[Note: For previous posts in this series, click here: 1 2 3 4 5]

[ My apologies for the long delay in posting the last segment of my series on the VVS Museum. After uploading Part Five, I took a week off to visit family and friends. Since then I've been hard at work with some colleagues developing what we think is going to be an exciting new web resource. I'll have more to say about that in a few weeks. In the meantime, here at last is my last word on The Russian Air Force Museum at Monino.]

As I first mentioned in the second part of this series, two of the displays housed at the VVS Museum are currently closed to visitors. The Museum’s hangar containing “Unique Flying Apparatuses” is unavailable while repairs are being undertaken to its roof. It is expected to re-open early this fall. Meanwhile, the exhibition devoted to the history of Russian aviation has been closed since a fire gutted much of the Museum’s main building in 2005.

Despite the fact that you cannot currently view these displays, we’ll conclude our field guide with a description of what you can expect to see once these parts of the Museum re-open.

“Unique Flying Apparatuses”

Located in a hangar opposite the entrance to the open-air collection of planes, the Museum’s display of “Unique Flying Apparatuses” contains a sizable number of historic and replica aircraft representing machines largely constructed during the decades preceding the Great Patriotic War.

The “oldest” plane in the collection is a Farman IV, a box-kite pusher biplane (patterned after a slightly earlier Voisin model) that first debuted in 1909. Notwithstanding its light weight and flimsy appearance, the wood, wire, and lacquered canvas contraption proved both sturdy and highly modifiable. This model was the first one to emerge from Moscow’s Dux aircraft factory. Dozens more were assembled by other enterprises and amateur constructors. Although the precise number built is impossible to ascertain, the Farman IV was arguably the most popular airplane among Russia’s first generation of aviation pioneers.

The Farman IV housed in the Museum’s collection is a working replica built on order of the Lenfil’m studio for use in The Aviator (Воздухоплаватель), a 1975 feature film loosely chronicling the life of Ivan Mikhailovich Zaikin (1870-1948). An Odessa-based circus strong-man (and later champion Greco-Roman wrestler), Zaikin was a noted celebrity in pre-WWI Russia. He earned initial fame for public demonstrations of strength in which he broke iron chains with his hands and bent steel bars across the back of his neck. In 1910 he became one of the first Russians to fly a biplane when he took to the air aboard a Farman IV. According to the Museum’s official guidebook, the replica housed in the VVS collection completed fifty flights before being donated by the film studio in September 1975.

In addition to the Farman IV, the Museum’s collection of unique planes includes a full-scale mock-up of Imperial Russia’s most famous native aircraft: the Il’ya Muromets. The brainchild of Igor Ivanovich Sikorsky (1889-1972), (the pioneering constructor who would later develop the world’s first functional helicopters) the four-engine Il’ya Muromets is justly recognized as one of the most innovative and revolutionary airplanes ever built. The plane was also colossally large by the day’s standards. The initial version measured 62 ft. in length and possessed a wingspan of just over 101 ft. It was capable of lifting more than 2,000 pounds and could cover more than 350 miles while staying aloft for upwards of five hours.

Although the Muromets was not the world’s first multi-engine plane — that honor belonged to Sikorsky’s 1913 Russian Warrior — (aka Big Baltic or Grand), the flying behemoth introduced numerous ground-breaking components. The plane’s most distinctive feature was that its passenger hold was incorporated into the fuselage: a design innovation that served as a model for nearly all subsequent military and civilian aircraft. Over five feet wide and six feet high, the passenger compartment was capable of comfortably accommodating up to one dozen people. The plane also possessed a sleeping cabin and an observation platform as well as a generator for producing electric light to illuminate the cabin, a heating system, and, in another aviation first, a toilet.

In addition to being the first true passenger aircraft the Il’ya Muromets also served during the Great War as the world’s first strategic bomber. In December 1914, the Russian General Staff ordered the formation of a group of twelve Muromtsy which it designated the “Squadron of Flying Ships.” Initially employed as reconnaissance platforms, the planes were soon utilized to bomb enemy positions. The Squadron was responsible for history’s first effort at mass bombing. It also undertook the first nighttime bombing raids and the first bomb damage assessments using photographic equipment. Before Russia exited the war in April 1918, Sikorsky’s giants amassed an impressive service record. Despite flying more than 400 sorties, only one of the 73 airplanes deployed was lost to enemy fire.¹

The Museum’s standout example of a unique Soviet “flying apparatus” is its copy of the famed Tupolev ANT-25 Stalin’s Route (Сталинский маршрут), the most celebrated Soviet airplane of the pre-WWII era. Stalin’s Route first garnered recognition in July 1936 when a flight crew consisting of pilot Valerii Chkalov, co-pilot Georgii Baidukov, and navigator Aleksandr Beliakov set a world distance record by flying just over 5,800 miles non-stop from Moscow to the Pacific rim island Udd. The next year, the same crew and aircraft made history again when they successfully completed the first trans-Polar crossing on a flight between Moscow and Pearson Air Field in Vancouver, Washington. A second ANT-25 flown by pilot Mikhail Gromov, co-pilot Sergei Danilin, and navigator Andrei Iumashev followed up the success of Stalin’s Route by completing an even longer (6,300 mile) non-stop trans-Polar flight from Moscow to San Jacinto, California one month later.

