Prague, April 30 (CTK) – Hundreds of people came to the Air Museum Kbely on the outskirts of Prague on Saturday to see the newly acquired Soviet-made MiG-29 aircraft, which has made the museum collection of MiG fighters complete.
The museum, which is part of the Czech Military History Institute (VHU), opened for the first time this season on Saturday.
The museum tried to get the MiG-29 for a long time, VHU director Ales Knizek said.
After Czechoslovakia split in 1993, a part of the MiG-29s flew to Slovakia, the others were swapped for Poland’s Sokol helicopters and none was left for the museum, Knizek said.
The museum had to wait for the MiG-29s to be put out of service. When this happened and the Slovak army handed the planes to the Military History in Bratislava, the Prague museum exchanged the MiG for an Ilyushin Il-28 jet bomber.
“As the Slovaks did not have the Il-28, the swap was good for them as well,” Knizek said.
He said the MiG-29 that is now exhibited in the Kbely museum originally operated at the Zatec air base, 80 km northwest of Prague.
Expert consider the MiG fighters the best equipment that the Czechoslovak communist army used.
Two historical hangars of the Aero aircraft maker from the 1920s and 1940s were also newly opened on Saturday.
“The air museum can now present its exhibits in old hangars, which is unique in the world,” Knizek said.
The hangars were reconstructed thanks to a subsidy from the Norway Grants, he said.
The whole old premises of the Aero aircraft maker have been listed among Czech cultural heritage.
The VHU will try to reconstruct the remaining two old hangars within ten years.
