Must See Areas in Vietnam Air Force Museum – How History was Made

The museum's smaller exhibits are housed in a three storied building that has displays of uniforms, flight suits, helmets and possessions of downed fliers, weapons, engines, bits and pieces from crashed US aircraft, photos of 'top guns' with descriptions of their exploits, wartime propaganda posters, maps, dioramas of how Vietnamese crews shot down the 'aggressors' and collections of bombs and missiles. Visitors are encouraged to climb into the intact forward section of a MiG - 21 fighter displayed here to have their photo taken.

Outside the building in a static park located in part of a disused airfield, are the more interesting exhibits of planes used in the various wars of Vietnamese, Chinese and Russian origin, AA guns, truck mounted and ground based radar installations and bulldozers.

MiG 19, 15 and 21 fighters are given pride of place and are stationed right at the entrance gateway. Although Vietnam's tropical weather has taken its toll of the aircraft, they are still in good condition. Kills of each pilot are presented in a series of red stars near the cockpit. Rocket assist pods, air to air missiles and bombs are still fitted on to the planes. Among the training craft is the Czechoslovakian L-29 Delfin jet. Anantara Mui Ne Resort & Spa, a popular beach resort in Mui Ne organizes regular excursion to Hanoi for its guests

For many oversea visitors the must see area is the Russian designed helicopters as they cannot be viewed outside of Russia. Items that generate a great deal of interest is the Kamov KA -25 maritime helicopter with contra rotating rotors and no tail rotor, the assault version of the Mi-24 A used in 149 battles, Mi-4 piston engine light transport, the massive Mi-6, the largest helicopter ever built, that was used for really heavy lifting and the S-64 Tahre Sky Crane that can even accommodate 120 people. Other Russian aircraft of interest is the AN-2 Colt that reputedly participated in a rocket attack against a South Vietnamese radar installation.

On display are several US aircraft that were taken intact towards the end of the Second Indo China War. They were put to use to subdue the South Vietnamese military and were also used in the Vietnam – Cambodia War. The must see aircraft here is the O – 1 Bird Dog observation plane, A – 37 Dragonfly ground attack jet, an F-5 fighter bomber, an A-1 Sky Raider and a UH-1 Huey helicopter. They all display Vietnamese air force colours. Descriptions in English of what they were used for after capture is provided alongside the aircraft.

Among the other interesting exhibits is the tiny space capsule that launched the first Vietnamese cosmonaut, the TL-1 the first plane to be designed and manufactured by the Vietnamese, wrecks of downed US aircraft and all manner of objects collected from former US bases. Visitors are allowed to touch the exhibits outside the display cases. Restrictions don't apply