IAF museum

I visited the museum in March 2008-fantastic!

Some practical info for anyone wanting to go there: I was staying in Tel Aviv and caught a bus from near our hotel, to one of the city’s railway stations. From there, a quick, modern and direct train (not v expensive either iirc) took me to Beersheva. Bus station was next door to rail station and bus no 31 (I think) went to the museum fairly soon after I arrived-20 minute journey. You pass one of the Kfirs on the roundabout.

One or two important matters: you need photo id to get in and it’s closed Friday pm and all day Saturday-Jewish sabbath; and don’t photo any aircraft flying into neighbouring air base of Hatzerim-you’d probably be arrested if they saw you doing this, but 100% free to photo a/c in museum. It’s on the edge of a desert and was 82F on the day of my visit: no doubt 100+F in summer, so take a big bottle of water and a large sun hat, especially if you’re bald, like me. Poor shop, tho managed to get some lunch there.

I think I counted eight(!) Meteors, tho why the IAF have kept so many is a mystery, as, from the (excellent, in English/Hebrew) info boards in front of nearly all the a/c, it wasn’t a significant type for them.

Not mentioned above: good collection of about ten captured Arab air force a/c: Mig 15, 17, 21, 23, Vampires, Hunter. Some Vautours, a simply beautiful Mustang, Ouragans, Mysteres, Super Mysteres, an F15, a Lavi (a still-born home-grown advanced fighter of the 1980s), an E2C, a 707 with full passenger interior, a C97 with an exhibition inside, two C47s (the one on display is unfortunately not in good condition, but another, in a storage area, is, from one side at least, in better condition and incidentally bristles with aerials), another C97 in this area (in v poor condition) plus two more 707s here.

There were four entrances to the storage area with the C97 etc in it, three of them with chains across, saying “No entry,” but the fourth one didn’t, so I chanced my arm, went in with my camera and was able to photograph all the aircraft in it, tho I did get shooed away from photographing a derelict Noratlas and Ouragan in another storage area.

Also: another Noratlas, a Harvard, a Stearman, a Fokker S11, a Sikorsky 55 and a 58 (piston-engined, the latter), a CH53, a Super Frelon, a Hughes 500, an Alouette 2 (plus a captured Syrian Alouette 3), a Huey Cobra, Mirage IIIs, an Arava, etc etc; one of the world’s great (and little known, as yet) aircraft museums-well worth a visit. Let me know if you want to see any of my photos.