German and Soviet Military Traces in Jüterbog

The area around Jüterbog, about 1 hour and 15 minutes south of Berlin by car, has enjoyed a long military tradition, dating from the years of the Kaiser and WWI, through the Third Reich and all the more than four decades of the Cold War, until the departure of the Soviet Army in the early 1990s.

Almost for the entire duration of the 20th century, the area has been scattered with barracks, immense training grounds, shooting ranges, officer’s houses, army administration buildings, technical depots, airports and military academies.

The town of Jüterbog is actually much older than the 20th century, but the Soviets, who grew to a much greater population than the Germans in town after 1945, did not pay much attention to this nice medieval town. Following their withdrawal and the end of all military operations around, the town center received substantial money for restoration from the Government of reunified Germany, and the result is really remarkable – Jüterbog is today possibly one of the most lively and nice-looking centers in the region, with medieval towers, gates and churches, hotels, restaurants and bright-painted houses all around.

However, one hundred years of military activities in this province could not be wiped out at once, and despite nature is now invading the old army premises after operations ceased, to a careful eye the heritage of the German and Soviet Armies stationed there can be spotted quite easily, immediately out the lovely historical town.

Perhaps the most prominent witnesses of the past activities are the old flight academy, installed in the Third Reich years and later employed also by the Soviets, who got control of the area after they arrived in 1945, and kept it even after the foundation of the GDR and the corresponding Armed Forces (i.e. the Nationale Volksarmee, or NVA). The flight academy is today a listed building, despite in a state of partial disrepair. Another example is the big airbase of Jüterbog/Altes Lager, which went on operating as an NVA and Soviet airbase until the very end of the Cold War, and is now being used as a sport airfield, a kart circuit track, an event venue and a solar power plant.

Both these two items are covered in another chapter.

In the following report, more locations in and around Jüterbog are pinpointed, photographed during two visits, partly guided by the knowledgeable Dr. Reiner Helling, in the Summer seasons of 2021 and 2022.

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Sights

The material in this post covers ‘Shelter Albrecht’, a one-of-a-kind private collection of items from WWII and especially from Soviet times, more views of the former airfield of Altes Lager, with a Granit bunker still in very good conditions, an abandoned military hospital with evident traces of Soviet operations, a Soviet cemetery, and a few more items, silent and overlooked witnesses of a recently bygone era.

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Shelter Albrecht

The airbase of Jüterbog/Altes Lager was selected by the Soviets for further development with the arrival of jets in the late 1940s-early 1950s, and grew to be a prominent attack aircraft and helicopter base in the territory of the GDR. Now reduced in size to the point that some taxiways have been turned into public roads, some of the incredibly many aircraft shelters originally in place in the peripheral parts of the base – mostly AU-16 – have been wiped out. However, a set of two to the east of the runway have been spared this fate, and have been redeemed by a private business. One has been turned into a venue for events, whereas the other has been employed to showcase a great collection of WWII and Cold War memorabilia. Actually, the two hangars are located inside a somewhat larger perimeter, with an original technical building and room for even more exhibits.

A first impressive sight is the original Soviet scheme of the base. Similar signs were typically put close to the gate of any Soviet base (as seen for instance here in Ribnitz/Damgarten), and with their Russian writings today they witness the Soviet tenancy of the base.

On the apron, an original military version of the ubiquitous Trabant, in army green color, is on display together with a field kitchen and a gigantic roadwork machine. The latter is Russian made, with tank tracks, and powered by a 12-cylinder Diesel engine.

A Mil Mi-2 helicopter, which for some hard-to-imagine reason had ended up on the Adriatic coast of Italy in a private collection, where it sat almost derelict, has been brought back to the other side of the Iron Curtain, and restored in a camo coat and placed in a prominent position. Not far, a wing from an old Lavochin La-5 Soviet aircraft can be found.

Still on the open air exhibition are a decorated panel once gracing a Soviet hospital – possibly the one described later (here) – and another celebrating the Warsaw Pact. But the exhibits are really countless, and include propaganda posters, and canisters for ordnance.

To the side of the main exhibition hangar, in the area of an interred fuel tank once serving the base, is an incredible set of Soviet panels, originally from this or other Soviet bases around. These panels are partly decoration/celebration signs, with portraits of Soviet soldiers and emblems.

Other are technically-themed, with explanations concerning driving habits and rules, hand-to-hand combat, and more. Similar items, including fake targets for assault training, can be found for instance in Forst Zinna, an abandoned Soviet base not far from Jüterbog (covered here).

Also part of the collection is a rare mural, apparently retracing the push to the west of a Soviet division (?) during the Great Patriotic War.

Inside, the aircraft shelter is stuffed with interesting memorabilia. From WWII, exhibits include remains of downed aircraft, including damaged engines, propellers and canopies. Among them are remains of an Avro Lancaster, a Focke-Wulf 190, a Junkers Ju-87 and the canopy of a pretty rare training (two-seats) version of the Messerschmitt Bf-109.

Four large scale models cover as many interesting sights around. The first is the former flight academy of the Third Reich (mentioned above and covered here), north of the Altes Lager airbase premises. Also on display are books and furniture originally from the library of the academy.

A second model portrays the entire area between the academy (north) and the airfield (south), including the latter. This area, now largely shrouded in the trees and partially in private hands, used to host technical installations and even factories connected with warfare business – all linked by an extensive network of roads and railways.

Another model is that of two airship hangars from the years of German tenancy. These had to be really huge, but are today completely gone. Among the factories in place in the area, were those for supplying gas for the airships.

Finally, a fourth scale model represents the older airfield of Jüterbog/Damm. The latter is not far from Altes Lager, and is today in private hands for some cattle breeding business. It features very peculiar concrete hangars, an interesting specimen of Third Reich construction engineering. Some aerial pictures can be found here. That airfield was not selected for further development by the Soviets, due to the limited potential for runway lengthening, in turn due to the proximity with Jüterbog town.

Soviet-related items on display range from painted tables, originally gracing the walls of the base, to technical signs in Russian, to a full array of personal and military items, all belonging to the Soviet staff stationed in Jüterbog. These include an interesting overall map of the Soviet airfields on GDR territory, with basic technical data.

Among the highlights, an official printed portrait of Stalin, and one of Brezhnev in a military uniform, parachutes and parts from attack aircraft, many direction signs and instructional panels for low-ranking military staff. Also very interesting is a radar scope with the three air corridors to West-Berlin and the position of Altes Lager printed on it!

Of special interest for aircraft enthusiasts are many pictures from the days of operation of the airbase, with many exotic Soviet aircraft seen landing, departing or taxiing around.

Other panels tells about the presence of rocket forces in the area of Jüterbog – in particular the 27th R.Br. of the NVA. They operated the SCUD-B system.

