Military Museum Prague-Kbely, the Czechlands

This Museum is very interesting to me because it has one Yugoslav trainer SOKO 522.The only pictures I found of it are these

this is a page from Letectvi+ Kosmonautika from 1984.

Rumcajs do you have pictures of 522 or have you seen it?Do you now in what condition it is now perhaps? It is supposed to be in very good condition, almost ready to fly.

I found this photo of the Soko in the Prague-Kbely´s muzeum, I think the photo is from 2008

Hoping to drive back over next year with the family so another visit is on the cards me thinks now the big stuff is now on show.Is the Mig 21 still on the gate down the road at the Czech Air Force headquarters near Brandy’s nad Labam ?

Hi Rumcajs,
Fascinating selection, lovely stuff. I was MOST surprised to see a CAC Sabre there – can’t be many outside Australasia and the US!

Looks like there’s an interesting history behind it too, according to the ADF Serials website.

They have some photos here. I presume the third photo is at Kbely, and I’m curious as to why the port (or both) cannon port has been blanked off. The red star ‘kills’ are a bit of PR spin too! 😀

Cheers

thank you for the info and link;)

Hi Rumcajs,
Fascinating selection, lovely stuff. I was MOST surprised to see a CAC Sabre there – can’t be many outside Australasia and the US!

Looks like there’s an interesting history behind it too, according to the ADF Serials website.

A94-923 CA27-23 Mk.31 First Sabre Mk.31. The major change from MK.30 specification was a solid leading edge instead of having leading edge slats. The new leading edge increased wing chord by six inches at the root and three inches at the tip thus being known as the ‘6-3′ wing. This was a change bought about by the US Air Forces’ experiences in the Korean War. This new leading edge greatly increased manoeuvrability and was retrofitted to all surviving Mk.30 Sabres.
First Flight 30/06/55. Delivered to 1 AD 25/07/55. To 2 OCU for Sabre Trials Flight 09/09/55. Allocated for re-activation of 3 Sqn 28/02/56. Suffered an engine failure on 24/01/57 whilst flying south of Newcastle however a succesful re-light of the engine was managed. To 2 OCU 10/06/59. To 81 Wing 24/05/62. To 3 AD 12/03/65 for conversion to componants. Struck off 16/06/65. Converted to componants 08/65. Forward fuselage went to Toowoomba Air Museum. Believed to have been aquired by Geoff Moesker and moved to Sydney (Camden?). Moved to WA and front fuselage and wings noted at Jandakot on 26/05/98 (see image below). Dave Saunders of Western Warbirds restored -923 to static display standard then organised a trade deal that saw a Yak-11 (LET C.11) coming to Australia and a Mig-23 going to the USA. The restoration may have included the fitting of the rear fuslage off A94-954. this is under ivestigation
This aircraft is now on display at Kbely Aviation Museum outside of Prague, Czech Republic.

They have some photos here. I presume the third photo is at Kbely, and I’m curious as to why the port (or both) cannon port has been blanked off. The red star ‘kills’ are a bit of PR spin too! 😀

Cheers

They’ve cut the grass around the helicopters !!!!! Every year i’ve been the copters have been wheel high in long grass.Good to see the interesting stuff on the airfield finally coming over inluding the Tu-104 and Il-14/Avia ?
The Me109 is the rare Czech built Avia version,as is the Me262.

yes Me-262 one seater is Czech made Avia S-92 from 1947 made by Avia company (several two seater CS-92 war produced as well) and it´s the first jet fighter of Czechoslovak Air force (Avia produced 12 S-92 for air force)- S-92 with only one Jak-17 (what you can see in the museum) and 13 Jak-23 (one of those you can see in museum as well) were in service before MiG-15 arriving in 1951 in Czechoslovak Air Force service.

you are right, it´s Avia Av-14T

the museum´s spitfire of code NN-N has been preserved only thanx the crash instantly before delivering to Izrael in 1948

Very interesting collection. Lots of types not commonly seen in Western Museum displays.

The Me 109s, what did they reengine those with? Did a double take with those! And the two seater, training version?

it´s Czech version Avia S-199 and traning CS-199. main figter planes of Czechoslovak Air force between 1947 to 1951 (450-551 S-199 and 82 CS-199 were build fot Czechoslovak Air force by Avia and Aero companies). actually it´s Bf-109G-6 with M-211 (Jumo 211f) engine, because some nazi prisoners of the war blew up only one store of DB-601 in Czechoslovakia after WW2. About 40 S-199s (and about 70 Czech spitfires) were delivered to Izrael in 1947-48 and S-199 and Czech spitfires were ones of the several matters of Israeli victory in Izraeli infependent war.

http://forum.valka.cz/download.php/id/769

They’ve cut the grass around the helicopters !!!!! Every year i’ve been the copters have been wheel high in long grass.Good to see the interesting stuff on the airfield finally coming over inluding the Tu-104 and Il-14/Avia ?
The Me109 is the rare Czech built Avia version,as is the Me262.

