Beijing`s Aviation Museums by Michael de Boer

It was a crystal clear but freezing afternoon in December 2001 when I first visited the China Aviation Museum in Datangshan, half an hour’s drive from Beijing. My cab driver couldn’t find the exact location so he asked a policeman, who pointed at the big rock at the end of the road – which is actually part of the museum! The gate was locked and the ticket booth was empty, but after a few minutes a Chinese woman came walking over and sold us tickets (including one for the cab driver). Then in we went, the only visitors for the day. It felt a bit like trespassing, yet also like stumbling upon a treasure: with each corner we turned, we found more exotic aircraft!

Fast-forward seven years: a new assignment within my company has me visiting China frequently, and I was eager to revisit Datangshan. My first opportunity was canceled by rain; since I had a driver anyway and had eight hours to kill I visited the Military Museum in downtown Beijing instead. The museum is a huge building next to the Department of Defense exhibiting a vast collection of weaponry, including guns, swords, armored vehicles and, more interestingly, aircraft. A nice line-up of Chinese-built, Russian-designed fighters (a J-5, J-6, J-7 and an early J-8) can be found in the center hall of the museum, behind the large Mao statue at the entrance.

The museum holds a number of prizes. One very interesting exhibit is one of three Taiwanese U-2s that were shot down during the 1960s. The wreckage has been pieced together like in a crash investigation. There are also an F-86D, a T-33A, and a De Havilland U-1 Beaver, whose Taiwanese pilots either deflected or got lost, in a courtyard next to the center hall.

It was Sunday and the museum was packed with Chinese families, young and old, male and female, gazing at all the hardware. Photography in the Military Museum is hard; the lighting in the center hall is OK, but the swarms of people drive you mad. In the courtyard, the lighting is very difficult and the aircraft are close to each-other.

Later that week, the weather had improved so I arranged for a car again. (You cannot rent a car in China and drive it yourself.) When Datangshan appeared on the road signs, I pointed out the lone rock to the driver -- that’s where we were going!

Approaching on a normal two lane road, you arrive at a crossing and take a right. Suddenly you realize you are on a taxiway! The taxiway leads up to the main gate of the museum, located on a disused airbase. Upon entering the museum, you immediately notice the large bomber and transport aircraft, helicopters and "regular" fighters to the left -- rows of them! Later you’ll even find a junkyard in the far corner. Taking a couple of steps further on the right you will notice the big rock has a tunnel in it. The tunnel houses the most precious aircraft of the collection.

My return visit was a bit of an anti-climax. Compared to seven years before, the aircraft were more neatly arranged in rows, with pedestals with information in front of them. Few new exhibits had been added to the collection. Nor had the landscaping changed much, with the transports and bombers between hedges and trees in the centre part of the museum and the fighters on gravel and grass on the far side.

It is hard to compare the Chinese Aviation Museum with museums in Europe and the US. Some people have compared it with the Pima Air and Space Museum, but the tunnel sets it apart, as do the rows of MiG-15s, MiG-17 / J-5s, and MiG-19 / J-6s on display. It has less diversity (allegedly some 100 types, but I think they count every single variant of J-5, J-6 and J-7 in the collection separately), but more aircraft (over 200) than most museums. Some of the aircraft look like they have been outside ever since the museum’s 1989 opening. Most are weathered, and corroded, with paint peeling and parts missing. However, the same can be said of many museums elsewhere.

Photography outside at the China Aviation Museum is OK. There is enough room to use various focal lengths and during my visits there were not too many other visitors to obstruct photos. (The worst one was my driver, who trailed far behind and had to be cloned out of several shots.) Trees get in the way and the background is often cluttered with vehicles and telephone wires, but some creative angles can solve that. Some of the larger aircraft are parked close to each other though, and large signs are situated immediately in front of the aircraft. Inside the tunnel, photography is a nightmare! Bring a tripod, (I didn’t…) as it’s too dark to hand-hold and using a flash makes things even worse.

Some early Chinese aircraft and replicas are on display in the tunnel. The first Chinese to fly was Feng Ru, in an aircraft he built himself in the United States on September 21, 1909. He then travelled back to China and was killed in a flying accident in Yantang, Guangzhou in August 1912. A replica of his second aircraft is shown.

Both museums exhibit P-51Ds in Chinese markings. The American Volunteer Group, and later the US 14th Air Force, the "Flying Tigers," causes a dilemma for the Chinese aviation museums. Although they later became opponents, the Americans were allies during World War Two. So US P-40s and P-51s are described as having been flown by "American volunteer heroes, foreign friends fighting to defeat the Japanese aggressors."

China and the United States were no longer allies by 1950. It is amusing, in a way, to read the museum’s descriptions of the MiG-15s / J-2s with which "Chinese heroes shot down American aggressors." During the Korean War, the general public, including children, collected money to buy their heroes MiG-15s. Even a Chinese opera-star donated one. Some of the donated airframes are on display in the tunnel, as are several MiGs sporting kill-markings. There is an F-86 as well, donated by and in the markings of the Pakistan Air Force.

