Ankara Aviation Museum () is a military-based museum for aviation, owned and operated by the
Turkish Air Force
The Turkish Air Force () is the Air force, air and space force of the Turkish Armed Forces. It traces its origins to 1 June 1911 when it was founded as the Ottoman Aviation Squadrons, Aviation Squadrons by the Ottoman Empire. It was composed ...
. The museum is located in
Etimesgut
Etimesgut, formerly Ahimesut, is a municipality and metropolitan district of Ankara Province, Turkey. Its area is 273 km2, and its population is 614,891 (2022). It mainly consists of large public housing projects, from Ankara city centre. Its ...
district of
Ankara
Ankara is the capital city of Turkey and List of national capitals by area, the largest capital by area in the world. Located in the Central Anatolia Region, central part of Anatolia, the city has a population of 5,290,822 in its urban center ( ...
, Turkey. The area of the museum is .
Location and access
The museum is located on the
state road D.750, also known as Fatih Sultan Mehmet Boulevard, at . Its distance to Ankara center is about .
Map page
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The museum is open to the public everyday but Mondays from 9:00 to 16:30 local time.
History
The museum was established by the Turkish Air Force (TUAF) as the second of its kind in the country. It was opened on 18 September 1998 in presence of Sabiha Gökçen
Sabiha Gökçen (; 22 March 1913 – 22 March 2001) was a Turkish aviator. During her flight career, she flew around 8,000 hours and participated in 32 different military operations. She became the world's first female fighter pilot, at age 23. ...
, Atatürk's adopted daughter and the first Turkish female combat pilot.
Museum
The museum covers an area of including covered area. In the open space, there are airplanes and a helicopter on display. Among them are three military aircraft of MIG Mig, MiG, or MIG may refer to:
Business
* MiG, a Russian aircraft corporation
**Any of the MiG aircraft
*Marfin Investment Group
MIG Holdings S.A. (also known as MIG) is a Greece, Greek investment company. It has acquired several companies an ...
series, particularly
a PZL-Mielec Lim-6
The Lim-6 (NATO reporting name Fresco) was a Polish attack aircraft used between 1961 and 1992 by the Polish Air Force. It was a variant of the Mikoyan-Gurevich MiG-17, which was produced in Poland as the Lim-5.
Development
In 1955 Poland boug ...
, the Polish
Polish may refer to:
* Anything from or related to Poland, a country in Europe
* Polish language
* Polish people, people from Poland or of Polish descent
* Polish chicken
* Polish brothers (Mark Polish and Michael Polish, born 1970), American twin ...
variant of MiG-17
The Mikoyan-Gurevich MiG-17 (; NATO reporting name: Fresco) is a high-subsonic fighter aircraft produced in the Soviet Union from 1952 and was operated by air forces internationally. The MiG-17 was license-built in China as the Shenyang J-5 an ...
, donated by the Bulgarian Air Force
The Bulgarian Air Force () is one of the three branches of the Military of Bulgaria, the other two being the Bulgarian Navy and Bulgarian land forces. Its mission is to guard and protect the sovereignty of Bulgarian airspace, and jointly with ...
, a Shenyang J-6
The Shenyang J-6 (wikt:歼, Chinese: 歼-6; designated F-6 for export versions; NATO reporting name: Farmer) is the Chinese version of the Soviet Mikoyan-Gurevich MiG-19, MiG-19 'Farmer' fighter, the world's first mass-produced supersonic airc ...
, the Chinese built version of the MiG-19
The Mikoyan-Gurevich MiG-19 (; NATO reporting name: Farmer) is a Soviet second generation, single-seat, twinjet fighter aircraft. It was the first Soviet production aircraft capable of supersonic speeds in level flight. A comparable U.S. " Cen ...
, from the Pakistan Air Force
The Pakistan Air Force (PAF) (; ) is the aerial warfare branch of the Pakistan Armed Forces, tasked primarily with the aerial defence of Pakistan, with a secondary role of providing air support to the Pakistan Army and Pakistan Navy when re ...
and a MIG-21MF gifted by the Hungarian Air Force
The Hungarian Air Force (, ), is the air force branch of the Hungarian Defence Forces.
The primary focus of the present Hungarian Air Force lies in defensive operations. The flying units operate are organised into a single command; under the A ...
. Another exhibit is a replica of a Blériot aircraft named ''Fethi Bey'', which was specially manufactured in 2001 for the documentary movie ''Altın Kanatlar'' ("Golden Wings") aired by the Turkish Radio and Television Corporation
The Turkish Radio and Television Corporation (TRT; Turkish: ) is the national public broadcasting, public broadcaster of Turkey, founded in 1964. TRT was for many years the only television and radio broadcaster in Turkey. Before the introductio ...
(TRT).mockup
In manufacturing and design, a mockup, or mock-up, is a scale or full-size model of a design or device, used for teaching, demonstration, design evaluation, promotion, and other purposes. A mockup may be a ''prototype'' if it provides at lea ...
s related to the flying tests carried out by the 17th-century Ottoman figures Lagari Hasan Çelebi and Hezarfen Ahmet Çelebi are on display. Other exhibits are mockups of diverse aircraft used by the TUAF since its establishment in 1911. In the hall of "History of Aviation in Turkey and World", there are various photos and documents, half-size mockups of the first Turkish manufactured aircraft ''Uğur'' and ''Pezetel'', TUAF ensigns, mockups of various air force weapon systems, busts of TUAF commanders, aviator uniforms from the beginnings in the Ottoman Empire
The Ottoman Empire (), also called the Turkish Empire, was an empire, imperial realm that controlled much of Southeast Europe, West Asia, and North Africa from the 14th to early 20th centuries; it also controlled parts of southeastern Centr ...
, banners, insignia as well as name lists of aviation casualties and memorial belongings of commanders. Objects belonging to Cengiz Topel
Cengiz Topel (September 2, 1934 – August 8, 1964) was a fighter pilot and captain of the Turkish Air Force.
Topel was killed in the Battle of Tillyria, becoming the first war casualty of the Turkish Air Force in Cyprus. His name was posthumo ...
, a TUAF fighter pilot shot down during the Battle of Tylliria
The Battle of Tillyria () or Battle of Kokkina (), also known as Erenköy Resistance (), was a conflict on 6 August 1964 between units of the Cypriot National Guard and Turkish Cypriot armed groups in Kokkina area of Cyprus.
Location
In 196 ...
, are on display. A corner is dedicated to Sabiha Gökçen, which contains her private belongings related to her aviation career. Another corner is reserved for Turkish female aviators.Lockheed T-33
The Lockheed T-33 Shooting Star (or T-Bird) is an American subsonic jet trainer. It was produced by Lockheed and made its first flight in 1948. The T-33 was developed from the Lockheed P-80/F-80 starting as TP-80C/TF-80C in development, then d ...
and Northrop F-5
The Northrop F-5 is a family of supersonic light fighter aircraft initially designed as a privately funded project in the late 1950s by Northrop Corporation. There are two main models: the original F-5A and F-5B Freedom Fighter variants, and th ...
aircraft are placed, which visitors can take a seat in.
See also
* Istanbul Aviation Museum
References
External links
Museum on-line booklet
{{authority control
Museums in Ankara
History of the Turkish Air Force
1998 establishments in Turkey
Museums established in 1998
Aerospace museums in Turkey
Military and war museums in Turkey
National museums in Turkey
Transport museums in Turkey
Military history of Ankara