the MiGs I saw that day, I watched about half of 'Top Gun' in my upper bunk before nodding off.

Su 27 'Flanker' prototype

The biggest problem with this blog entry is that I can only put a small sample of pictures up showing my visit to Monino and the amazing aircraft on display.

Selection

Moscow

St Basil's Cathedral

Joep and I arrived early Thursday morning in Moscow. I was fortunate to be able to check into the hotel early, shower, and then head out to collect my train tickets for Warsaw. Unfortunately, I forgot to arrange a transit visa for Belarus, so had to spend a good deal of time over the 2 days getting that organised.

After collecting my tickets on Thursday morning, I had time to spare before the Belarus Embassy opened so decided to go for a walk. I walked for about 10 minutes and stumbled across Red Square with St Basil’s Cathedral in all its’ glory. To stumble unplanned up to such an iconic building really took my breath away. A building I had yearned to see for many years was right in front of me – wonderful!

I strolled a bit around the cobblestones of Red Square and saw the exterior of Lenin’s Mausoleum, the imposing Kremlin behind a tall wall, and the palatial GUM Department Store.

St Basil's Cathedral and Kremlin

Unfortunately, the view around Red Square was blemished by the construction of temporary seating for an upcoming event.

The Bolshoi

Both evenings, we enjoyed dining al fresco. In fact, both full days I also enjoyed sitting outside with a beer watching Moscow life pass me by. Despite such wonderful sights, I took remarkably few photos. Carrying a large camera around with me was becoming a very onerous task.

Marshal Zhukov

Moscow impressed me a great deal!