“History of Russian Aviation Exhibition”

The final stop in our tour of the VVS Museum is the history of Russian aviation exhibit normally housed in the main administrative building. When open, the exhibit is a treasure trove of fascinating information, models, and artifacts. If you read a bit of Russian, you can get a sense of the presentation by taking a look at the Museum’s official homepage where you’ll find detailed descriptions of the Museum’s fixed displays. Unfortunately, the descriptions are only available по-русски. The on-line guide suggests that the Museum collection is divided into ten so-called “halls.” It should been noted, however, that only nine are described on the site (the list is mis-numbered, skipping “hall” seven). Moreover, the “halls” described on-line include the aircraft parked in the open-air display [previously described in parts 3-5 of this series] and the two hangars.

Here, I will limit coverage to general descriptions of the types of materials displayed in the five rooms typically located in the Museum’s main building.

Display One: “Development and Growth of Aeronautics and Aviation in Russian to 1917”

Not surprisingly, the first display area in the Museum’s history of aviation exhibit is devoted to the dawn of Russian aviation. Here, visitors are introduced to scientists like the great Mikhail Lomonosov (1711-1765) who (among other things) conducted early experiments on atmospheric properties and Dmitrii Mendeleev (1834-1907), the inventor of the Periodic Table of Elements, who took part in a hot-air balloon ascent in 1887. More directly, the Museum devotes considerable attention to the life and work of Nikolai Zhukovskii (1847-1921) the pioneering mathematician who founded the Russian study of aerodynamics.

Although the history of aeronautics is covered in sections devoted to the Russian military’s use of observation balloons during the Russo-Japanese War (1904-05) and the ensuing deployment of military dirigibles, most of the coverage is given over to the development of Imperial Russian aviation. Visitors are introduced to early constructors including Ia. M. Gakkel’, D. P. Grigorovich, and A. A. Porokhovshchikov as well as early Russian airplane firms like Dux and the Russo-Balt Carriage Factory. While most Russian constructors relied heavily on the importation and licensing of engines from foreign companies like Nieuport and Wright, the Museum devotes considerable space to the first Russian-made motors. Early “sportsmen-aviators” including Mikhail Efimov and Nikolai Popov, their airplanes, and the air shows in which they participated are also described.

The first display room concludes with materials relating to Russian aviation during the Great War. Particular attention is given, of course, to Sikorsky’s giant airplanes. Well-worth noting is the section on Russia’s most celebrated WWI aviator Captain Petr Nikolaevich Nesterov (1887-1914). In addition to being the first pilot in history to loop an airplane (1913), Nesterov was the first Russian pilot to down an enemy aircraft. He accomplished this feat in early September 1914 when he rammed the unarmed Albatros he was flying into an Austrian reconnaissance plane. Both he and the two fliers aboard the enemy aircraft were killed in the resulting crashes.

Display Two: “Continuing Development of Aviation to June 1941”

The second room in the Museum’s historical display contains materials relating to the development of Soviet aviation between 1917-1941. The exhibits here address subjects ranging from Civil War aviation and the founding the Society of Friends of the Air Fleet, to the expansion of Soviet aircraft industry during the first Five year Plan (1928-1932) and the earliest years of Soviet civil aviation.

Particularly interesting are the materials relating to aerial propaganda missions like the 1925 “Great Flight” from Moscow to Peking (and then Tokyo) and the visit of the ANT-4 Land of the Soviets to the United States in 1929. Here, too, is where the Museum provides background information (and some rare photographs) relating to famous prestige airplanes such as the ANT-20 Maxim Gorky and the ANT-25 Stalin’s Route. There’s also a good deal of material on “Stalin’s falcons” (including pilots Valerii Chkalov and Mikhail Gromov) and the various world records set by Soviet airmen (and women) during the 1930s.