Back outside, the exhibition is completed by an original monument from Altes Lager, often employed as a background for official ceremonies, and more personal memorabilia of the owner of the museum, formerly serving within a tank division of the NVA.

Reconstructed shops and schools are on display, with much original furniture and everyday items of Soviet make.

Getting there and Visiting

The place is really worth a visit for everybody interested in memorabilia items from Soviet times, or for those looking for tangible traces of the military past of Jüterbog. The location is easy to reach by car, with a convenient internal parking. The address is Niedergörsdorfer Allee 4, 14913 Niedergörsdorf, Germany.

An updated official website with opening times is apparently not available. However, Mr. Helmut Stark, the owner of the place, may be contacted beforehand (in German only) to inquire about opening times and plan a visit – try Googling his name and that of the site for updated contacts. The place is regularly open at least in the weekends in the warm season. A visit to this site will be likely with Mr. Stark following you and giving explanations in German. This will take about 45 minutes.

Granit Bunker and Hangars in Jüterbog/Altes Lager

Some views of the Altes Lager airbase are provided in this chapter, and some aerial views can be seen here. The huge, flat-top hangars date from the Third Reich era, and similarly the control tower with its annexes. Some of the hangars were reportedly dismounted by the Soviets and taken to the Soviet Union soon after the end of WWII.

Besides all the aircraft shelters scattered all around the runway, a relevant and pretty secluded Soviet addition north of the airfield is a Soviet Granit-type bunker. This type of bunker was among the lightest in Soviet inventory, and could serve multiple purposes, e.g. storing movable radar trucks, tanks, other machinery, or weapons. Actually, its presence on an airfield may suggest the purpose of storing special air-dropped weapons, maybe tactical nuclear, high-explosive or chemical ordnance.

Bunkers of Granit-type are possibly the most frequent special constructions in former Soviet bases (see for instance here or here), but the one in Jüterbog is interesting since it is very well conserved, and its massive metal doors are still perfectly in place, providing a nice impression of how this technical item should have looked like in the days of operation.

Getting there and Visiting

The airport of Altes Lager is today pretty busy, with several companies having taken over much of its original premises now open for business. Multiple access points are available, and chances of looking inside the original installations are many. Given the still exceptional state of conservation of the Granit bunker, in order to protect this rare historical artifact from the impressive hordes of catatonic idiot spoilers and writers out there, no indication is provided on its exact location.

Military Hospital

Among the buildings now shrouded by the overgrown vegetation in the area between Jüterbog/Altes Lager airfield and the town of Jüterbog is a sizable military hospital. Totally invisible from the road, the hospital is basically made of a single, building featuring three long interconnected rows.

It is made of the typical German dark-red brick, a design which is way too elegant for Soviet occupants. The arrangement of the facade and the nice railings suggest a construction date from the years of the Kaiser and the German Empire, maybe early 20th century.

However, the years of Soviet use are witnessed by a big mural, portraying Lenin with some Soviet soldiers in the background, with a black and yellow striped ribbon and a red star, emblems of the Red Army.

To the more careful eye, a few graffiti in Russian can be found here and there, with a date as usual.

The aura is very silent and mysterious, and as such, this location is a mecca for urban explorers. Actually, the only noise came from a fast spinning ventilation fan in a window frame! This was pushed by an air stream however, not likely by a motor…

Some more buildings complete this complex, and original GDR-style lamps can still be seen around – the tall trees now surrounding the building were likely not in place when the hospital was closed, presumably in the early 1990s.

Getting there and Moving around

Not difficult to find in the trees between Jüterbog and the airfield of Altes Lager, there is no clear interdiction sign to access this complex from behind, yet vibration sensors planted in the ground can be spotted around, and some security cars can be seen sometimes parked on the main road. A walk around the hospital is not especially dangerous nor difficult, and may take about 25 minutes taking all the pictures. The building is architecturally nice and possibly listed. Yet it is in partial disrepair and largely sealed, and getting in is obviously not advisable.

Soviet Cemetery

The only relic of the years of Soviet occupation which is immediately visible to the general public in Jüterbog is the Soviet military cemetery. This is located to the back of the Liebfrauenkirche, in the historical center of Jüterbog.

Actually, a monumental part, with railings embellished with hammer and sickle emblems and a monument with writings in German and Russian to the back, is detached from the church yard.

However, possibly in later times, the limited space available in the lot originally planned for the monument meant some graves were dug right in the church graveyard, side by side – but not mixed – with German graves.

Getting there and Visiting

The exact address is Am Dammtor, 14913 Jüterbog, Germany. The place is well-kept, being part of the historical city center of Jüterbog. Parking opportunities all around on the street. A visit may take 10 minutes.

Railway Yard, School and Command Building

The town of Jüterbog acted as a ‘local capital’ for the many Soviet troops and their families scattered in the corresponding district. The hospital (see above) was not the only large installation in place. A district school was also installed, which served not only the very town of Jüterbog – with a Russian-speaking population of more than 70.000, greater than the German nationals – but also the residing Soviet population of smaller technical installations in the area. A notable example is the impressive nuclear depot in Stolzenhain (see here), where a dedicated staff and their families occupied four residential blocks now gone. Their children reportedly attended school in Jüterbog.

The school is today largely abandoned, and a quick tour around reveals typical Soviet decorations in the large sporting hall.

The school building is geographically close to the railway station. The latter had a passenger terminal dedicated to the Soviet population, which was completely segregated from the German one.

Furthermore, the railway in Jüterbog had also a primary logistic function, connected with the military activities going on in the area. Besides transporting tanks, vehicles and other material, also nuclear warheads arrived by rail from Belarus or Ukraine (both in the USSR at the time), for storage in the Stolzenhain Monolith-type bunkers (see here). A special railway track with a dead end in the trees featured a special interchange platform, allowing to move the sensitive warheads in their controlled canisters to trucks, and by road to Stolzenhain – usually at night. Since warheads were also sent back for maintenance or overhaul, the transport operated also in the opposite direction.

Very close to the railway station and the school is also a large grassy area, surrounded by a nice, old-style metal fence. This area is that of an older training ground, dating to the years of the Kaiser. A command building, now in disrepair, betrays the same origin, featuring decorations in a typical old-German style.

Getting there and Moving around

The school can be found in Jüterbog here. Cross the street from the school, the old training grounds and command building are immediately spotted. Walking north past the command building, you get access to a pedestrian bridge over the railway tracks, with a nice view of the station. An exploration of the railway tracks has to be considered extremely dangerous, since the railway line there is today a high-speed one, with bullet-fast trains appearing in just seconds. A walk around this spot in Jüterbog may take 15 minutes. Parking opportunities ahead of the command building.

