Ukraine 2019 - State Aviation Museum Kyiv
State Aviation Museum – Kyiv
I was first able to visit the Oleg Antonov State Aviation Museum back in 2007. The museum is located adjacent to what was then Zhuliany Airport, about 7 kms Southwest of the centre of Kyiv and first opened to the public on 30th September 2003. The airport itself was renamed International Airport Kyiv (Zhuliany) Igor Sikorsky on 22 March 2018, although this has yet to be widely adopted.
The site was formerly the Educational Air Base of the Kyiv International University of Aviation, which in 2000 became the National Aviation University. Some 30 aircraft assigned to the base became the nucleus of the nascent museum which now boasts more than 80 aircraft and helicopters, together with interactive displays. The University continues to use some of the exhibits for educational purposes. Their input ensures the ongoing care and maintenance of the airframes, all are on external display and the winter weather in Ukraine takes its toll. They are nonetheless well looked-after and over all the presentation is excellent with the kind of spacing for which photographers are grateful.
The bulk of the collection is post-war Soviet aircraft and includes many sub-types. In the last decade the Museum has added an An-30; a Beriev Be-6; MiG models - 19PM, -21UM and -23UB; a LET-410 and additional examples of the Tu 134 (a former Government example) and Yak-38.
Ongoing restoration work has included: the L-29, previously unmarked for several years and now in Soviet marks with Bort number “57 red”, MiG-25RBT “09 blue” (ex 06 blue) and Mi-6A “22 red” in Soviet marks (ex “78 blue” Ukrainian marks). Two Sukhoi’s previously in bare metal finish are Su-7BM “06 red” which is now in a Soviet camouflage scheme (ex “09 red”) and Su-15TM “16 red” Soviet marks (ex “16 blue”). A third Sukhoi type, the Su-17M, has changed a couple of times: in 2007 it was “06 red” in a camouflage scheme with Soviet marks; by 2012 it was “06 white” in Ukrainian AF camouflage scheme and by 2019 it was resplendent as “3536” in Egyptian Air Force markings.
It should also be noted that over the years several aircraft have had the Bort number re-applied in a different colour. For example the MiG-29(C) in the Ukrainian Falcons display team scheme was “31 blue”, with the Bort applied to the yellow section of the fin, but the markings were updated to a more recent version of the team’s scheme and “31 white” was applied to the engine intake.
The restoration compound holds a couple of possible future projects: a MiG-21U-600 “76 red” and MiG-25RB “11 red”, both dismantled. A third Su-25 is present and has been sectioned with the forward fuselage looking as though it will be a future simulator exhibit.
A particularly interesting indoor exhibit in the visitor centre is one wall display entitled “Elimination of the Long-Range Aviation” which identifies the aircraft which have been scrapped in accordance with the 2006 Treaty on the Non-Proliferation of Nuclear Weapons. Each frame mounted on the display represents an individual airframe and many are identified by construction number plates removed from the aircraft.
Among the examples of civilian-registered aircraft, An-2 UR-54812 was previously marked “ARP 410 Airlines” and was used by the Aircraft Repair Plant 410 which is the Antonov overhaul facility also located at Zhuliany. Expansion and clearing of the ground area available for aircraft display has seen exhibits move from the storage area by the airfield boundary. This includes a pair of An-24’s CCCP-46245 (marks faded/scrubbed, probably for restoration) and UR-46801 which was previously in Aeroflot marks as CCCP-46801. The latter has replaced An-24B UR-46569 which is reported to have been scrapped.
The An-30 CCCP-30005 arrived in 2012, another aircraft from ARP 410 Airlines and was repainted in Aeroflot marks in 2015. The Il-76T has also gained Aeroflot marks, as CCCP-76511, having worn fake registration “UR-UCI” with Ukrainian Cargo Airways titles in commemoration of the real UR-UCI which crashed in Asmara in 1998. Mi-1M CCCP 02299 now represents a military example as “35 yellow”, having previously been displayed in an overall red scheme with small white Aeroflot titles. The two photographs of Mi-8 CCCP-22186 show the effects of the weathering mentioned earlier.
Also worthy of note are aircraft which have become “art installations”, acquiring rather exotic schemes in recent years. The Mi-24P was previously “72 yellow” while the Mi-24V is ex “70 yellow”. A psychedelic theme has also been applied to former Aeroflot Tu-134 CCCP-65601 which remains in the storage area by the airfield boundary. Apart from the previously mentioned An-2, a second example (ex “14 red”) is sporting what is presumably a spot of advertising, the titles “Banda Crossfit Box” refer to an exercise and nutrition regime apparently.
Final mention should be made of a group of Yak-40’s which were in the storage area in 2012, comprising UR-87245/87266/87405/87435/87479/87685. The latter moved on to the Kyiv Polytechnic by September that year as a functioning ground instruction tool for the students (the engines could still be run). The others were all scrapped in November 2012.
Author & photographer
Rodney Burden