Very interesting collection. Lots of types not commonly seen in Western Museum displays.

The Me 109s, what did they reengine those with? Did a double take with those! And the two seater, training version?

I agree with your observations, it is just unusual to see that type of display here and I am sure others would be interested in the method and might learn something for the future. My earlier request for caption information was before Rumcajs started downloading his entire photographic library for the museum! Good effort.

just download this plugin:

http://toolbar.imageshack.us/

after that all is easy:-)))

This Museum is very interesting to me because it has one Yugoslav trainer SOKO 522.The only pictures I found of it are these

this is a page from Letectvi+ Kosmonautika from 1984.

Rumcajs do you have pictures of 522 or have you seen it?Do you now in what condition it is now perhaps? It is supposed to be in very good condition, almost ready to fly.

😮 well I have visited the museum every year since from my young age, but I have never heard that Soko 522 is there, for sure it hasn´t been displayed a lot of years and I never have seen that in Kbely yet. But I heard that Kbely museum has more similar treasures:-)) in deposite.

is there a website for the museum? Where is it?

I am going to Prague in August and it looks like a great place to visit.

This would seem to be the website, but the English version is under construction.

http://www.militarymuseum.cz/cz/cz/muzeum.php?id=3

Here is a little precis.

Prague Museums (Page 1)
Aeronautical Museum (Letecké Muzeum)
Letiště Kbely, Praha 9, Tel: +420 220 204 913, Website: www.militarymuseum.cz, Metro: Českomoravská then bus 185, 278 to Letecké muzeum, Open: 1 May-31 Oct 10am-6pm, Tue-Sun, closed Monday
The Kbely aerodrome is home to a fascinating museum of aviation, with exhibits both undercover (arranged in four hangars) and outside on taxiways. Each hanger houses a particular period – Hanger A – pre 1939 aircraft, Hanger B – Second World War aircraft, Hanger C – Czech aircraft since 1945 and Hanger D – sport/acrobatic craft. Particularly notable are the Spitfire, ME 262, Jak 23, Northrop Tiger and Phantom Mk II. A number of MiG fighter jets also contribute to this fine exhibition.

is there a website for the museum? Where is it?

I am going to Prague in August and it looks like a great place to visit.

It’s just a run of individual thumbnails, hosted on a website, then displayed here using a run of img tags. Nothing fancy.

Great to see photos from further afield 🙂

I agree with your observations, it is just unusual to see that type of display here and I am sure others would be interested in the method and might learn something for the future. My earlier request for caption information was before Rumcajs started downloading his entire photographic library for the museum! Good effort.

It’s just a run of individual thumbnails, hosted on a website, then displayed here using a run of img tags. Nothing fancy.

Great to see photos from further afield 🙂

This Museum is very interesting to me because it has one Yugoslav trainer SOKO 522.The only pictures I found of it are these

this is a page from Letectvi+ Kosmonautika from 1984.

Rumcajs do you have pictures of 522 or have you seen it?Do you now in what condition it is now perhaps? It is supposed to be in very good condition, almost ready to fly.

Rumcajs

Thanks for sharing an excellent selection of images – I like the way your hosting system displays them.

I went to Kbely last year and was really impressed by the scope of exhibits that not only encompass the different eras but embrace civil as well as military aviation history. The quality of some of the replicas that represent extinct types is astounding. I found the staff really helpful. I especially wanted to see the SARO Cloud due to its British origin. As I didn’t notice it in your selection I’ve taken the liberty of attaching one of my shots here. The Cloud was at that time in a building that was not open to the public. It seems there have been several movements since my visit as the Tu104, Il-14, Sabre, An 24 and Il28 etc are now in the museum area rather than on the live airfield.

well Saro Cloud is in depository right now, so I could´n take photo of that, Kbely museum has a small area for whole collection display, for example you cannot see two-seater CS-92/Me-262, some Me-109 or Fw-190, Meteor etc. At last they have renoveted Tu-104A, it´s very important, because Czechoslovak Airlines has been the third in the world that has used jetliner for civilian lines after BOAC and Aeroflot, I have been bashfull to see Tu-104A behind the museum wall and in catastrofical state, the beauty is save now:D . Yeah, outdoor section was completelly reorganised and made bigger, new section with Su and Migs and the museum got new aircraft from Air force like An-24, Mi-2, L-410 etc

btw it´s not Il-14 but Czech made Avia Av-14T :-)))

Rumcajs

Thanks for sharing an excellent selection of images – I like the way your hosting system displays them.

I went to Kbely last year and was really impressed by the scope of exhibits that not only encompass the different eras but embrace civil as well as military aviation history. The quality of some of the replicas that represent extinct types is astounding. I found the staff really helpful. I especially wanted to see the SARO Cloud due to its British origin. As I didn’t notice it in your selection I’ve taken the liberty of attaching one of my shots here. The Cloud was at that time in a building that was not open to the public. It seems there have been several movements since my visit as the Tu104, Il-14, Sabre, An 24 and Il28 etc are now in the museum area rather than on the live airfield.