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The Cold War in Hungary – Military Collections, Leftovers & More

Many traces of the communist dictatorship can be found in today’s modern and thriving Hungary. The most visited ones, like Memento Park or Terror Haza in capital city Budapest, tell about the inhumane and pervasive aspect of propaganda and political repression. However, the history of this country in the second half of the 20th century is closely bound to the Soviet-backed communist seizure of power, and this has left traces also elsewhere, especially in terms of military leftovers. As a matter of fact, the Soviet Red Army was directly present in Hungary, to keep the status quo and to to be closer to the border with the West in case of an attack – and this of course left traces.

You can find a significant deal of material concerning more urbex-connected destinations in Hungary in another post.

In this one, you will find a mainly pictorial portrait of some of the best known attractions related to the Cold War period in Hungary, as well as some well accessible but less known ones, especially considering the general public visiting from abroad. As usual on this website, a good share of these sites is aviation-themed!

Photographs were taken in August 2020.

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Sights

Iron Curtain Museum, Felsocsatar

The Iron Curtain Museum has been created soon after the collapse of the Iron Curtain in 1989 on the sight of a former small sector of the state border between communist Hungary and free Austria.

The site is mainly the result of the effort of a man, Sandor Gojak, a former border guard in the 1960s, who dedicated this permanent exhibition to those who attempted escaping the repressive communist regime in Hungary towards Austria and the West – both those who succeeded and those who did not, hence facing arrest or losing their lives due to the minefields prepared along the border line.

The site features three examples of the border line placed in the area over the years. They are look less impenetrable than those created between Eastern and Western Germany (see this post), yet they were similarly deadly in scope and facts.

The first is basically a simple line of barbed wire with wooden poles, and it was put in place soon after WWII. Mines were placed in close vicinity to the line. After wooden poles started to rot around the mid-1950s, mines were removed, a dangerous job which cost the health of some border guards, who were severely injured due to accidental explosions.

For a short while at that time, the border was free of mines, and about 300’000 people managed to leave the ‘paradise of workers’!

Soon after the anti-communist uprising in 1956, suffocated with violence by the Soviets, the border was further fortified with concrete poles, and the mine strip was increased in width.

Only at the end of the 1960s the mines were removed, after multiple accidents involving Austrian citizens, when the mines slipped into a creek near the border due to a flood, injuring many who touched them incautiously. This time the border security system was strongly potentiated, with the adoption of an electrified system for the immediate detection of proximity, linked to signal collection centers dislocated along the line. This system had been implemented by the USSR on the Pakistani border. Something similar can be found also on the border between Czechoslovakia and West Germany (see here).

The exhibition is completed by an example of a wooden turret, as well as a more modern fence – a specimen of the one put in place in 2015 between today’s Hungary and neighbor Serbia and Croatia, when a wave of migrants from the Middle East swept the Balkans.

The museum is full of vivid testimonies, thanks to the many historical pictures and artifacts on display, and to the fact that the founder is actually the man who runs the museum! – he is totally available to answer your questions.

Getting there and visiting

The museum can be reached here: 47.20376801287036, 16.429799972912328, on the border between Hungary and Austria, not far from Szombathely. The coordinates point to a convenient parking. The site is operated as an open-air museum, with opening times and an entrance fee. Moderate climbing is required, as the museum area is on the slope of a nice hill. Only cash accepted. Visiting may take about 45 minutes. Website here.

Military Park, Zanka

This small military park is a nice and cared for exhibition of Soviet-made weapons, located ahead of a resort which used to be an exclusive destination for vacation on the coast of Lake Balaton.

You can find here a couple of Mil helicopters – including the legendary Mil-24 in all its ‘beauty’! – in the colors of the Hungarian Air Force.

There is a MiG-21, also formerly of the Hungarian Air Force, a T-64 tank, a howitzer, a military snow blower, an amphibious truck and more light trailers.

Perhaps the most striking sight in this collection is the surface-to-air missile (SAM) SA-2, aka S-75 Dvina in the Soviet codification. A rather basic but powerful – and successful – missile from the 1950s, sold by the Soviets to many satellite Countries and clients over the world.

A revolving antenna can be seen on top of a truck. This is an example of the target acquisition antenna for the SA-2 system, code-named Spoon Rest by NATO, and known as P18 in Soviet codification. This radar system had a range of approximately 170 miles, and was an improvement of the previous P12 design. The launch site of SA-2 SAMs was always complemented by a set of antennas, including a Spoon Rest system. Actually, P18 could be coupled with the launch system of more advanced SAMs too.

All items in the collection here are pretty well preserved, making the visit an enjoyable stop along the exploration of the Balaton coastline.

Getting there and moving around

The park can be found here: 46.881838498667996, 17.7098619193198. The site can be visited in 10-30 minutes depending on your level of interest. This is an open-air museum, with ticket and opening times. Website (referral) with some information here.

Komarom Monostor Fort & Soviet Weapons Collection

An incredible, perfectly preserved military fort from the years of the Austrian Empire, Monostor Fort in Komarom can be found on the Danube, marking the border with Slovakia. At the time of construction, the two nations were united in the Austrian Empire, and the fort was erected between 1850-71 as a part of a defense line extending also north in today’s Slovakia.

Despite being extremely interesting for its articulated and complex construction – a brilliant example of military engineering from the time – the fort saw no action in its intended purpose. It was used for training for most of its life, then briefly as a prisoner’s camp in the years of Hitler’s administration, and finally as an immense weapons storage during the Cold War years, when it saw tenancy by the Soviets.

Today, the fort is open as a museum, duly centered on the interesting original construction from the 19th century.

One cellar has been left as it was in Soviet times, when weapons of all sorts were stored here, moved by means of a dedicated short-gauge railway.

In a corner of the immense apron, you can find a small collection of Soviet weapons, mainly anti-tank and anti-aircraft cannons. There are also a couple of truck-transported antennas, including a very effective early warning Flat Face radar, aka P19 Danube according to the soviet classification, as well as a PRW-9 Thin Skin target altitude detection radar. Similar platforms are still in use today, and can be coupled with modern SAM launching systems.

Getting there and moving around

The fort is a major attraction in the area. It features a large parking ahead of the entrance, address: 2900 Komárom Duna-part 1. Visiting is on a self-guided basis, with a short paper guide in English distributed at the entrance, and the visit will be extremely interesting for anybody interested in history, military engineering, etc. – not only Cold-War-minded subjects.

Visiting may take 1.5 hours, due to the size of the fort. The place is also used as a venue for theater performances and concerts, so timetables may vary. Some info in English can be found on this website.

Papa Airbase

Papa is today an active base of the Air Force, hence it cannot be accessed. However, with a short adventure drive along an unpaved road, you may reach a part of the former premises of the base – from Soviet times – now lying outside the perimeter.

