------------------------------------------------------------------- DESCRIPTION The AF Museum exists from 1958 and now is the biggest aviation museum on the territory of the former USSR. It was opened under the initia- tive of Air Marshal S.A. Krasovsky, the Air Force Academy head at that time. Now the Air Force Museum still forms an integral part of the academy, the "factory" of command and staff cadres for the mili- tary aviation, as it often called. Nowadays the Museum's collection numbers more than 160 aircraft, there are conventional planes, helicopters and gliders, as well as unusual flying machines, such as V.Tatlin's flapflyer, A.Rafaelynts' turboflyer, the second stage of orbital space plane, developed under the "Spiral" program and others. The Museum possesses over 120 engines (piston, air-breathing jet and rocket ones) from O.Kostovich's gasoline engine for airship (1883) to the most up-to-date engines. The collection also includes a lot of model aircraft, air guns, missiles and rockets, bombs, fuses and ammunition, navigation in- struments, pieces of radio and communication equipment, rescue equipment, flight insignia, uniform, combat banners and flags, docu- ments, letters, personal things of pilots, as well as many art exhibits. There are also many books, photos, films on the history of aviation in the Museum's library. The Museum's exposition, the total area of which is about 20 hectares, is located on the tarmac, in the hangar and halls, shops of the former aircraft repair plant are adopted for the halls. The vast territory allows the museum to expend its exposition, while the nearby runway can receive new exhibits: many of museum airplanes and helicopters made their last landing on this runway. In the halls historical material and exhibits are arranged chronologically. The origin and development of aviation in Russia, formation of domestic aviation science and industry between the Civil War and the Great Patriotic War, the Air Force contribution to the rout of German-Fascist occupants, the advent after the war of novel jet aviation and evolution of the latter up to the present day - all this review of the century history of the Russian aviation is pre- sented to a visitor of the museum during a two-hour guided tour. ----------------------------------------------------------------- COMMENTS ------------------------------------------------------------------ "The finest professional display of Air Power I've seen".. Jay W. Kelley, Lieutenant General, US AF Commander. "The tour of this museum is a highlight of my first visit to Russia". Robert A.Davis, Vice-President of Boeing Company. "With my warmest thanks for a most impressive visit. I have never before seen such a remarkable collection of aircraft".. Geoffrey Ford, Air Marshal, R.A.F.. "The contribution of Russia to the development of aviation are famous. It is important to preserve this history. The Museum is a treasure and I wish its curators success in their efforts". Norman Thagard, NASA astronaut. ------------------------------------------------------------------- HOW TO GET TO THE MUSEUM The Museum is located in Monino, Moscow region (the 38th km of the Gorky highway). It takes about one hour to get there from Moscow by car, bus or train. The Museum is opened every day except Sunday and Wednesday from 9.30 till 17.00 (the break from 13.00 till 14.30), on Saturday till 14.00 without break. For foreign visitors it is necessary to book the pass in advance. Please, phone (095) 526-3327 for additional information. Russia 141170 Monino, Moscow region tel. +7 (095) 526-3327 +7 (095) 584-2180 fax. +7 (095) 526-3351 ---------------------- Use Net Search MONINO. Many pictures can be captured in Jpeg format. Text may also ne saved. Jim --- DB 1.39/004487 * Origin: Volunteer BBS (423) 694-0791 V34+/VFC (1:218/1001.1) --------------- FIDO MESSAGE AREA==> TOPIC: 196 AVIATION Ref: EDZ00013 Date: 09/28/97 From: JIM SANDERS Time: 03:12pm \/To: ALL (Read 0 times) Subj: News-754 Search for black box at Indonesian crash site delayed BUAH NADAR, Indonesia -- Sept. 28, 1997 08:21 a.m. EDT -- Heavy rains Sunday forced a delay in the search for the flight recorder of an Indonesian Airbus that crashed in north Sumatra, killing all 234 aboard, after reporting haze in the area. Officials from Garuda Indonesia, the country's flagship airline, said the search for the flight data recorder and the cockpit voice recorder, the so-called black boxes, of the Airbus A300-B4 which crashed on Friday would be resumed at dawn. The recorders will be crucial in determining the cause of the crash, and whether the haze from forest fires on Sumatra played a part. An air force official earlier said the remains of the 222 pas- sengers and 12 crew had been removed from the wreckage, which is strewn across a deep ravine crossing a hillside banana and palm plantation 30 miles south of the city of Medan. The Garuda plane had been on a flight from Jakarta to Medan when it went down minutes after the pilot reported low visibility because of a smoky haze. Garuda officials said 74 of the bodies had been identified and 55 of them had been flown to Jakarta. All unidentified bodies would be given a mass burial on Monday, alongside another mass grave con- taining 62 people who died in a plane crash in 1979, they said. Rescue workers battled through slush and tangled undergrowth to bring the bodies out of the ravine and to the road leading to Medan. They were then placed in coffins and taken to a community hall adjacent to the airport. Wreaths were laid along a low stage at one end of the hall. Bush fires mainly in Sumatra and