The Indian Air Force Museum Palam, is the museum of the Indian Air Force (IAF), and is located at the Palam Air Force Station in Delhi Cantonment, New Delhi, India. It was established in 1967 and exhibits details about combat operations undertaken by the air force depicting its history since its formation in 1932. Also on display are various aircraft and equipment on the IAF’s inventory since its inception. The museum was the only one of its kind in India until the opening of the Naval Aviation Museum in Goa in 1998 and HAL Aerospace Museum in Bangalore in 2001.
Description
The Museum entrance features an indoor display gallery that contains historic photographs, memorabilia, uniforms and personal weapons of the Indian Air Force from its inception in 1932. The gallery leads to a hangar exhibiting small aircraft and Air Force inventory including anti-aircraft guns, vehicles and ordnance. Larger aircraft are exhibited outside the hangar. The outdoor gallery contains aircraft as well as several war trophies, radar equipment and captured enemy vehicles.
The Vintage Aircraft Flight services some rare aircraft and maintains them in an airworthy condition. These aircraft are not normally accessible by the general public. Large transport aircraft are stored on the apron of the airbase due to lack of space. These aircraft are displayed only on the annual Air Force Day, October 8. The museum has a small souvenir shop.
New location To improve the presentation and preservation of the aircraft, the Indian Air Force decided to relocate the museum to a larger and more accessible location. A new site near the domestic terminal of the airport was chosen. The then Chief of Air Staff and Chairman Chief of Staff Committee, Air Chief Marshal SP Tyagi, laid the foundation stone for the project on 1 December 2006. The new aerospace museum was planned to have two main types of displays, indoor and outdoor. The outdoor displays would have aircraft parked and hung in flying altitude with mural depicting the era and atmosphere of its time of operation. The children's area would also be created where children could enter cockpits of display aircraft.
In October 2020, the Military Engineer Services invited bids for construction of the museum at an estimated cost of 240 crore.
Aircraft on display
Hangar
Westland Lysander P-9160 Westland Wapiti K-813 Percival Prentice IV-3381 Hawker Hunter A-476 in Thunderbolts colour scheme Hawker Hurricane II B AB-832 Hawker Tempest II HA-623 Yokosuka MXY-7 Okha I-13 Supermarine Spitfire XVIII HS-986 Dassault Mystere IVa IA-1329 Dassault Ouragan IC-554 De Havilland Vampire NF10 ID-606 HAL Gnat II E-2015 Sukhoi Su-7 BMK B-888 MiG-21 FL C-992, C-2216 HAL Krishak HAOP-27 HAL HF-24 Marut D-1205 PZL TS-11 Iskra W-1757, W-1758 F-86 Sabre 606 in Pakistani colour scheme
Outdoor Gallery
BAE Canberra B(I)58 IF-907 Consolidated B-24 Liberator J HE-924 Fairchild C-119 Flying Boxcar IK-450 Sikorsky S55C IZ-1590 Mil Mi-4 BZ-900 MiG-23MF SK434 MiG-25R KP-355 MiG-27
Vintage Aircraft Flight De Havilland DH-82 Tiger Moth HU-512 De Havilland Vampire FB52 IB-799 Supermarine Spitfire VIII NH-631 HAL Gnat II E-265 HAL HT-2 IX-737 North American Harvard HT-291 Douglas C-47 IJ-302 HAL HT-2 IX-732
Transport Aircraft Section Antonov An-12 BL-727 De Havilland DHC-4 Caribou BM-774 Douglas C-47 IJ-817 Ilyushin Il-14 IL-860 Tupolev Tu-124 V-644
See also Indian Air Force Heritage Museum, Chandigarh Indira Gandhi International Airport List of aerospace museums Naval Aviation Museum (India)
References
External links
Air Force Museum, webpage at Indian Air Force