The Chinese aviation industry relied heavily on its Soviet allies from the late 1940s until the early 1960s. The main aircraft types were acquired from the Soviet Union, license-built, or developed from Soviet designs. The People’s Liberation Army Air Force (PLAAF) flew lesser-known early Russian jets like the MiG-9 and Yak-17, both of which are display in the tunnel. The MiG-9 in particular is a bulky little aircraft, powered by copied two German BMW 003 engines. Three huge canon barrels, one 37mm and two 23mm, protrude from its fuselage and air-intake – enough, it seems, to stop it in mid-air if fired at the same time! The MiG-9 first flew in 1946, and the PLAAF was the type’s only foreign user. The Ýak-17 is a slightly more graceful design; a two-seater stands opposite to its Soviet rival.

After receiving MiG-15s from the Soviet Union, the Shenyang company subsequently manufactured the MiG-15 (as the J-2 and J-4), MiG-17 (J-5) and MiG-19 (J-6) under license, further developing and exporting them. The J is the Chinese fighter designation ("Jianjiji"). For export, F-designations are used ("Fighter"); the museum uses the export designations. Shenyang also developed two-seat versions of the MiG-17 and MiG-19, known as JJ-5 / FT-5 and JJ-6 / FT-6.

Nanchang developed the MiG-19 into a ground-attack aircraft, the Nanchang Q-5 ("Qiang" for attack), or A-5 as it is known for export. The air intakes were moved to the side of the fuselage to make room for a radome, and a bomb bay was added to the fuselage. Several different versions are on display at Datangshan, including one with a very ugly, drooping radome.

Chengdu started a licensing-project for the MiG-21 (J-7), but the Soviets halted their cooperation in 1960. The project was restarted in 1962 with limited Soviet aid, but still the Chinese had to reverse-engineer many parts of the design. Development was delayed still further by the Cultural Revolution ("re-educating" scientists and engineers and deporting them to work on farms), so mass-production of the J-7 only started in the 1980s.

In the 1960s, Shenyang started development of the J-8/F-8, believed to be based on the record-breaking Mikoyan-Gurevich Ye152. The aircraft eventually went into service in December 1980. The J-8 compares to the J-7 as the Mirage IV compares to the Mirage III: similar in appearance, but twice the size and with twice the number of engines. The F-8-II is a further development, with the air-intakes to the side of the fuselage. These fighters are huge and ungainly. The F-8-II is best known for colliding with a US Navy EP-3 over Hainan Island in 2001.

A further project for a very small fighter, the F-12, was cancelled in the late 1970s. Of five surviving examples, two are on display at Datangshan: one on a stick near the entrance, another in the tunnel. Other prototypes on display include a small jet-trainer, the FT-1.

The PLAAF used many Tu-2 dive-bombers. Dating back to WWII, the Tu-2 served until 1985! It saw action in Korea and Tibet, and was used to bomb ice jams in the Yangtze River! Other bombers on display in the tunnel include a Mosquito replica, a Kawasaki 99 replica, and several Ilyushin Il-28 / Harbin B-5s. Outside, there are more B-5s, several Tupolev Tu-16 Badgers / Xian H-6s and a lone Beriev Be-2 on display.

Also outside are two very interesting Tupolev Tu-4s. During WWII, three B-29s diverted into Russia and were promptly interned. These were reverse-engineered into the Tu-4 Bull, which made its first flight in 1947. Apparently only three examples survive, including the two at Datangshan. The Chinese used the Tu-4 until the early 1970s. Some, including these two, were retrofitted with Ivchenko AI-20K turboprop engines. One of the Tu-4s on display is a prototype for an AEW variant, with a radar antenna on top of its fuselage. It first flew in 1967, but the project was cancelled in 1971. The other Tu-4 carries drones under its wings.

Transports on display are a mix of early US and Russian aircraft. Military transports include C-46s, C-47s, and Chinese license-built Li-2s (which were Russian DC-3 copies; later models had four-bladed props and special cold-climate protection). Civilian aircraft include a Convair 240, DC-3, Il-14M, Il-18, An-2 / Y-5, An-24, Tu-124, Trident, Viscount-810, Il-62 and DC-8.

One really out-of-place aircraft in the collection is an Italian F-104S ASA, serial number mm6795, donated by the Italian Air Force. No mention is made of the fact that during the Vietnam War, a PLAAF F-6 shot down a USAF F-104C that had strayed over Hainan Island. Another oddity is a replica of an AH-64 Apache. A Chinese colonel allegedly fabricated the life-size model in his spare time! When I first saw it in 2001 I couldn’t believe my eyes, until I realized it was a fake. It is on display next to a Mi-24 Hind in wild camouflage, which has bullet-holes in the Perspex of its front cockpit.

As in any museum, there are memorabilia and models on display as well. These include general and Chinese aviation facts, dioramas, and pictures of numerous aircraft from all over the world. There are several monuments, and on the side of the rock there’s even a little chapel.

All in all, the atmosphere at both museums is very Chinese (of course!), which makes visiting them a unique experience when compared to visiting US and European museums. If you are ever travelling in China, be sure to include the Military Museum in downtown Beijing and/or the China Aviation Museum in Datangshan on your itinerary. The latter is on the route to the Great Wall, so if planned well, it could be seen in a combined day-trip. Before you go, make sure you know the difference between a J-2, J-5, J-6, J-7 and J-8 by doing some homework!

Acknowledgements

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