Riga Aviation Museum
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The Aviation Museum near the international airport of Latvia's capital Riga is in a way more a junkyard than a museum proper, but for those into Soviet aircraft it's an absolute gem of a site. Amongst the highlights is a specimen of one of the largest helicopters ever built and you can even go inside. >Combinations with other dark destinations
>Combinations with non-dark destinations
More background info: The Riga Aviation Museum (or Riga Airmuseum, as its new website now has it) is the private initiative of founder-director Victor Talpa, a retired aircraft engineer who once served in the Black Sea Navy but also worked for Aeroflot. The collection grew out of training equipment for the Young Pilots' Club, starting with a used MiG-21.
The Club folded due to lack of funding after the collapse of the Soviet Union in 1991, but the director managed to secure help from the administration and was given the premises to store the old equipment next to Riga's international airport. The whole collection was moved there in 1998/1999. Then in 2022 it was moved again to a new location, still by the international airport, but now on the other side of it, so unfortunately no longer so conveniently within walking distance from the airport arrivals/departure lounges. Now you need to take a bus from Riga (see below).
Thanks to his good contacts within the military Talpa rescued many a Soviet-era aircraft from around the region including some very rare gems. The collection has developed into the current museum, but still feels more like a repair workshop cum junkyard. But that in its own way adds to the specific charm of the place.
You can see the guy whose pet project this museum is still pottering about constantly mending bits and pieces of equipment. Sometimes he gives visitors impromptu guided tours (at whim though – it's not part of the admission fee!).
Goodness knows what will become of this place when he gets too old to look after the museum like this. I hope there will be some kind of successor prepared to continue this endearing project.
What there is to see: If you fly into Riga on a commercial airliner and happen to sit by a window on the correct side of the plane you can even get an aerial view of the museum (for free, as it were).
The largest piece in the collection will immediately catch your attention even from a distance: a massive dart-shaped plane with a big red Soviet star on its tail fin. This is a Tupolev Tu-22M (NATO code name “Backfire”), a supersonic strategic bomber of Soviet design from the late 1960s/early 1970s that was produced until well into the 1990s and is still in use in the Russian Air Force today.
Before the introduction of the Tu-160 and the American B1, the Tu-22M was the largest variable-swing wing plane in the world. It is a truly impressive relic of the Cold War, rarely seen in museums.
On the ground you can't get closer to it than viewing it over a fence. And for that you don't even have to enter the museum grounds proper. Just walk up the long-stay car parks and peek over the wall to see the plane from behind.
The second-most notable aircraft on display can also be seen from afar, but it only properly hits you with its immense size the minute you set foot onto the premises. This is a Mil-Mi-6 helicopter. And a true monster of a helicopter it is.
It was long the world's biggest, heaviest and at the same time fastest helicopter. Its rotor blades have a diameter of 36m (almost 120 feet)!! It was able to carry small tanks or armoured personnel carriers inside its big belly, or 65 passengers, or lift electricity pylons and other heavy cargo into place.
This is also the one aircraft that you are allowed to clamber around inside of. And being able to inspect the Soviet-era cockpit technology from close up is indeed a rare treat. Visitors of small enough build could even take a seat inside the aircraft's glass nose.
Many other planes in this collection are in somewhat bad shape, a few have large sections missing, so they look more like wrecks than like your typical shiny museum exhibits. Fairly intact additional aircraft that are quite impressive include a MiG-25, the second fastest jet airplane ever built (beaten only by the USA's legendary SR-71 Blackbird), and a couple of MiG-23s.
A number of other MiGs (15, 21, 29), Sukhoi 7s, and some civilian planes are about too as well as yet more helicopters – but none are as impressive as those mentioned above. There are also small training planes as well as a number of vehicles (including an airport fire engine).
Furthermore you can see plenty of parts of planes, e.g. a row of sawn-off cockpit sections of civilian aircraft, lone pieces of landing gear, missiles, rocket launchers, propellers, various jet engines and other bits and pieces (literally strewn about), adding further to the junk-yard atmosphere. I found it quite endearing.
There is virtually no commodification or information except for some specs sheets for some of the planes (those in better shape mostly). These are at least also given in English. But this is really only for technology geeks. Nothing is made out of the aircraft's actual roles or the (Cold-War) politics behind their development.
So this museum is probably not for everyone but will primarily appeal to fans of vintage aircraft of Soviet design. If you can get a certain kick out of shabby-chic as well, all the better. Just don't expect to learn a lot here or be presented with shiny restored machines. It's more a private, informal junkyard-like playground for big boys. I admit I enjoyed it (but my wife refused to even come along, preferring to while away her time in the hotel sauna).
Location: no longer conveniently located right next to Riga's international airport's arrivals and departure halls, but now moved to a new location on the other side of the airport at the address Skultes iela 35.
Google Maps locator: [56.9188, 23.9595]
Access and costs: No longer easily walkable to from the airport, but now a longish bus ride from Riga city centre; not particularly cheap by Latvian standards, but OK.
Details: In the past you could find the museum just a few minutes' walk north past the passenger terminal of Riga's international airport opposite the long-stay parking lots. But then in 2022 the museum was moved to a new location on the other side of the airport, which means it is no longer quite so convenient to get there. Now you need to take a bus: line 43 to Skultes iela. This does NOT go via the airport, but you can get on at the large bus stop on13 janvara iela just south of Riga’s Old Town. The ride takes about 40 minutes.
Opening times: normally/nominally Mondays to Fridays from 9 or 10 a.m. to 5 or 6 p.m., and by appointment only at weekends. But this is all quite theoretical anyway, as you are dependent on whether or not the curator/director is in or not, and for that those stated times are merely a rough guideline but are not guaranteed.
You have to ring the bell by the gate to be let in. If the curator is not in for whatever reason and no one answers, you can try calling the phone number posted at the gate (+371 26862707) and you might get him to cycle up and open the gate for you. He speaks Russian and a bit of English and German (in addition to Latvian, of course).
Admission: 10 EUR (children 5 EUR).
Time required: tech freaks can probably poke around for a couple of hours here; I spent about 45 minutes (also taking advantage of the incredible photo ops), but I saw some groups of visitors spending no more than 10 minutes in the museum.
Combinations with other dark destinations: see under Riga.
If you arrive by plane at Riga airport you can also first pick up a hire car and go independently exploring other parts of Latvia, as well as neighbouring Lithuania, before taking to the city. That's what I did on my Easter 2014 round trip. After touring those two countries extensively I dropped the car off at Riga airport before exploring Riga itself (where a car is not needed and you can't park so easily anywhere) and then pushed on to Tallinn and back by bus.
Combinations with non-dark destinations: see under Riga.
