Located in the Palam Air Force Station in Delhi, the Air Force Museum once used to be one of a kind in the country before the opening of the Naval Aviation Museum in Goa in 1998 and HAL Aerospace Museum in Bengaluru in 2001.
Overview of Air Force Museum
The Air Force Museum has a large collection of aeroplanes and armoury, which depicts the history of the Indian Air Force. The Air Force Museum features an indoor display gallery that contains historic photographs, memorabilia, uniforms and personal weapons of the Indian Air Force, which was established in 1932. The indoor gallery leads to a hangar exhibiting small aircraft and Air Force inventory including anti aircraft guns, vehicles and ordnance. In the outdoor gallery, larger aircraft are exhibited and contains aircraft that also displays several war trophies, radar equipment and captured enemy vehicles. Other than these, the museum also houses a small souvenirs shop.
The Vintage Aircraft Flight services some rare aircraft and maintains them in an airworthy condition. These aircrafts are not open to the general public. Large transport aircraft are stored on the apron of the airbase due to lack of space. These aircrafts are displayed only on the annual Air Force Day, which is on 8th October.
The modern trends of aircrafts are visible in the later versions of jet-fighter planes, displayed in the museum. However, the more recent editions, such as the MiG-21 bis or, the MiG-23 BN, endowed with certain changes, in comparison to the earlier ones, have not yet entered the list of repertory. Nevertheless, some related showpieces are present in other Indian Air Force bases. And the latest inclusions involve, Iskras, an uncommon and striking MiG-25R and a MiG-23MF.
Equally enchanting and informative is the view of the IAF Roundels, signs of military-relations, associated with Indian Air Force. For example, the Interim Ashoka Chakra , national emblem, in vogue during the Hyderabad Deccan Mission, or the Saffron and Green IAF Roundels, as embraced by the IAF, post the Declaration of Indian Republic in 1950, indicate the priority given to the national emblems in the post-independence era.
Visiting Information on Air Force Museum
The location of the museum is extremely convenient as it is situated near the Delhi Airport at a distance of merely 1.4 km. The nearest railway station is located at a distance of about 15 km from the Air Force Museum.