Russian museums: The Museum of the Air Force of the Northern Fleet opened after the reconstruction

In the village Safonovo of the Murmansk region took place the solemn ceremony of the Museum of the Air Force of the Northern Fleet.

During the restoration works, which began in 2013, it was carried out a thorough reconstruction of the buildings of the museum, built a hangar for storage of historical aircraft, renovated house-museum of Yuri Gagarin. After the reconstruction the fleet has found one of the most modern museum complexes in the region.

The Museum of the Air Force of the Northern Fleet was established in the year of the 40th anniversary of creation of the first air association on August 20, 1976, in the village Safonovo on the site of the first airfield for seaplanes.

It was created on the initiative of aviators as the unintended museum education by the current pilots, engineers and aviation technicians in record time - just 11 months. Old warehouse reconnaissance regiment was renovated and became the main building of the museum complex, which today consists of 3 main parts.

The central building is a museum of the history of the Air Force of the Northern Fleet. The exposition provides an opportunity to get a clear idea of ​​the development of naval aviation in the north. The halls present photos, documents and personal belongings of soldiers, airmen, aircraft models from different periods of history.

The house-museum of Yuri Gagarin, where he lived with his family in years of service in the Arctic before enrolling in the cosmonaut, - is a separate object of the museum complex. It was transported to Safonovo in 1983 from the village Luostari (now Korzunovo). 

Hangar with a unique collection of pre-war aviation technology, military and post-war period is one of the most interesting parts of the museum complex. The exposition includes more than 25 exhibits, 10 of which - the plane in which Soviet pilots flew during the Great Patriotic War.

In the hangar there is also a car ZIS-5 which was used for maintenance of airfields of the Northern Fleet aviation, radio-controlled target La-17, cabin-trainer MiG-21 and other aircraft.