The Kbely Aviation Museum is the largest aviation museum in the Czech Republic and is one of the most important museums of its kind in Europe . It is located in the area of the historic Prague-Kbely military airport , which was the first air base built after the creation of Czechoslovakia in 1918 . Another exhibition is located in the nearby Stará Aerovka complex. The museum has 275 aircraft in its collections , of which 85 are displayed in six covered halls, 25 in uncovered exhibition spaces, 155 are stored in depositories and 10 airworthy ones are in operation. [1] It has a total of 2,251 collection items related to aviation, cosmonautics , parachuting and meteorology . The exposition of the museum relates mainly to the history of Czechoslovak and Czech aviation, especially military. A number of exhibited airplanes belong to the world's uniques . The museum is accessible for free in the season from May to October. [2]
History of the museum
In the mid-60s of the 20th century, a lively discussion broke out among the professional aviation public about the need to establish a specialized aviation museum that would map the development of Czechoslovak aviation. Until now, aviation collections were concentrated only in the National Technical Museum in Prague and the Technical Museum in Brno , but here it was not their only collection-making activity and it actually only replaced the function of the aviation museum. Space was also given to this topic by the magazine Letectví a kosmonautika , where in 1965 a number of considerations and challenges were published, including the rescue of veteran aircraft, which at that time were located in various places in Czechoslovakia, mostly in poor technical condition.
As a reaction to this movement, the Aviation Historical Society was established at NTM, which set itself the goal of systematic collection of aviation memorabilia, their processing and renovation of three-dimensional exhibits. Another powerful impulse was a poll on aviation history, organized by the magazine Letectví a kosmonautika in 1966 . In it, interested personalities expressed their views on the creation of the aviation museum, including the then head of the VHÚ Military Museum, Lieutenant Colonel J. Šáda.
Gradually, the idea of establishing an aviation exhibition at the Military Museum of the VHÚ matured under the leadership of then Major Engineer Jaroslav Janečka , who had been intensely interested in the mentioned issue for a long time. Thanks to the understanding of the command of the Air Force , specifically its commander General Josef Vosáhl, workers for the Air Force Group of the Military Museum were allocated from the state of the Military Research Institute VÚ 031. [3]
Birth in Kbely
Despite some proposals (such as the Brussels Pavilion at the Prague Exhibition Center ), the burning problem of the space where the collections should be concentrated was solved by allocating a part of hangar No. 40 at the airport in Kbely . It is a hangar in which the largest part of the exhibition is installed today. Three-dimensional exhibits from the military air force, various museums and aero clubs began to be concentrated here, and already in September 1967 the first improvised aircraft exhibition was opened. In view of the approaching anniversary of the establishment of the Czechoslovak state in 1968, interested Ing. Jaroslav Janečka the widest aviation public, so that it is possible to build a truly worthy aviation exhibition. Aircraft manufacturing companies, ČSA, ČslA, aero clubs and, last but not least, military repair plants were supposed to take part in it.
A coordinating exhibition committee was set up, which was also supposed to organize a large aviation day at the airport in Kbely . Meanwhile, the entire hangar No. 40 was already available for exhibition. This successfully developing effort was interrupted by the events after August 21, 1968, when the Republic was occupied by the troops of the Warsaw Pact states .
These facts had a negative impact on the construction of the air show. For example, the long-awaited aviation day was completely canceled and the opening date of the exhibition was postponed. Despite all the negatives, the exhibition was inaugurated on October 11, 1968 and was a huge success. 62 aircraft were exhibited, two-thirds of which were already in the collections of the Military Museum.
Link:cs.wikipedia.org/wiki/Leteck%...
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28 авг 2023
