Chinese Aviation Museum Beijing
I had the opportunity to go and visit this most hallowed of places early last year. I was visiting my good lady who was living in Beijing for the year teaching English.
I must admit that I was terribly excited about the prospect of going to see this, even more so than the great wall and it took me a while to convince her to take me but reluctantly she yielded and we set off a very bright and very cold (about -15) day. I was advised before my trip that it’s a good idea to get a taxi there with it being relatively cheap and the journey being around 45- 50 Min but being hardcore (and stupid it turns out) and the other half being able to speak some Chinese we thought we would travel on the bus for mere pence (Bus 912 from Andingmen Station). The bus takes well over an hour but you do get to see Beijing at its best, there was a phenomenal amount of building going on and a lot of these especially on the outskirts as we passed seemed to be hotels. When you finally get there you are dropped off at the end of a runway and you still have the best part of a mile to travel I have added some pictures for this. Also the bus driver is also the handy man and engineer it was a miracle we actually made it. Be warned travel in china is not easy; it’s confusing, unpredictable and downright infuriating in some cases. This trip is no different - bus stops are infrequent and they are not based on a regular service. Imagine that you can get a bus from London to Birmingham but the driver can stop where he likes, so you think it stops at Milton Keynes but he prefers to stop at Northampton instead sometime to get out and bang about under the bus, Curse when he gets back on then carries on his way. To this end the bus does not always stop at the museum and it will not necessarily be going back that way so make sure you or someone in your group have a good grasp of the language
At the gate at last and you pay a lady 35 Yuan (about 3 quid) in a tiny shed where you are given a ticket you are then watched like hawk for a further 100 yards where you give the ticket to another lady who rips it and lets you in. This bizarre system goes on through out china from buses to subways to eating in some cases. No problem there though I was happy to be in.
First impressions on the museum are that it is deserted, I don’t know if it was the time we went or the long journey into the middle of nowhere some 50 mile north of Beijing. This was puzzling as I expected the place to be buzzing. Not to be deterred by this I started having a look around. The museum itself is based around Xiao Tang Hill. This was or I suppose still is part of Shahe Air Base on the other side, throughout the day outside I saw Mi 17’s and the like flying around with their great noisy engines so I assumed this was still operational. The front of the museum looks like something from a bond movie a huge welcoming arch over the mouth of the tunnel and the inside is the same, huge arched tunnel that runs through the hill in a semi circle I half expected Austin powers to come running past me. To add to this the three soldiers at the front looked like henchmen - I had to stop myself from laughing my ass off, all smoking - eying us suspiciously. As you can see from my pictures I am not a photographer by any stretch but I was absolutely ecstatic to be there though. Inside among the aircraft there are genuine battle aircraft with histories of their dogfights who flew them who they shot down etc, there is a Huey, which was captured in Vietnam and a whole host of WWII aircraft. Much to my surprise there’s an Apache gunship but it is a very convincing mock up built by a bored Colonel.
The out side of the museum is just as bizarre as the inside. Stacks of aircraft just sitting there with no coverings or any protection from the elements, in particular you get a fine red dust on everything which you can see on one of the photos. Rows of field guns and other military hardware and some farm equipment as well (looked like an old tractor sitting there rusting in between two old Russian helicopters) I went to visit Chairman Mao’s aircraft and for another small fee you can go in and have a look (although you have to wear those plastic shoe protector things) It seemed to me that the same two women from the gate were following us around, we were the entertainment of the day and they were trying hard against all evidence to look like the museum was busy. Same procedures - - pay lady at the bottom of the steps and get a ticket and then give it to the lady at the top of the step who rips it and issues the slippers.
I think we were there for a good few hours and I saw 2 other families there the whole time. I actually got to like this peaceful side of things, which was far and away from the organised chaos of Beijing. I would recommend to anyone that China should be visited; it is vast and as diverse as you like I woke up in minus 15 Beijing and went to bed in tropical Kunming. I took logs from all the airports I visited although not complete and in no discernable order; I have them on bits of paper along with my museum tickets. If I have one lasting memory it is the airport in Guilin. I arrived there in pitch black at 5am and sat there in the taxi in silence and in the total darkness for what seemed like a fortnight. You couldn’t see anything no lights nothing. Then you heard a noise and discover there are about 4 taxis in front warming up. A hunched figure opens a gate and you drive about 200 yards and you get the outline of a building. You then pull up to discover this is the airport. The same little figure opens two great front doors and ushers you inside. From pitch black silence to fully functional airport in 10 minutes, check in crew and cleaners all yawning waiting for the tea urn just boiling for breakfast noodles. Gob smacked is the only way to describe it.
Hope you like the pictures I took shed loads but I am not that good with a camera in the cold (or at all really) so there’s only a fraction of what’s to see at the museum. I am not that knowledgable on the aircraft as well so feel free to help me out on identification of some of them. I will be adding some more each day when I have the time so keep looking.
Here are some useful links on the museum as well:
http://www.ruudleeuw.com/china2002.htm
http://hawkseye.bravepages.com/china/cam/cam.htm