There you can find a pretty unique array of old abandoned aircraft of Soviet make, in the colors of the Hungarian Air Force.

They are MiG-21 of many types, and also massive Sukhoi Su-22.

The state of conservation is not so bad – you can find airframes in worse condition in some museums – but some aircraft are missing some parts, possibly due to spare recycling, or vandalism, even though the place is really secluded, and the proximity with privately owned land and a military base is not ideal for vandals and idiot spoilers.

Of course, a few more years without any attention to these birds and little will remain of this improvised fleet. Hopefully, at least a share of this mighty force will find a due place in some museum or collection over the next years.

By the way, the former military area where these planes are sitting was perhaps a place for SAMs, put for protection of the base in the Cold War years.

Getting there and moving around

This is the only item on this post which is not a museum. It’s hard to tell whether these aircraft are lying on private land or not. However, to reach this strange flock of aircraft, you can move with a standard city car to this crossroads: 47.33966571405878, 17.550239693088113.

From here, you need to take north, until you reach this other waypoint: 47.35812676567956, 17.530436267329513. At some point along this path, the road turns unpaved, but the condition is generally manageable. On the latter waypoint you need to turn sharp left. You may notice old concrete posts, from the original soviet fence of the base.

You will finally land here: 47.35812676567956, 17.530436267329513, where you find an asphalted road, in the middle of a former peripheral area of the base. Driving towards the base along this road, you will find the aircraft here: 47.3541655146187, 17.514827811942904.

Visiting is not a long business, cause you should not move around the aircraft, as they are likely on the border of a private lot (fenced). Totally recommended for Cold War aircraft enthusiasts however.

Komo-Sky 51 Air Museum, Dunavarsany

This wonderful military exhibition is the based on the collection of a Hungarian military pilot, Zoltán Néhai Komócsi, nicknamed ‘Komo’, from which came the name of the museum. Unfortunately, the man passed away years ago in a crash. The collection was publicly put on display only more recently.

Items on display include military aircraft and helicopters, military trucks, trucks from the firefighting squad, engines, and more! Some of the exhibit can be boarded, and reportedly some vehicles are still operative.

Most of the exhibits are in very good condition, a few are still awaiting light refurbishment. An old Mil-2 helicopter can be boarded, revealing an old-fashioned cockpit, made more exotic by the Russian inscriptions.

Also an attack Mil-8 helicopter in Hungarian colors can be checked inside. A Mil-24 is undergoing restoration (as of 2020).

The ‘MiG alley’ includes MiG-15, 21 – in various versions – and 23, all in very good condition, refurbished for display.

Also some trucks can be boarded, revealing once more the excellent state of preservation, as well as abundant Russian signs.

To the far end of the collection, an Antonov An-2 utility biplane, an ubiquitous workhorse of the Soviet empire, can be boarded up to the cockpit.

You can sit in the pilot’s seat, getting a nice view from the cockpit of this bird.

Three deployable radar antennas can be seen on their trailers – apparently a not complete P80 Back Net system from the 1960s is the largest one.

Finally, a MiG-21 in the colors of the Hungarian national flag can be boarded. This is extremely interesting, as it provides a look in the cockpit of this high-performance and successful fighter/interceptor from the Cold War years, when ‘high-performance’ implied ‘high-complexity’ analog cockpits!

Getting there and moving around

The museum can be found at these coordinates, 47.292057190313706, 19.029565655926707, corresponding to a convenient parking. The site is about 30 minutes driving south of central Budapest. It is an open-air museum, with timetables and ticket. Information on their website (in Hungarian). Time required for visiting may range between 30 minutes to 1.5 hours for an interested subject, taking all the pictures.

Komo-Sky Bunker, Dunavarsany

A recent addition by the current managers of the Komo-Sky 51 Air Museum is this fully refurbished Soviet bunker, once used for air traffic control. The place is actually in the vicinity of the former Soviet airbase of Tokol, one of the largest in Hungary in its heyday (see this post).

Today the bunker has been partly restored in look, with some rooms changed into ambiances for interactive experiences, including shooting!

Some rooms host interesting collections of artifacts from the everyday life of communist Hungary.

Military memorabilia from the Red Army, with conspicuous Russian writings, are scattered everywhere.

A room of special interest hosts a collection of militaria from the Eastern Bloc, with artifacts ranging from weapons to flight suits, military decorations to aircraft parts. Really something for everybody!

Getting there and moving around

The bunker is a recent (as of 2020) addition to the Komo-Sky 51 Air Museum. No dedicated website available at the time of writing. The place can be reached at the coordinates 47.297663350792774, 19.0351554512774, about 3 minutes driving north of the Air Museum. I visited by invitation of the owner, hence I don’t know about the actual timetable. A website of a hotel nearby – actually on the very same lot of the bunker – is here, with some information on the bunker in Hungarian.

Museum of Military History, House of Terror, Memento Park, Houses of Parliament – Budapest

Budapest is rightly famous for a history spanning many centuries, for its art collections, incredible architectures, thermal baths and many other enjoyable features. However, having been the capital of a communist country in the Eastern Bloc, it also hosted a ‘state security service’, i.e. an agency of the government attempting to control the minds of Hungarian citizens, and keeping everybody’s behavior under strict surveillance. The palace chosen as the seat for this service is named ‘House of Terror’ (‘Terror Haza’ in the local idiom). Here many were kept under arrest, interrogated, and in some instances secretly murdered in the basement.

The place is among the most visited museums in Hungary, and can be found right in the city center. Comprehensibly, no photo is allowed in the most sensitive areas of this sad building. Website here.

Another place of Cold War interest, making for a rather popular touristic attraction, is Memento Park. In this small park about 15 minutes driving south of the city center most of the statues and monuments once adorning the capital’s downtown have been collected and put on display.

Some from older times, celebrating the friendship of the Soviet and Hungarian peoples, are unbearably rhetoric.

Others are more artistically interesting, in the context of official artistic currents authorized by the Communist Party.

Lenin is of course a favorite subject.

By the entrance, Marx, Engels and Lenin are kind of ‘gate guardians’.

In front of the entrance, you can find a reproduction of the base of a statue of Stalin put in place at some point and surviving in pictures, and later dismantled after the death of Stalin. In the basement of the same construction, you can find a weird set of official busts of Lenin and Stalin, as well as a once popular image of Lenin as a child.

Close by, a small deposit of statues still waiting to be put on display can be found. Website here.

A less visited museum covering the military history of Hungary over the ages, but especially the 19th and 20th centuries, can be found right in the old district of Buda. The display is rather classical and didactic, but for more military-minded people, or those interested in the recent history of Hungary, it is for sure worth a stop when visiting uptown. Website here.

