The Republic of
China Air Force Museum (空軍軍史館)
is located near the Gangshan Air Force Base at Gan Shan , Kaohsiung.
The museum building was completed on August 14th, 1987. The exhibition
area of the museum spans over an area of 3 hectares, which consists of
various collections of artifacts, archives, weapons, engines and
airplanes.
The outdoor exhibits are situated in the camp compound across the road
and sadly not open to the public. Most of the aircraft types are
visible in the Aviation Hall, except for the Curtiss C-46 Commando,
the Fairchild C-119G Flying Boxcar, The C-123K Provider and the
Douglas DC-6B.
The Aviation Hall is open all year round from 8 am till 5 pm, and is
run by a civil staff. You can wander around at will, with no
interference at all.
During your visit you can also 'strenghten' your inner-being in
air-conditioned comfort : food, drinks, snacks, souvenirs... Not so
surprising, as the Museum is managed by a local business group from
the food industry.
In the first building, before entering the main Hall, there are a
couple of scale models and a time map underlining the significant
ROCAF events, like battles and the related aircraft types.
The Hall
itself has a walkway, that is a partial circumferential part of the
building with some suspended aircraft and others displayed on the
ground floor. Around the main hall some rooms are dedicated to
specialized displays.
The first room contains old mark munitions, a bomb area and an
adjacent row of missiles and systems. Of these latter, the most
interesting are, without a doubt, the locally developed IR Tien
Chien-1 and the radar guided Tien Chien-2. These are the indigenous
equivalents of the AIM-9 Sidewinder and AIM-7 Sparrow. Along with the
anti-aircraft theme you can find an old towed 40mm Bofors gun. The
other part of the room is dedicated to the power plants including
in-line engines, radial engines and jet engines.
The next room is also very interesting, featering a Lockheed F-104G,
with opened panels to reveal the inner structure of this fighter. Next
to it you will find a full scale mockup of a P-40 Warhawk "Flying
Tiger" cockpit.
Time now to get into the main display area were the planes are
located.
The ROCAF is the Asian Air Force operating the largest variety of
aircraft since its launch. In the Hall there are mainly post-war
types. Aircraft from WWII and before were probably scrapped before
there was even a notion of preservation.
Many USAF aircraft of the 50's and 60's were deployed by the ROCAF but
sadly no more examples are currently preserved in Taiwan. RF-84F,
RB-57D, F-86 were all returned to the US after they ended service in
the ROCAF. Others, like the P2V/RB-69 from the Black Cat Squadron were
mostly lost in operations.
Time now to walk into the past of the ROCAF. The Taiwanese Aviation
Hall can be set at the top ranking of Asian aviation museum
considering its location, exhibits and facilities. |
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| A
nice collection of clothes in relation with the ROCAF |
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AN-M65A1
1,000 lb General Purpose Bomb - Domestically-Built CM105 Propaganda
Bomb - M117 750 lb General Purpose Bomb
AN-M64A1 500 lb General Purpose Bomb - AN-M58A2
500 lb Semi-Armor-Piercing Bomb - MK-82 Snake-Eye Bomb
M-116A2 750 lb Napalm - GBU-10F/B Laser-Guided Bomb |
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5-Inch
High Velocity Aerial Rocket - AGM-12B Air-to-Ground Missile - AIM-9B
Air-to-Air Sidewinder Missile - Sky Sword I (Tien Chien I missile)
Sky Sword II (Tien Chien II missile) - AN/GRT-3 & AN/GRC-27 Radio
Transmitters - AN/ALQ-71 & AN/ALQ-72 Electronic Countermeasure
Pods |
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| Towed
40mm Bofors gun |
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Pratt
& Whitney R-2800-52W - Pratt
& Whitney R-2000-7M
Pratt & Whitnay |
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Lycoming
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| General
Electric J79-GE-11B - General Electric |
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Some
industrial desk models |
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| Superbly
educational this Lockheed F-104G Starfighter |
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| Main
Display Area |
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Xianyi
Rosamonde was the first aircraft to fly in the Republic of China
The plane is a derivative of the Curtiss Jenny and made is first
flight on July 12th, 1923 |
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Sun
Yat-sen (12-11-1866 * 12/03/1925)
He was a Chinese philosopher, physician, and politician. He was the
first president of the Republic of China and the first leader of the
Kuomintang. He is on the picture with his wife Rosamonde and the Xianyi
aircraft |
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| North
American P-51D Mustang (1945 - 1954) |
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Boeing
PT-17 Kaydet
(1943 - 1958) |
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| Douglas
A-26C Invader (1957 - 1960) |
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| North
American AT-16 Texan (1946 - 1960) |
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| Pazmany
/ AIDC
(1968 - 1982) |
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Beech
T-34C Turbo Mentor (1985 - Active) |
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| AIDC
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| De
Havilland U-6A Beaver (1972 - 1991) |
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| De
Havilland U-6A Beaver (1972 - 1991) |
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Cessna
O-1G Bird Dog (1971 - 1985) |
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| Bell
(1950 - 1955) second batch (1972 - 1978) |
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| Hughes
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| Bell
/ AIDC UH-1H Iroquois (1971 - Active) |
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| North
American T-28D Trojan (1970 - 1978) |
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| Beech
Kansan (1950 - 1958) |
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Cessna
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| Douglas
C-47A Skytrain (1942 - 1994) |
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| Boeing
B-720 (1971 - 1991) |
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| Boeing
B-720 |
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| Grumman
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| Grumman
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| Grumman
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| Grumman
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| Republic
F-84G Thunderjet (1953 - 1960) |
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| Republic
F-84G Thunderjet (1953 - 1960) |
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North
American |
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| North
American |
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| Lockheed
T-33A Shooting Star (1953 - 1989) |
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| Lockheed
T-33A Shooting Star (1953 - 1989) |
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| North
American (1960
- 1984) |
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| Lockheed
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| Lockheed
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| Northrop
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| Northrop
/ AIDC F-5F Chung Cheng (1979 - Active) |
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People's
Republic of China
(The
sworn enemy) |
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| Mikoyan
Gurevitch Mig-15 Fagot was flown to Taoyuan Air Base by communist
defector Chengsi Liu from Zhejiang's Luqiao Air Base (03/03/1962) |
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| Mikoyan
Gurevitch |
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| Mikoyan
Gurevitch |
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| Mikoyan
Gurevitch |
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| Mikoyan
Gurevitch |
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Mikoyan
Gurevitch |
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| Mikoyan
Gurevitch |
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| Cold
War light bomber: The Ilyushin Il-28 Beagle was a jet bomber of the
immediate postwar period. It was also licence-built in China as the
Harbin H-5 |
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The
rear power driven turret armed with two
Nudelman-Suranov NS-23 23mm gun with 250 rounds each |
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Ilyushin
Il-28 Beagle 0195
was flown to Tainan Air Base by three communist defectors, Xian-bin
Li, Cai-wang Li, and Bao-sheng Lian, from Zhejiang's Jiangqiao Air
Base (11/11/1965) |
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| Aircraft
not visible in the museum complex |
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Curtiss
C-46 Commando
(ROCAF Museum Archives via Web) |
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Fairchild
C-119G Flying Boxcar
(ROCAF Museum Archives via Web) |
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Faichild
C-123K Provider
(ROCAF
Museum Archives via Web) |
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Douglas
DC-6B
(ROCAF Museum Archives via Web) |
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| For
more informations or to plan a visit, feel free to click on the Museum
logo |
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