WIX Archives
Re: Nice find.except..........
Posted by Mikael Olrog on Sat Oct 27, 2001 05:33:09 AM
In reply top Re: Nice find.except.......... posted by NZ2035 on Sat Oct 27, 2001 02:31:16 AM
I visited Beijing in the fall 1999 and had the opportunity to take a look at the Beijing Aviation Museum at the Beijing technological institue. AS NZ2035 writes it is not easy to find your way in to this museum. You have to go through some guards who don't speak english. When you mustered enough courage to do that you'll be able to locate the museum. THe P-61 is shown outside together with a P-47 and Texan in USAF markings, a Harrier in English markings, A C-47/Li-2, a Il-10, the Ki-54 fuslage, a La-11, Tu-2 and some other aircraft of Sovjet and Chinese design. The overall condition of the aircraft is bad, and deterioration repidly. A photo of the Ki-54 fuselage can be seen on my site www.algonet.se/~molrog/. There is no P-51 in this museum.
In Beijing there is a second museum wich includes some aircraft. That's the Bejing Military Museum which traces the history of all the military forces. Unfortunately the aeronatical section was closed down for renovation so I couldn't get access to it. It is supposed to include a G4M betty bomber in probably damaged condition. Also I think that it includes some american aircraft of WWII or Korean/Vietnam vintage.
And then there is the People's Liberation AAF Museum which is on the way to the Great wall (excellent planning by the chineese that you can do both great sights in one day!). This museum is really great with some 200 aircraft, including some 7-8 C-47/Li-2s, three C-46, 6 Il-10, 4 Tu-2s and I think it was 1 La-9, 1 La-11, 1 La-11UTI and so on...
This collection includes a P-51 replica incorpration some genuine recovered P-51 parts. Same thing applies to the Mosquito which is on display. The also have a Zero replica made for a chinese film. Also you can see original Ki-55 IDA adn Ki-48 Lily. Pictures of these aircaft is on my site too. The've got loads of mig fighters, and I mean loads, like 20 Mig 15 and so on. The bulk of the fighters are displayed in a cave hangar with bad lightning so a tripod and strong flash is recommended if you want pictures.
/Mikael
: I was talking with Bob Ogden some 4 years back when he was
: here in NZ just before I went to China. He gave me direct
: ions to find the P61 which was in an educational institute
: of some sort. By the time I got to Beijing Dao had just d
: ied and the natives were very titchy. I couldn't get acces
: s to the place.
:
: Bo'b story was that he arrived at the gates of the place a
: nd the guard didn't speak english and while he was trying
: to get through to him a student rode up and intervened. Sh
: e sorted things out and told Bob (who was on foot) to watc
: h her directions as she rode off on bike as she was late t
: o class. As she rode off she gestured down a side road and
: Bob went here and found a large building. Mysteriously a
: guy appeared with the keys and let him in and there was th
: e P61.
:
: Since then I've seen several pix such as the one on the li
: nk which suggest the aircraft has moved and is obviously n
: ow outside or is it vaguely possible there are two?????
:
: Its a great place for generating speculation such as the p
: seudo mossie as Da Tan Shan (or whichever translation you
: prefer!)
:
:
: : : What is the aircraft behind the widow? Is there a genu
: in
: : e
: : : Tiger P40 in the Museum? How many Laggs have they got?
: e
: : rr
: : : rrr and is the museum getting rebuilt, or is the Musta
: ng
: : j
: : : ust discarded, and uncared for?
: : :
: : : Tony
: :
: : From memory the Mustang is displayed inside , either at
: th
: : is or another museum , there never was any Lagg . They s
: ti
: : ll have a Lavochin after selling the La 9 to the Hannas
: .
: : It is under restoration here in N.Z. and should fly at W
: an
: : aka next year. There is no P-40 AFAIK....
: :
: : Dave