Aviation Museum 'Wings of Victory'

About museum

Aviation Museum 'Wings of Victory' is an exhibition center that is part of the UMMC Museum Complex. The museum's exhibition is dedicated to the development of Soviet aviation during the Great Patriotic War. On an area of 9,000 sq. m a collection of fighters, bombers, attack aircraft and transport planes has been assembled — nearly four dozen examples of aviation equipment. The exhibits are grouped into large and small artistic compositions. The created scenes of airfield life also feature ground-support equipment: a rare example of a Soviet aerostarter (a machine for starting aircraft engines), fuel tankers and anti-aircraft guns. The central ensemble, called 'Virage', consists of a group of aircraft placed under the high ceiling of the upper hall. 'Virage' vividly illustrates the development of domestic aviation from the best-known pre-war reconnaissance biplane PO-2 to the first Soviet aircraft with a rocket engine, the BI-1. The composition in the other hall consists of the largest aircraft in the collection. Alongside Soviet aircraft — the 'flying tank' IL-2, the symbol of the pre-war Air Force, the I-16 fighter (the main hero of the popular film 'Valery Chkalov') and the TU-2, the best dive bomber of its time — are bombers delivered to the Soviet Union under the Lend-Lease program: the Douglas A-20 Boston, the North American B-25J Mitchell, the transport Douglas DC-3 and the largest aircraft of the exhibition center — the American flying boat PBY 'Catalina'.