Finally, in the gorgeous building of the Houses of Parliament, you can find interesting info about the changes implemented to the architecture of the building during the communist period.

A unique artifact is the big red star once standing on top of the building, emulating the famous ruby stars placed on top of the towers of the Kremlin in Moscow. Website here.

Secrets of a Soviet Airbase, Berekfurdo

This museum is located in the small town of Berekfurdo, in the eastern region of Hungary, just a few minutes from the former airbase of Kunmadaras, which used to be operated by the Soviets in the Cold War era (see this post for the nuclear storage bunker to be found there).

Unfortunately, I could not visit the museum – it is open only rarely, on a very limited timetable. However, in the courtyard you can easily spot a Mil-24 attack helicopter, as well as a MiG-21. Both have been vividly and freshly refurbished – ready for take-off!

Getting there and moving around

The website of the museum provides good information, and the folks there appear pretty reactive in case you are writing to get more info. It is really a pity they have a timetable so limited. The place can be reached at these coordinates: 47.38366735314769, 20.84155882970934. The museum is made of a small hangar and an outside apron. Considering the size, I guess visiting might take about 1 hour.

RepTar Szolnok Aviation Museum, Szolnok

This is probably the ‘official’ aviation museum in Hungary, at least concerning the military field. It is clearly a well-financed endeavor, with a remarkable collection of aircraft from various ages, helicopters, engines and missiles. Most of the aircraft are preserved outside in an open-air exhibition, the oldest ones having found a place inside a modern and well-designed building. Everything on display has been recently refurbished, hence the collection looks fresh and well cared for.

Two aircraft will likely capture your attention in the main hall, namely a Spitfire in the colors of a Polish squadron fighting with the RAF, facing a Bf 109 in German Luftwaffe colors. The two opponents are displayed besides one another, allowing also for a configuration and size comparison.

Not far is the wreck of an Ilyushin Il-2 Sturmovik, built in huge numbers by the USSR over the years of the Great Patriotic War.

Interesting specimens in the inside hangar include a Messerschmitt Me-108 trainer, some Soviet trainers, classic Kamov and Mil helicopters.

A Soviet H-29L semi-active laser homing air-to-ground missile for the Sukhoi Su-22, which the Hungarian Air Force owned and operated, is on display.

A very interesting old analog approach simulator is also presented. It is made of a cabin mock-up and a large model of an airport, with cameras mounted on moving trolleys, likely projecting a magnified image of the ‘terrain’ in the cabin.

You can board a MiG-21, and see the mysterious content of the noses of some fighter aircraft – typically radar antennas of various levels of sophistication.

An array of engines, from WWII up to our days, are on display on the first floor.

Outside you can find a sample list of virtually all popular MiG models, from MiG-15 to MiG-29.

A colorful example of a MiG-21 will sure capture your eye, similarly to a set of Mil-24 attack helicopters, wrapped in incredible liveries!

A MiG-21 has been placed in an enclave resembling an aircraft shelter, an example of the care adopted in designing this top-tier museum. An SA-2 Guideline is on display by the entrance, visible also from the parking.

To the far end of the external apron, you can find a ‘MiG alley’ with several fighters from that design bureau. Also there is a massive Sukhoi Su-22, and two Lockheed F-104 Starfighter – from Turkey and Germany respectively.

The SAM part is rather interesting. You can see at least two SA-2 (aka S-75 Dvina, according to Soviet nomenclature), on trolleys or on the launch pad, with a distinctive flame deflector.

A P37 Bar Lock early warning and target acquisition radar has been put on top of a mound. This type of radar constituted the first line of border defense of many countries of the Eastern Bloc, against intrusion from the West. It featured a range of approximately 250 miles.

Another radar antenna is the P15 Flat Face low-altitude target acquisition radar. With a range of about 75 miles, this scanner operated typically with the SA-3 Goa anti-aircraft system (aka S-125 Pechora in Soviet nomenclature).

The latter is on display on a movable launcher as well as on a four missile rack, prominently placed on top of a rampart, somehow resembling its typical launching position. A battery of more missiles on the same launching rack is typical of this highly successful missile, sold to many Countries, and easier to operate than its older cousin, the SA-2.

Inside another smaller hangar – apparently a former railway depot – you can find the console for the control of the SA-2 system, together with another example of this SAM.

Getting there and moving around

Really an unmissable sight for aviation enthusiasts, military-minded people or the whole family as well! This very nice collection can be found in Szolnok. Address: Szolnok, Indóház u. 4-6, 5000 Hungary. Large parking ahead, restaurant and gift shop. Website here. You may easily spend a whole morning here, but if you are in a hurry, you can have a quick look in about 1 hour.

Emlekpont, Hódmezővásárhely

A rather unusual collection of soviet ‘authorized’ art can be found in this recently renovated building, which also hosts temporary exhibitions. The central part of the display is basically a single room on two floors, with paintings from the Cold War era.

A huge statue of a Soviet soldier takes the full height of the room! Some paintings refer to the 1956 uprising, clearly on the side of the rebels, hence they might be from a post-1989 time.

Surely worth a stop for those with an interest in Soviet art, like you can find only in Tretjakowsky Gallery in Moscow!

Getting there and moving around

This little museum can be found in Hódmezővásárhely, Andrássy út 34, 6800 Hungary, a few minutes driving from university town Szeged, close to the border with Serbia and Romania. Visiting may take about 30 minutes, more if you know Hungarian. Website here.

Pinter Works Military Park, Kecel

A one-of-a-kind exhibition, this place is hidden deep in the countryside between Balaton and the Serbian border, but it is really worth a detour for anybody interested in Soviet weapons from the Cold War era. It is likely one of the largest displays of heavy military gear you may find in Europe!

The sample list covers anti-aircraft guns, anti-tank guns, field artillery, self-propelled cannons and tanks.

But you also get special function trucks, moving bridges, transport, trailers, portable radar equipment.

Also SAMs are represented, including the SA-2 Guideline (S-75 Dvina), SA-4 Ganef (2K11 Krug) and the more conspicuous SA-5 Gammon (S-200 Vega). Some of the SAMs feature also transport cartridges on purpose-assembled trucks – some of them on tracks! – which are displayed side by side with field rocket launchers.

The huge Square Pair radar, used in conjunction with the modern SA-5 Gammon, makes for a really rare and impressive sight – it is tall like a multi-storey building, but it is on a trailer, implying it can be moved. There are two on display!

Also rather rare is the ST-68U Tin Shield early warning border patrolling radar, still in use today, with its movable trailer.

Even SCUDs surface-to-surface theater missiles can be found. One is located on board its movable launch-pad, similar to what you can see in Bucharest (see here).

Some of the trailers are open, so you can get a view of the inside – with all equipment apparently in place, including radar scopes and huge consoles, resembling an old-fashioned science fiction!

