Photos from Eastern Europe

[Deleted]

I’m going to put up some photos taken by my son during his plane-spotting days, accompanied by such details as I have - or can guess. There are log books to go with these, but they are extensive and I haven't had time as yet to cross-reference all the details. He made a number of overseas trips, including one by road to Moscow, with a Manchester-based aviation group (RATS for anyone who remembers them) and the photos which follow are from those days – about 1990-1993. Sadly my son lost his life as the result of a tragic accident in December last year and in going through his aviation-related personal effects, I came across these photos, which I wanted to share with everyone, not least because some of them are quite unique.






A rare visit to what I am guessing is Manchester by an Air Koryo IL-62. (I know Manchester isn't quite Eastern Europe yet, but let's imagine it was at the start of the trip, because it fits into the narrative more easily ).






One of the places they stopped at on the way to Moscow was Warsaw, which was going through the post-Soviet era, but there was still plenty of Soviet-built equipment about, including what I suspect is the Tu-154 which crashed in Smolensk with the Polish PM on board.

More to follow...

[gonetech]

Fantastic to see these photos and the upcoming ones! Im sure many people will enjoy these.

[ian531]

Hi

Great start to the thread and nice to see your sons photos

The Air Koryo was in for the youth games I think, definitely the days before the internet. Can you image this coming in now, you wouldn’t be able to move at the airport.

I remember seeing the RATS Transit mini bus at the old brickyard, I surprised it got to Barton let alone Russia

Ian

[Deleted]

May 4, 2019 17:33:56 GMT 1 ian531 said:

Hi

Great start to the thread and nice to see your sons photos

The Air Koryo was in for the youth games I think, definitely the days before the internet. Can you image this coming in now, you wouldn’t be able to move at the airport.

I remember seeing the RATS Transit mini bus at the old brickyard, I surprised it got to Barton let alone Russia

Ian

I saw it a few times too, but I think by that time they'd got another one. It certainly got them there and back to Russia OK, though, much to everyone's surprise!

[Deleted]

I am tempted to call this one Hungarian Rhapsody. A visit was made by RATS to Hungary one summer, tempted by the (then) novel idea of being able to fly in an AN-2. Personally I've always liked Hungary. Budapest is one of my favourite cites and in the Soviet era, you could always get a decent meal there, and not just goulash and Bull's Blood wine, either! Anyway, on with the photos. I think these were taken at Budaörs Airport, originally the main airport for Budapest, but which had long been replaced by Ferihegy:







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The final photo was on the same strip as the AN-2s, presumably taken whilst on board the AN-2. I assume it's somewhere near Budapest (perhaps even at the other side of the airfield), and looks like a DC-3 or possibly an Li-2 - I believe Malev operated both:

[Samba]

Thanks for sharing the memories with us all , much appreciated.

[Deleted]

Some more photos, this time from Monino. I must confess that when I saw these, I was quite jealous, because despite my dozens of visits to Moscow, I never did get to visit Monino properly. Invariably when I went there, it was closed (even when it said it would be open). I was allowed into part of it many years ago, by sweet talking a babushka into allowing me to have a quick look around. My son's visit was organised beforehand and if I remember correctly they saw everything that was there:



The Tu-114 stands guard near the entrance. The departing Lada adds an additional Russian touch. The sign says 'market'. I don't know where the market is. I've never seen one there.



I would have liked to have seen one of these fly. The Soviets were never afraid to design and build huge aircraft.



...speaking of which, Mi-10?




I often used to wonder why the Li-2 had the passenger door on the starboard side. Apparently the plans bought by the Russians were taken from the original DC-3s of American Airlines as ordered by Cyrus R Smith, then president of American Airlines.




SU-T4 (which afaik was never given a NATO reporting name) and SU-25 (Frogfoot)



Every time I see an aircraft designed by Myasishchev, I wonder what they used to smoke in the design department. I suppose they were the equivalent of Lockheed's Skunk Works in their day, tasked with coming up with revolutionary ideas and they certainly fulfilled the five-year plan in that respect!

More pics to follow...

[ian531]

Brilliant
Ian

[Deleted]

A couple more from Hungary, which will close this part of the thread.




Despite the Soviet registration, I believe (largely going by the backdrop), that this photo was also taken at Budaörs Airport.

And a few more from Monino: