On the way back from the visit to Aerostar, the opportunity arose to visit the Muzeul Naţional al Aviaţiei Române in Bucharest. Having already visited the museum at its old location at Otopeni in 2001, the author was able to discover pleasing developments at the new location on the former Pipera airfield.
The first MiG-21F-13 delivered to Romania, which used to be exposed to the weather in the open-air area, ...
... is today shown lovingly restored in a hall – ...
... together with an R11F-300 engine ...
... and a MiG-21 simulator.
The other indoor exhibits are also in well-kept condition, including this L-29, ...
... a MiG-19PM, ...
... a MiG-17PF, ...
... an Aero 45, ...
... a MiG-15 ...
... and a Yak-23.
In the open-air area, MiG-21s of all versions flown in Romania can be seen in varying states of preservation, which the author had last seen during the Romania tour 2006, such as MiG-21M 503 ...
... and MiG-21PFM 8006 at Caracal.
MiG-21US 3910 had also been stored at Caracal at that time, ...
... while MiG-21R 2007 ...
... and MiG-21U 1120 stood at Craiova.
In contrast, the two MiG-21F-13s 714 ...
... and 711 already belonged to the museum collection in 2001.
710 is a MiG-21M that was modified to LanceR A standard but is shown in the museum in LanceR C colours.
The prototype of the MiG-29 Sniper upgrade programme, which never went into series production, can also be seen in the open-air area.
Next to it stand IAR-93 single- and two-seaters, L-39s and further examples of the types already seen in the hall, such as ...
... MiG-19PM, ...
... Yak-23, ...
... MiG-15 – this time in the two-seat UTI version – ...