Finally, a series of fighter aircraft, including several MiG and Sukhoi models, are on display.

Curiously enough, a SAAB 35 Draken from Sweden found its way to here, whereas a T-72 and a T-34 make for gate guardians, together with an Antonov An-24.

Finally, what looks like a monster-size ballistic missile encapsulated in a canister completes the show…

All in all, as said this is really an impressive collection, both as an ensemble, and for some of the pieces in it. The origin of the collection is rather mysterious – nobody spoke anything except Hungarian there, but if I got it right through much gesticulation, the place is owned by somebody residing in Dallas area, TX. The military park sits in the premises of a metal-recycling company, so maybe there is some connection between the two, even though it does not look like they are fueling recycling with the items on display. Actually, the military park is well maintained and presented as a very nice open-air museum.

Getting there and moving around

The museum is located at the address Kecel, Rákóczi Ferenc u. 177, 6237 Hungary. The website is here, with accurate visiting info. Please note they accept only cash. Visiting may easily take 2 hours for an interested subject, taking all the pictures. For a quick overview, you may spend 30-40 minutes on site.

Taszar Airbase Museum, Taszar

Another unique museum, somewhat far from the major touristic paths in Hungary, can be found on the premises of the currently (as of 2020) inactive military airbase of Taszar, in southwest Hungary. This airbase was operated by the Hungarian Air Force over the years of the Cold War, with training and fighter units flying MiGs of many sorts over the years. Curiously, the base was lent to the US in the 1990s, and was used for attacks over Serbia and more support functions during the Balkan crisis in the late 1990s, and up to the early 2000s. After the American troops left, the base was shut down, and is now waiting for a novel use.

The museum is located in the building of the US chapel, itself in the middle of the now deserted living area of the base.

This museum is the display of a collection of artifacts, put together over many years by a former officer of the Hungarian Air Force, Sandor Kontsagh, who is the owner and who personally runs the place – you are likely to meet him, if you are going to pay a visit! An extremely kind and knowledgeable person, more than available to spend his time showing his collection in detail.

The most massive items on display include several aircraft parts, ranging from canopies, to entire cockpit panels, to parts of the innermost plants onboard Soviet-made fighters, including their electronics. What multiplies the value of this assortment is the fact that every single piece has its own history, as you will be told by Mr. Kontsagh.

The original survival kit from an early MiG, similar to a soviet flight suit from the 1950s, are among the many invaluable collection items.

Also the machine guns and cannon of a MiG-15 can be found – compare the size to the cap of my wide lens!

The panel of a MiG-15 has been refurbished, linking it to electric power to light the electro-optical gunsight – hi-tec from the early Cold War.

Photography is of special relevance to the owner of the museum – he was tasked with technical photography functions during his career, and he has a real thing for this activity. Cameras usually mounted on the gunsight of fighter jets are part of the collection – for the first time, I could carefully look inside what always appears as a bulky black box impeding the pilot’s view on most aircraft from the Cold War period!

Some of the cameras are accompanied by the their original technical registry, showing annotations from the 1950s – incredible.

Of special interest are also the cathode ray tubes to be found for instance on MiG-21. You would not suspect they are so long, looking at their flat appearance, besides other goggles on the panel of that fighter.

Interesting historical pictures are many. Among them, some are from decoy aircraft – inflatables – to fool enemy analysts watching satellite pictures taken above military bases. Others are from visits of president Clinton and princess Diana to Taszar. You can also find an aerial view of the base from Cold War times.

In an adjoining room you can find a collection of radio equipment, with very interesting pieces made in the USSR. These include an original wire recorder.

Maps, trophies and models complete this room, together with a unique collection of cameras, from different countries and makes.

Another room hosts mainly uniforms – including the one belonging to Mr. Kontsagh – and flight suits. Also arresting parachute canister of a MiG-21 is on display.

A corner of the main hall is dedicated to memorabilia from the US tenancy period. These include original uniforms, pictures, papers and even meals, proudly prepared in SC for American troops. By comparison, Hungarian packed meals, also on display, are much heavier!

More memorabilia include training progress registries from pilot’s training – in Russian – as well as textbooks from the training group operating on the base.

All in all, I would say this museum alone is a good reason for a trip to this area!

On the outside, you find yourself in the setting of the old Taszar base, with some gate guardians of Soviet make, and an incredible mural on what was likely an academy building.

Access to the airport is interdicted, as the base is inactive but not abandoned.

Getting there and moving around

When I visited in August 2020, the place was not even pinpointed on Google Maps, but later things have rapidly changed, so you can spot this as an attraction on Google Maps to the west of the airport in Taszar (‘Katonai repulo muzeum’ is the name you find). However, here are the coordinates 46.377887110631455, 17.89899149846632, which take you to a former living area of Taszar airbase, where you can enter with your car. The place is not abandoned, even though most buildings are now unused. The aura is a bit strange, for you have the sensation of intruding into a governmental property – but soon you realize this part of the base is not any more off-limits.

When I visited there was no info about opening timetables whatsoever available in advance, so we just popped up there, finding a closed door with a telephone number. We called and the man – Mr. Kontsagh – told us to wait a few minutes, and came in by foot, opening the place just for us.

I attach the phone number, in case you want to call in advance.

There is no website as of 2020, but the place is totally worth the effort of planning a visit anyway! You might spend a time ranging from 30 minutes to some hours, especially if you are interested in the topic of the museum, or you are simply into military aviation with a technical mind, and also have questions for the knowledgeable owner, who will answer in detail. In case you don’t know Hungarian, understanding a little German and a technical preparation will allow you to take much out of your visit (little English spoken, unfortunately, but this is not strange in this part of the world).

Soviet ‘Monolith’ Nuclear Bunkers in Poland – Survivors & Ghosts

Since the beginning caught in the storm of WWII, Poland saw its border changed again in 1945 by the Western Allies and the USSR – the lack of natural borders meant that fate for this Country several times over the centuries. Furthermore, as a massive flow of Soviet forces had been pivotal in repelling Hitler’s forces, similar to other nations sharing a border with the USSR, Poland found itself deep in the sphere of influence of Stalin’s Soviet Union. A communist dictatorship was installed starting 1945, due to last until the end of communism in Europe in 1989.

As a matter of fact, Poland turned out to be by far the most populated and largest of Eastern Bloc countries. Strategically placed in the middle between the USSR and free Western Europe, with a wide section of the Baltic shoreline and a huge, mostly flat territory, similar to the German Democratic Republic nearby, Poland was the theater of a significant militarization effort by the Soviets. Not only the Polish army received Soviet war material in large stocks over the full span of the Cold War, but the Red Army also actually had significant assets scattered over Polish territory – its huge Northern Group of Forces being stationed there, with tanks, aircraft, dedicated bases, firing ranges, as well as several tens of thousand troops and their families, making for a kind of military colony of the USSR.

