Indians For Guns

Anyone been here?
There seem to be some really unique aircraft there. Got any photos?

Indian Air Force Museum, Palam, New Delhi
Hidden away on the far side of Delhi's International Airport is a significant collection of historic aircraft and memorabilia, telling the story of the Indian Air Force.

Indian Air Force Museum, Palam, New Delhi

Nice find xl_target!

I know of another museum in Bangalore, that I have passed by so many times - never got the opportunity to actually go in! My bad!

From here: http://warbirds.in/oldhtml/wbblrhal.html

The opening of the Hindustan Aeronautics Limited's Heritage Center and Aerospace Museum in the garden city of Bangalore is a whiff of fresh air to the aviation enthusiast in India. The Museum was opened on August 31st, 2001 by the then Chairman of HAL, Dr. K D Nair. The museum with its collection of ten aircraft and two mockups can claim to be the second largest public aviation museum in the country, next only to the IAF Museum in Palam with its 40+ aircraft. The Museum is located on the Airport road at Bangalore. Just besides the HAL's helicopter complex and hardly 2 km from the Bangalore airport.

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I have been there but years ago. They have the following as I remember.
1. Old uniform designs.
2. Weapons captured during the war
3. One truck belonging to the Pakistani Army with the Indian Air Force logo painted on it, probably used for spying in 1965.
5. Old ammunition shells and belts
6. And off course some old air crafts.
I will take some photographs if allowed and post it here sometime soon.

Regards

Thanks aadhaulya,
Would love to see those photos.

XL, my son and I'd made a trip there a couple of years back. Unfortunately no photos as I left my phone in the car park, expecting the usual security hassles - only on entering did I realise that phones/ cameras were allowed

Like most museums in India it can do with a revamp, that said - they have some great exhibits and sonny & I really enjoyed ourselves!

As mentioned above, they have lots of old aircraft tracing the history of Indian aviation.

There's a Mig 25 (sans engines) parked outside the main hangar, it's nothing less than awe inspiring just standing there and peering into the humongous twin tunnels that comprise the engine bays!!

There's also the shot up fuselage of (IIRC) a Mig 21 which took some serious battering in the 71 war but returned its pilot safely home - a testament to both man and machine.

Of special interest would be a few handguns donated to the museum by ex-chief's. These are displayed close to the main entry where they have other small arms on display as well.

In typical fauji fashion the staff is courteous and helpful as well as very tolerant of minor mischief by the steady stream of children who visit them daily.

One of the least visited and most underrated museums in Delhi.


Cheers!
Abhijeet

That looks like a great place to visit! The Bangalore museum could be interesting too, except I don't see the pictures. (I'm still tuning this machine up!)

Anyway, seeing a real MiG-25 would be fun, and also I see a B-24 Liberator, which are pretty rare. This is odd, considering that many more of these were made than the more famous B-17.

I wonder, do they really have one of those big, fat C-46 Commandos?

The Spitfire looks like a Mk 24, which is interesting, along with that Japanese Ohka "Cherry Blossom." The Hawker Sea Fury is neat and featured prominently -- the big sleeve valve Centaurus is an interesting piece of machinery. The De Havilland Vampire is very interesting -- we just don't see stuff like that around here! The C-119 with the auxiliary jet takeoff engine is very nice. The one thing I was hoping for was a Lockheed Constellation -- maybe they are working to ready that one?

Anyhow, this place looks like a real treasure trove, with many more things to see. A whole day for this one, I'm sure.

XL, we should get tickets and go!

I once wrote an article on it for a certain publication.
Will endeavour to find it and upload it and the accompanying pics up here.

Safarigent, I would like to see your writeup!

Thanks guys for the comments.
Abhijeet, you lucky dog.
Would love to see that article and photos, safarigent.