• Source: Indian Air Force Museum, Palam

The Indian Air Force Museum Palam, is the museum of the Indian Air Force (IAF), and is located at the Palam Air Force Station in Delhi Cantonment, New Delhi, India.
It was established in 1967 and exhibits details about combat operations undertaken by the air force depicting its history since its formation in 1932. Also on display are various aircraft and equipment on the IAF’s inventory since its inception.
The museum was the only one of its kind in India until the opening of the Naval Aviation Museum in Goa in 1998 and HAL Aerospace Museum in Bangalore in 2001.




Description



The Museum entrance features an indoor display gallery that contains historic photographs, memorabilia, uniforms and personal weapons of the Indian Air Force from its inception in 1932. The gallery leads to a hangar exhibiting small aircraft and Air Force inventory including anti-aircraft guns, vehicles and ordnance. Larger aircraft are exhibited outside the hangar. The outdoor gallery contains aircraft as well as several war trophies, radar equipment and captured enemy vehicles.
The Vintage Aircraft Flight services some rare aircraft and maintains them in an airworthy condition. These aircraft are not normally accessible by the general public. Large transport aircraft are stored on the apron of the airbase due to lack of space. These aircraft are displayed only on the annual Air Force Day, October 8. The museum has a small souvenir shop.




New Aerospace Museum


To improve the presentation of aircraft and to better preserve the historic aircraft, the Indian Air Force decided to procure more space and shift the museum to a location more accessible by the masses. A new site, spread over 43 acres, near the domestic terminal of the airport was chosen. The then Chief of Air Staff and Chairman Chief of Staff Committee, Air Chief Marshal SP Tyagi, laid the foundation stone for the project on 1 December 2006.
The new Aerospace museum will have two main types of displays, indoor and outdoor. The outdoor displays would have aircraft parked and hung in flying altitude with mural depicting the era and atmosphere of its time of operation. The children’s area would also be created where children could enter cockpits of display aircraft.
In October 2020, the Military Engineer Services invited bids for construction of the museum in October 2020 at an estimated cost of Rupees 240 crores.




Aircraft on display






= Hangar

=

Westland Lysander P-9160
Westland Wapiti K-813
Percival Prentice IV-3381
Hawker Hunter A-476 in Thunderbolts colour scheme
Hawker Hurricane II B AB-832
Hawker Tempest II HA-623
Yokosuka MXY-7 Okha I-13
Supermarine Spitfire XVIII HS-986
Dassault Mystere IVa IA-1329
Dassault Ouragan IC-554
De Havilland Vampire NF10 ID-606
HAL Gnat II E-2015
Sukhoi Su-7 BMK B-888
MiG-21 FL C-992, C-2216
HAL Krishak HAOP-27
HAL HF-24 Marut D-1205
PZL TS-11 Iskra W-1757, W-1758
F-86 Sabre 606 in Pakistani colour scheme




= Outdoor Gallery

=
BAE Canberra B(I)58 IF-907
Consolidated B-24 Liberator J HE-924
Fairchild C-119 Flying Boxcar IK-450
Sikorsky S55C IZ-1590
Mil Mi-4 BZ-900
MiG-23MF SK434
MiG-25R KP-355




= Vintage Aircraft Flight

=
De Havilland DH-82 Tiger Moth HU-512
De Havilland Vampire FB52 IB-799
Supermarine Spitfire VIII NH-631
HAL Gnat II E-265
HAL HT-2 IX-737
North American Harvard HT-291
Douglas C-47 IJ-302
HAL HT-2 IX-732




= Transport Aircraft Section

=
Antonov An-12 BL-727
De Havilland DHC-4 Caribou BM-774
Douglas C-47 IJ-817
Ilyushin Il-14 IL-860
Tupolev Tu-124 V-644




See also


Indian Air Force Heritage Museum, Chandigarh
Indira Gandhi International Airport
List of aerospace museums
Naval Aviation Museum (India)




References






External links



Air Force Museum, webpage at Indian Air Force

Kata Kunci Pencarian:

• Indian Air Force Museum, Palam
• Antonov An-12
• Palam
• Air Force Museum
• List of aviation museums
• List of surviving Folland Gnats
• HAL HF-24 Marut
• Mikoyan-Gurevich MiG-25
• English Electric Canberra
• Hawker Hunter