What is possibly less known is that also Soviet nuclear weapons were stationed in some satellites of the USSR, like the GDR (see this and this chapters, for instance), Hungary (see this chapter), and of course Poland.

Some elements of the global picture have been introduced in another chapter, dealing among other things with a Basalt-type bunker built for storing air-launched nuclear systems, on the premises of the Soviet airbase of Wiechlice (Szprotawa). Yet as can be argued from the general map of of nuclear depots known to Western intelligence, dating from 1979 (‘Warsaw Pact Forces Opposite NATO’, Vol.I-II, CREST record number 0005517771, declassified and released in 2010, here), there were also three major depots of the Monolith-type in Poland. Similar to Stolzenhain and Lychen in the former GDR (see this post), these depots were larger, multi-chamber storage facilities, intended to store primarily missile warheads for longer periods, for instance to complement the SCUD launch system for theater missiles.

The uniqueness of Poland in the panorama of Cold War archaeology lies in a generally positive attitude towards preserving some traces of this dramatic piece of recent history, when the map of Europe was markedly different from now, and the western world found itself multiple times on the verge of a nuclear confrontation, to be fought on the very territory of now wealthy Core Europe. As a result, an impressive number of war museums putting on display military stuff from all the 20th century can be found scattered over the broad territory of today’s Poland.

Even more important, a certain number of former Soviet military installations are being either actively preserved, or at least not condemned through demolition works or re-assignment to improbable new uses. This is despite a totally justified negative attitude towards the Soviet occupation forces and communist dictatorship. This attitude marks an unusual difference between the cultural attitude of the fierce Polish people towards recent military history and Soviet occupation, with respect for instance to Germany or Hungary, where the comprehensible dislike for the Soviets has taken a shape in leaving behind – i.e. more or less demolishing – every trace of a Soviet military presence, and especially in the former, reducing military museums to a minimum.

Among the most prominent Cold War relics you can find in Poland are the three Monolith-type nuclear warhead bunkers mentioned above. One of them – the Podborsko site – has been restored with 90% original material, and makes for a world-class, top-tier museum in the panorama of Cold War military history. The other two, Brzeznica-Kolonia and Templewo, have been left to nature and have now become ‘Soviet ghosts’, but they are advertised with panels, providing some info, and while access is not encouraged, a quick look inside the bunkers, as well as freely walking in the former premises of these bases, is of course possible.

This post covers these three Monolith-type sites, with a focus on the unique preserved Podborsko site, which needs to be on the shortlist of everyone with an interest in Cold War technology, as well as in the history of the nuclear stockpile. All sites were visited, and all photographs taken, on a trip to western Poland in summer 2020.

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Sights

All three sites are in northwestern Poland. GPS coordinates are provided in the respective sections. Despite being not too much afar from each other, due the relatively slow connection roads in the area, visiting all three places in one day is not possible. Furthermore, the area is quite dense in both general interest and Cold War related destinations, so I would advise planning a trip to this region of Poland and listing these sites among other destinations.

Podborsko Site – Objekt 3001

A good specimen of a Monolith site, Podborsko – or Objekt 3001, as per the official military listing of the Cold War years – was centered on two large half-interred bunker, each with two big side-wards opening tight doors at ground level, providing access to the interior with the trolleys used to move the nuclear warheads from the transport trucks to the cellars.

For an increased protection in case of an attack to the site – likely listed among targets of strategic value by Western Countries – a second tight door was put immediately next to the external one, creating a tight, blast resisting and insulated airlock between the interior of the bunker and the outside world.

Both doors to the two ends of the airlock can be – and are – opened via a manual crank system. Two men are needed to actually move the doors however – they are really heavy! A servo-assisted system was in place originally.

An interesting detail is the original sensor for the door status, part of a security system of the base.

Similar to their US counterparts, the Soviets took the problem of security of the nuclear arsenal pretty seriously. Each door on the path followed by the warhead from the outside to the cellar, including the airlock doors as well as the cellar doors inside the bunker, were associated to a trigger. When the corresponding door was opened, the trigger sent a signal via a dedicated cable link to the headquarters of a dedicated branch of the Red Army offices in Moscow, Russia, which was kept constantly updated on the status of each critical door in the depot. The link was via purpose-designed vacuum-protected cables – the actual wiring ran along a vacuum manifold, so that in case of the cable was bitten and the vacuum manifold collapsed, an emergency signal was immediately sent to the nearest nodes of the network, allowing surveillance staff to intervene promptly.

The opening of and closing procedure of the airlock doors involved communication with a post in Moscow too, which started with the local guards communicating their intention to open the doors via a system housed in a blue cabinet besides the tight door. As the signal traveled from the bunker to the headquarters and back, the opening of an airlock was not a quick operation! Original writings in pencil can still be found in the cabinet.

Past the airlock, you land on an elevated concrete platform. From here the warheads were moved to the underground floor via a mechanical crane. This is still standing today, with limit indications in Russian.

From the platform you get an excellent lookout of the bunker structure. You can see a twin suspended platform to the opposite end of the underground floor, with a tight door shut closed. Along the long sides of the main hall, on the underground level you see several doors. On the right hand side, big sliding doors painted in white give access to the cellars, where the warheads spent most of their time in rest. On the opposite side are smaller man-sized doors, giving access to the technical area, with provision for the men of the permanent bunker watch.

The stairs leading downstairs are among the few complements to the original structure – they have been put in place to ease visiting. Originally, the underground floor could be reached from the suspended platform only via a lateral manhole with a vertical metal latter.

The warheads are long gone today – the site was built in the late 1960s, and was emptied of its strategically relevant content in the late 1980s, to be finally ceded back to the Polish government after the withdrawal of all Russian forces from Europe. The cellars today are mainly empty, and used to showcase interesting items related to the site.

First, you can see a scale model of the entire site. In Soviet times, the place was a full scale military base. It included a separated area with living facilities for the troops and their families, who ran the base with both technical and surveillance tasks. Today, this area has been taken over by the government, and used as a prison – Podborsko is rather secluded and far from populated areas on the Baltic coast. Furthermore, as said there used to be two twin bunkers. Today only one has been restored, whereas the other is sealed and waiting for reuse. Between the sectors of the base multiple fences with barbed wire, concrete walls, foxholes and other deterring/defense devices and systems were in place, making the innermost part of the base with the bunkers rather inaccessible.

An original armored cabinet from the time of operation is still in the corner of a cellar, its original use is uncertain.

In another cellar you can find everyday items and relics from Soviet presence in the area. These range from toothpaste to children’s toys. Also more military-related items, like cartridge boxes and even original Soviet military dog tags have been found scattered over the area!

