Monino
The main gate at Monino - a fresh coat of paint on the sign that reads 'VVA imenya Yu. A. Gagarin' - the Air Force Academy named after Yu A Gagarin.
This is what greets you at the 'park' - the giant Mil V-12 helicopter - the worlds largest. It has the power train and rotors from TWO Mi-6's !!
Tupolev SB - the letters stand for 'Skorostnoy Bombardirovschik' - Fast Bomber. The engine type is added as a suffix - SB 2-M-103
e.g. SB fitted with two M-103 engines. It is NEVER written as 'SB-2' !!!!!
Lend-Lease A-20 Havoc.
Bell P-63 Kingcobra.
Prototype Sukhoi T8 - which became the Su-25 Frogfoot.
The worlds largest propeller-driven passenger aircraft - the Tu-114 'Rossiya' (ASCC Cleat).
The worlds largest propeller driven aircraft - the Antonov An-22 'Antei' (ASCC Cock).
Soviet Hercules - An-12B (ASCC Cub).....
....and its predecessor, the twin-engined An-8 (ASCC Camp).
The single-engined version of the 'Geofisika' - the Myasischev M-17 (ASCC Mystic-A).
Freshly repainted Mil Mi-26 Halo - currently the world's largest helicopter.
Yak-38 Forger.
Yak-36 Freehand in a totally ficticious paint scheme.
Piasecki H-21 donated to the Soviet Union by Richard Nixon.
Mil Mi-6 Hook - an early variant judging by the rounded nose glazing.
Anothe shot of the Mi-6.
The heavy-lift variant of the Mi-6 - the Mi-10 'Harke'.
A helicopter from the Yakovlev stable - the twin-rotor Yak-24 (ASCC 'Horse').
Early Mi-24 Hind-A with glasshouse nose.
Another view of the Yak-24 - difficult to photograph next to the hangar.
Inside the hangar is this Turbolet that performed the same function as the British 'Flying Bedstead'.
This replica Sikorsky Illya Mouromets WWI vintage bomber sits in a corner of the hangar.
The recognisable symbol of the museum - the Sukhoi T4 Mach-3 fly-by-wire bomber.
It was nicknamed 'Sotka' (the 100) because it weighed 100 tonnes!
Monino has a lot of prototypes - this is the Tu-22M0 Backfire prototype.
An earlier Tupolev bomber - the wartime Tu-2.
A view showing the neat and tidy appearance of Monino these days - examples of Sukhoi designs are on the left - with wartime airframes on the right.
A view looking back down the same avenue.
The central area.
At the rear are these large transports.
Another look at the top corner - with a Tu-144 SST and two MiG-29 prototypes.
MiG Alley.
Sukhoi T10 - prototype of the Su-27 Flanker. It has received a new paint job - not strictly accurate.
Replica MiG-3.
An early variant of the swing-wing Sukhoi Su-24......
...with the fixed-wing T6 prototype next to it.
Back on 'MiG alley' is this prototype MiG-27 Flogger.
MiG-23 Flogger prototype.
MiG's first jet - the MiG-9 made its first flight on 24 April 1946.
Lavochkin's rival to the MiG-15 - the La-15 Fantail.
Immaculate Mi-26 Halo.
Lavochkin's last fighter - the unsuccessful La-250 'Anakonda'.
Yakovlev's supersonic VTOL naval fighter - the Yak-141 Freestyle - used to be in the Yakovlev museum.
Mi-6 firefighting variant with nose-mounted water cannon.
The pipes under the fuselage could be lowered in flight to suck up water.
Everybody takes this shot - the Sukhoi T4.
This Sukhoi T10M was the prototype of the Su-35. It wears a non-authentic colour scheme.
One last look down main thoroughfare before heading back to the coach - until next year...................
MARZ - Chernoye
An-2 - the worlds largest single-engined biplane.
Another An-2 - the place was awash with them.
There were also a few hulks of Mi-4 Hound helicopters.......
....... such as this one.
What the plant does - turns out immaculate Mi-2's like this one.
As well as refurbished An-2's - these two are headed for Zaire.
Freshly repaired and painted An-2 for export to Zaire.
Another 'new' An-2 - this time for Belarus - note the DOSAAF titles.
The plants source of work - a lineup of Mi-2's awaiting repair.
This one is in the process of being rufurbished......
..... and this is what one looks like stripped of paint.
Engineless DOSAAF machine of Belarus.
This An-2E has been converted into an ekranoplan. It was at MAKS 01.
Rear view of the An-2E - with MARZ logo.
PZL Wilga lying forlorn in the long grass.
The main entrance to MARZ now sports this Mi-2 'Gate Guard'.
Well-tended war memorial in front of the factory............
....but tucked away from sight amongst the trees is this statue of Stalin.