Kalimantan on the Indonesian portion of Borneo Island have sent a choking, health-threatening smog over neighboring Singapore, Malaysia and Brunei and as far as Thailand and the Philippines in what experts have called a major environmental disaster. The smog will be one of the factors examined in an inquiry into the crash, but other Garuda pilots expressed scepticism that the haze would have been a prime cause. The veteran pilot of the Airbus told the Medan control tower he was flying through smoky haze on his approach to the city's Polonia international airport, Antara had reported. "We are still searching for the black box and because of that, we cannot make any assumption as to the cause of the crash yet," said an official with the Aircraft Accident Commission. "Haze is an ordinary thing for pilots," said Shadrach Nababan, the head of the Garuda Indonesia Communications Forum for Pilots. "There are instruments in the plane and on the ground which can be used." Another pilot said the plane had left its flight path and was flying too low. Transport Minister Haryanto Dhanitirto was quoted by Antara as saying: "Whether the plane flew low because of the pilot, or because of instructions from air traffic control, or because of engine trouble -- all are still being investigated. That will be looked at by the independent investigation team." Medan airport was closed from after the crash until Sunday morn- ing because of the haze. A special flight carrying relatives of the victims arrived at the city in the morning, after repeated postpone- ments since early on Saturday. Many of them identified the charred and decomposed bodies of their loved ones from pieces of clothing. The Italian embassy in Jakarta said the victims included a couple from Bologna on their honeymoon. The British embassy said two Britons were aboard. Antara reported six Japanese, four Germans, two Americans, a Belgian and possibly six Taiwanese also on the plane. The news agency quoted a member of the forensic team at Adam Malik hospital as saying there were two "strange" corpses, and suggested they might have been stowaways or people killed on the ground. It was not clear if this would raise the overall toll. --- DB 1.39/004487 * Origin: Volunteer BBS (423) 694-0791 V34+/VFC (1:218/1001.1) --------------- FIDO MESSAGE AREA==> TOPIC: 196 AVIATION Ref: EDZ00014 Date: 09/29/97 From: JIM SANDERS Time: 03:37am \/To: ALL (Read 0 times) Subj: News-755 Iran says its first fighter-bomber is under production TEHRAN, Iran - September 28, 1997 10:09 p.m. EDT -- Iran has started mass-producing its first domestically designed fighter- bomber, it announced Sunday. State-run Tehran television showed a brief video of the Azarakhsh jet in flight. During military maneuvers completed Sunday, the plane dropped two 250-pound napalm bombs on a mock enemy target, Maj. Gen. Ali Shahbazi, the joint chief of staff, said in comments broadcast by Tehran TV. The plane took 11 years to build and is one-eighth the cost per copy of similar foreign-made aircraft, the official Islamic Republic News Agency said. Iran claims it is nearly self-sufficient in arms. Since 1992, it has unveiled its own tanks, armored personnel carriers and missiles. IRNA said 200,000 troops using live ammunition took part in the war games that ended Sunday. They were among the many large-scale military exercises that Iran conducts each year. ------------------------------------------------ --- DB 1.39/004487 * Origin: Volunteer BBS (423) 694-0791 V34+/VFC (1:218/1001.1) --------------- FIDO MESSAGE AREA==> TOPIC: 196 AVIATION Ref: EE100000 Date: 09/29/97 From: RAY MARSH Time: 08:00pm \/To: JIM SANDERS (Read 0 times) Subj: Harry houdini Greetings... -=> Quoting Jim Sanders to Ray Marsh on Harry houdini <=- JS> Is it true that Harry Houdini had pilot licence JS> Number One in Australia? Don't know the answer myself Jim, but I've forwarded your post to an Oz echo. Hopefully I'll get a reply soon. ...from Brisbane, Australia. raymarsh@hotmail.com ... Crede quod habes, et habes. ___ Blue Wave/386 v2.30 [NR] --- Maximus 2.02 * Origin: Brisbug MIS Brisbane Qld (3:640/829) --------------- FIDO MESSAGE AREA==> TOPIC: 196 AVIATION Ref: EE100001 Date: 09/30/97 From: CHARLES MIELKE Time: 03:22pm \/To: ELVIS HARGROVE (Read 0 times) Subj: News-673 EH>Where I noticed it most was when I'd had a cigarette just before I went EH>out to fly a sequence. I fianlly learned NOT to smoke before I flew. EH>(IF I wanted to fly anything like RIGHT!) Oxygen sure makes me SMARTER EH>though. One of our guys used to smoke Pall Malls while flying his F-102. There was a crevice in the canopy frame that was perfect for butting out the cigarettes, and he used to use that. One day he forget to retrieve the butt, and I flew the same aircraft that same day. The crew chief found the butt after I flew, and, since I also smoked Pall Malls, I got the blame for it. I was called in on the carpet before the Commander and the Ops Officer and chewed out. I could tell they weren't believing my denials, but they let it go. (Maybe) I had never noticed this crevice, and I had never noticed that this other guy smoked the same brand, but I checked the flight records to see who had flown that aircraft in the last week. When I figured out what had happened, I went back to my Commander and told him what had happened. I've always wondered if the Commander called in the other guy and jumped him about it. If he did, I never heard of it. .. --- * SLMR 2.1a * - Once you've made all the mistakes, you're an expert. --- WILDMAIL!/WC v4.12 * Origin: The Looking Glass * Greer, SC * (864) 848-1961 * (1:3639/2.0)