Displays Three & Four: “The Great Patriotic War”

Not surprisingly, the centerpiece of the Museum’s history exhibit consists of the two separate rooms devoted to the accomplishments of the VVS during the course of the Great Patriotic War.
What may strike foreign visitors as a bit odd is the extent to which the presentation and tone of these materials reveal ideas and attitudes seemingly held-over from the Soviet era. These tendencies are likewise reflected on the Museum’s web site which proclaims, in characteristic fashion, that “the first days of the Great Patriotic War clearly revealed the guiding organizational role of the Communist Party and its close and unbreakable bond with the masses.”²

Even if your knowledge of Operation Barbarossa is limited to a single show that you once saw on the History Channel, you know that this claim is utter nonsense. Those a bit more familiar with the contours (and content) of Soviet history, will recognize statements like this for what they really are: propagandistic boilerplate that Party leaders used to maintain their legitimacy in the years that followed 1953.

In addition to echoing from time to time Soviet-era propaganda, the Museum’s materials occasionally cite misleading figures in advancing dubious claims about the performance of the VVS. For example:

“From the beginning of the Great Patriotic War the enemy encountered the powerful blows of Soviet aviation. In the first three months of combat in the air and at aerodromes upwards of 3,500 fascist planes were destroyed. During this period 250,000 sorties were flown of which 47% resulted in the destruction of enemy tanks, motorized columns, and infantry on the field of battle.”³

While it is certainly true that the fall campaign strained the Luftwaffe to the breaking point, German air losses were closer to 2,500 than to 3,500. Moreover, the Museum’s account glosses over an equally important aspect of invasion: the more than 21,000 Soviet aircraft destroyed between June-November 1941.

Given the vast scope of the Museum’s Great Patriotic War display, it would be futile to try countering all of the questionable statements appearing in the exhibit. It’s also unnecessary. Despite the tendentious language, discerning visitors stand to learn a lot about the wartime experiences of the VVS. Still, you’d be well-served to read-up a bit on the war before and after visiting the Museum. [In an upcoming post, I’ll recommend some good recent books on the Russian Front]. Whatever the case, the Museum’s displays contain a great deal of information with which even aviation junkies are probably not familiar.

Much space is understandably devoted to the USSR’s wartime heroes including Nikolai Gastello who sacrificed himself by flying his damaged plane into an advancing column of tanks in the open days of the War and Aleksei Maresev who went on to become an ace despite having his feet amputated after being shot-down. The stories of other individual pilots are also recounted in detail. Particularly noteworthy were Ivan Kozhedub, Aleksandr Pokryshkin, and Nikolai Gulaev (who lead all Allied aces with 62, 59, and 57 kills, respectively) and the women pilots of the “Night Witches” regiment who played essential roles in the skies over Stalingrad.

Display Five: “Recent Aviation Developments”

The last section of the Museum’s historical display covers the period from the end of the Great Patriotic War to the present day. As one might expect, given the rather long time frame this segment addresses (and, no doubt, state concerns regarding the release of sensitive information), this section lacks some of the found in the previous rooms. Certain subjects are, again, given short shrift (such as the German origins of the Soviet jet program). Still there’s good material here on things like the downing of Gary Power’s U-2 (1961) and the development of Soviet SAM technology.

And there you have it.

If you’ve managed to work your way through all six of the posts in this series, I hope that you found them to be informative and helpful. If so, please let others know about the “field guide.” If there’s something you thought particularly interesting (or, if you have questions about something you read), post a comment and let me know. Likewise, if you’re privy to updated information on the ongoing reconstruction at the Museum, I’d love to hear from you. I’ll post updates as I receive them and will add a bit more during my next trip to Moscow.

Oh, one more thing for those of you who actually have the chance to visit the VVS Museum…

Before heading back to Moscow you might want to stop off at the white tent located in the wooded area between the administrative building and the entrance to the outdoor aircraft display. There’s a counter inside where you can purchase drinks and snacks. The choices are a bit limited, but if you want some water, soda, or are in the mood for ice cream or a candy bar you can get it there.

Most importantly, the snack tent has Baltika Seven on tap (or, at least it did when I was there in late June). They also sell Baltika’s ideal “pairing:” кальмар.

1. For a complete discussion of Sikorsky and his behemoth airplanes, see Dictatorship of the Air, pp. 55-71 [↩]
2. The Russian reads: “С первых дней Великой Отечественной войны еще полнее раскрылась направляющая и организующая роль Коммунистической партии, ее тесная и неразрывная связь с массами” [↩]
3. ”С начала Великой Отечественной войны враг узнал силу ударов советской авиации. За первые три месяца войны в воздушных боях и на аэродромах уничтожено до 3500 фашистских самолетов. За этот же период произведено 250 тыс. самолето-вылетов, при этом 47% всех вылетов совершено на уничтожение танковых и моторизованных колонн противника и его войск на поле боя” [↩]