Monino

During my recent trip to Russia, I had the good fortune to spend two very enjoyable afternoons at Monino, the Russian Air Force Museum. For me, two days was not nearly enough. I could have spent two weeks there and still be left wanting for more.

The museum is located within a military community, there are active duty residents and their families, as well as retired military and their families. For a foreigner to get access into the museum isn't hard, however, there are a few things that should be done prior to your visit. First, you should phone the museum and request a visit. They will take certain information from you, such as when you will be coming, your nationality, passport number, reason for your visit, who will be with you, and the type of vehicle that you will be arriving in. They will then relay this information to the guard house which you must stop at before you can enter the base.

My first day at Monino, we didn't phone. Fortunately for me my wife is Russian, and I was with my brother-in-law Misha, so access was allowed. But...there's always a but right! But, when he went in to register at the guard house, he didn't mention to them that he had an American in the car! No problem, we drove through the base and found the entrance to the museum. We parked and walked in through the gate, before we could take 20 steps, we were approached by an older gentleman, who went directly to my brother-in-law and told him that "you and your American friend must follow me". Misha and I looked at each other and without speaking a word we knew what each other was thinking...'how did they know I was American?'.

As we followed the gentleman, I noticed that Misha seemed to become more and more concerned. We followed him down the road and through a walkway that led us to a building which turned out to be part of the museum, containing displays of Russian/Soviet aviation historical memorabilia. He took us into a room with several tables piled high with aviation magazines from around the world. There were several other older gentleman sitting talking, but they all stopped and looked at us as we were led into the room. AS things turned out, the gentleman was the Director of the museum, and he became very friendly once in the room. He said that he enjoys foreign visitors, especially Americans because we tend to have much more interest and knowledge about Russian/Soviet aviation and aircraft than the Russian people do. He then had Misha and I fill out a couple of brief forms and told us of the admission fees which were if I recall about $3.00 each, and another $6.00 for each camera that I had. We then went out into the main lobby of the building to a desk attended by a middle aged woman, who was perhaps the most unpleasant person I've ever had the displeasure of meeting. She began arguing with the Director that we did not have an appointment and that we are not allowed into the museum. After patiently repeating himself to her two or three times, he finally told her to just shut up and do as she was told.

Once legitimately inside the confines of the museum I was like a kid in a candy shop! This is the main reason that one day at Monino is definitely not enough. Although my intention there was primarily to photograph the Russian aircraft of the Great Patriotic War (World War II for the rest of us) I was immediately overwhelmed by the rows of Cold War era bombers lined up to my right. Despite having seen countless photos of these aircraft, I was taken aback by their size and presence, so much so that I barely noticed the Tu-4 (Russian B-29 copy) which was the first aircraft parked inside the entrance. Once I managed to get my eyes back into their sockets, I was able to gradually make my way over to the WWII birds that were parked on the left.

As I previously stated, I was primarily interested in the WWII aircraft at the museum, and I took over 600 photos of those aircraft. However, something happened to me while I was there, that I can't explain. I became for the first time in my life, fascinated by jet aircraft! I have seen many, many military jets here in the states and abroad, but they never really did much for me, there was never a connection. But, something happened at Monino. Maybe it was the fact that I wasn't prepared for what I was about to see? Maybe it was because I grew up during the Cold War and this was the first time that I came face to face with "the enemy" so to speak? Or perhaps it was the realization that propaganda taught to me in school, on TV, the Cold War rhetoric that the Russians were evil, our arch enemies bent on destroying the USA and our way of life. With the benefit of hindsight, I think it was a combination of all of these things with the added realization that these people grew up with the same fears as I did, thinking that the USA was evil and wanted to destroy their country and their way of life. Regardless of the reasons, Monino gave me an entirely new appreciation for these fire breathing beasts of the skies.

My purpose for this page is not to bore you with my words, but rather to share with you some of the awesome aircraft that I had the pleasure to meet and photograph. Yes I did say "meet", It may be strange to most of you, if not all of you, but I have this strange ability to "connect" with historical inanimate objects. By this I mean that by being near them, being able to touch them, I feel as if they are telling me their stories, what they've done and the things that they've seen. They are living history, and whether they are Russian, American, German, British, whatever, they speak the same language, there are no communication barriers. They tell me what they are, and what they have done, what they were capable of doing but restrained from doing so. They don't lie, they don't spin propaganda, they don't brag, bully or boast, they are the truth.

So now without further ado, I am proud to give you the "Aircraft of Monino"

Sukhoi