Istanbul - Museum of Military Aviation - 14/11/12

November saw my wife and I taking a few days break in Istanbul, courtesy of British Airways from Heathrow. Our ride to Ataturk was Boeing 767-300 G-BNWX and the journey back to the UK was courtesy of Airbus A320 G-EUUU.

One of the many highlights of our first trip to this amazing city was the opportunity to visit the Havacilik Muzesi (Military Aviation Museum) at Yesilkoy, some 15 miles west of the city. There are about 60 aircraft on display here, the majority located outside in the immaculately tended grounds, and there is also an extensive collection of artefacts within the museum buildings.

The museum is very easy to get to; trains to Yesilkoy run every 15 minutes from Istanbul’s main Sirkeci station and the fare is a ‘flat-rate’ 3 Tl (about £1.20 at 2012 exchange rates). There is an admission charge of 4Tl (about £1.60) per person, though if you want to take pictures you will also have to buy a camera permit (8Tl) at the ticket office.

Dramatically guarding the entrance to the site is Lockheed F104G Starfighter 22344.

There are a few aircraft kept in the indoor exhibition hangar but this area was closed due to work taking place on the building roof. This shot was taken through a glass panel in one of the doors and shows PZL 24G ‘2145’, DH89 Dragon Rapide ‘TC-ERK’ and a very rare Curtiss-Wright CW22B Falcon TC-TK15.

One of two Douglas C47 Skytrains at the museum is C47B 6008/H-008.

Cessna T37C ‘Tweety Bird’ 39835/TE-385/2-835.

Another rarity is reconnaissance-fitted Lockheed RT33A 1543.

General views of the display rows.

Republic RF84F Thunderflash 1917.

Markings of ‘The Swans’ display team adorn this Canadair CL13 Sabre 2 19268.

Another aircraft wearing special markings is Republic F84G Thunderjet 110572.

A ‘new’ type for me was Convair F102 Delta Dagger 53386. Turkey was one of two export customers for the type, the other being Greece.

The Turkish Air Force was a prolific user of the North American F100 Super Sabre. Three are on display at Yesilkoy – this particular example, 54-2089/3-089, is an F100C.

1967-vintage McDonnell F4E Phantom 67-0360.

Beech T34C Mentor 2-220/OK-20.

The Vickers Viscount was not widely used in military service but the Turkish Air Force was one of the few operators. The museum’s example, 430, is a series 794D that was delivered to Turkish Airlines as TC-SEL in 1958, before passing to the military in 1971.

Another none-too-common type is the SIAT 223 Flamingo. TC-EAF is the example on display at Yesilkoy.

Dominating the outside display is immaculate Douglas C54D Skymaster 10683, acquired from the USAF in 1959.

It’s always nice to see an airliner being well looked after in preservation and Sud SE210 Caravelle 10B TC-ABA does look as though it gets regular helpings of TLC. This particular airframe served with Swiss airline SATA/CTA for 18years as HB-ICN , before passing to the fairly short-lived Istanbul Airlines in 1988.

Transall C160D 69-022 previously served with the German Air Force as 50+14.

Robinson R22 Beta 10230 was used by the Turkish Army in the ab-initio training role.

Ex-German aircraft have often found their way to Turkey. Dornier Do28D Skyservant 10022 is no exception and was previously operated by the German Air Force as 58+31. The letters K.K. on the tail indicate that this aircraft served with the Turkish Army (Kara Kuvvetleri).

Another unusual type to find in military service is the Bellanca 7 Citabria. 10104 was a Turkish Army example.

The military version of the ubiquitous Cessna 185 Skywagon is the UC17A, here represented by Turkish Army 11357.

PZL 104 Wilga TC-ECL.

Yet another rarity! 6930/9-930 is a navigation-trainer version of the classic Beech 18/C45 and is known as the AT11 Kansan.

Republic P47D Thunderbolt DE-21/TC-21.

The other C47 at Yesilkoy is YSL-52, a C47A.

Representing the Turkish Navy is a Grumman S2E Tracker, still wearing its US Navy BuAer number 149877.