You can also find weapons, a scheme of the base in Russian, anti-radiation suits, and parts of the body, control and guidance systems of a Soviet SCUD theater missile – the corresponding warheads being the main business in Podborsko. There is also a copy of the plan of an attack scenario for Western Europe, showing some targets on the respective sides of the Iron Curtain.

One of the cellars has been left empty, with a mock-up of a warhead, resting on one of the original trolleys. This is particularly evoking, despite being just one out of the high number of warheads usually stored in a cellar. The actual number of warheads residing in each Soviet storage over the years is still today not totally clear. However, reportedly former Soviet staff support there was in a single Monolith bunker in Poland enough nuclear material for the whole attack plan over Europe, meaning a number of several tens warheads per site.

The trolley is original as said, and it shows the function of the slots on the ground of each cellar, which allowed anchoring the trolley firmly in position. This was possibly needed also in the extreme case of a blast hitting the bunker, so as to avoid any unwanted displacement of the trolleys.

A fourth cellar displays a set of panels, outlining the history of the Cold War.

As said, the security triggers telling the status of the door can be found close also to each of the sliding doors of the cellars.

Before moving to the technical area on the other side of the bunker, a look to the central hall reveals a number of original material. In particular, you can find an interesting set of instruments, handles and gauges packed together in a metal cabinet. Their function was that of monitoring the state of each warhead. Nuclear material needs to be stored in precise conservation conditions, so warheads were kept in dedicated cases. These were inspected regularly by connecting them to the monitoring system and recording the corresponding gauge readings. Traces of the positioning markers for an inspected trolley can be found close to the cabinet, painted on the ground.

Another conspicuous sight in the main hall is the heating system, needed to keep the inside atmosphere at a constant assigned temperature and humidity level, to guarantee the health of nuclear material. A big array of heat exchangers takes the top part of a side wall in the main hall.

The technical part is made of two main parts, and is accessible on the long side of the hall opposite to the cellars. One part is made of a blind sequence of three narrow compartments. Here you can find a case for manipulating dangerous chemicals, with protection gloves once protruding inside. Nearby, a sink and some cabinets recall a medical room.

This area was designed to manipulate and check the triggers of nuclear weapons in use at the time of construction of the Monolith bunkers (late 1960s). These made use of reactive materials, thus requiring some precautions and a complex maintenance procedure. They were phased out soon after the construction of the site though, so this part of the bunker was basically unused since that time. A tight door connects this area to the main hall.

The second part of the technical area is arranged along a U-shaped corridor, starting and ending in the main hall. Similar to the previous technical part, a small sealed door connects the corridor to the main hall.

The first technical rooms you meet are related to climate control.

Next you find a big water tank. Close by there is a single toilet. This was reportedly seldom used, as drainage did not work properly due to the underground placement. Watchmen during their shifts in the bunker went out for their physiological needs.

Going in and out for pedestrians was made possible through a man-sized airlock. This is perfectly preserved in Podborsko, similar to the passage leading up, by means of very steep metal ladders.

Another interesting sight in the technical area is the air filtering room, which is close to the small living area for the watch staff. In case of an attack to the facility, making the area poisonous possibly also due to fallout, this huge filtering system allowed the troops inside to survive for some time.

The electric control room is in almost mint condition. Only the major connections to the external power lines – not there any more – have been cut. Same electric connections still bear their original hand written identifiers!

An original – and rare – handbook with some illustration of standard trolleys is among the artifacts to be found in this incredible exhibition.

Concluding the technical part, a massive Diesel power generator, with its ancillary air pumping and exhaust expulsion systems, is still there in a rather good state.

Back outside, the Podborsko site features also a Granit-type bunker, perfectly preserved with its metal doors – seldom found elsewhere. Granit bunkers were much softer in construction than the Monolith-type, and they might be used for storing assembled missiles, command posts and more. The one in Podborsko is another Soviet mystery – it is hard to tell to what purpose it was built, probably in the late 1970s-early 1980s.

The second bunker, very similar inside to the main one, is sealed and waiting for restoration. You can walk the exterior, where some remains of the truck loading/unloading platforms can be found. Traces of a fence line can be seen to the back.

Getting there and moving around

The Podborsko site is a branch of the ‘Muzeum Oreza Polskiego w Kolobrzegu’, called ‘Cold War Museum Podborsko 3001’ (‘Muzeum Zimnej Wojny Podborsko 3001’ in Polish). The town of Kolobrzeg is on the Baltic coast, roughly a one hour drive from this bunker, and hosts other branches of this nice museum (a tank and artillery collection, a marine branch,…). The dedicated website of Podborsko is here, to be Google-translated from Polish. The Podborsko site is open on a regular basis at least in summer, and also by appointment. I guess the visit may take about 1 hour once on site.

My visit was a special one though, as I had the chance to join in for a special thorough visit of the site, prepared for Dr. Reiner Helling, a nuclear scientist from Germany, and one of the most knowledgeable historians in the field of Soviet military presence and nuclear assets in Europe. Dr. Helling extended the invitation to me, so I had the unique chance to take a private, tour with the local curators of the branch, Mr. Mieczysław Żuk and Mr. Pawel Urbaniak. We spent some hours touring the site inside and out – special thanks to all three for an unforgettable experience!

Getting to the bunker is easy by car. Driving will be along an original Soviet service road, which can be faced with a regular city car. You may park once on the spot once there.

Brzeznica Kolonia – Objekt 3002

The site in Brzeznica Kolonia can be found close to the former Soviet village of Klomino – pretty famous in its heyday among the urbex community – and in the vicinity of the airport of Nadarzyce, still active today.

The site has been largely wiped out, but the bunkers and a little more hardware survive, in a ghost condition. However, the site is advertised with some explanatory panels, and it is also quite popular among the locals, which come here to take a couple of pics in a weird scenery.

One of the most portrayed items on the premises of this site is the Granit bunker, which is today lacking its original metal door. Similar to Podborsko, this ‘soft’ bunker was added at a later stage, and its function is to be guessed. Interestingly, some painted stripes can be found on the pavement, possibly marking the position of some trailer or gear.

Similar to Podborsko, the two major Monolith bunkers are arranged with their respective axes crossed. The eastern one can be accessed from its southern door pretty easily. Inside, it reveals its similarity with Podborsko, except for having being spoiled of any metal part – from the doors to the heat exchangers – and having hosted a wildfire or similar, as can be guessed from the sooth on the walls and ceiling.

Getting to the underground level from the suspended platform is not safe if you are going alone, like me, as the original metal ladders have been taken away. However, hard spoiling has to be expected also in the technical rooms.

Walking on top of the bunker, you find traces of the man-sized side entrance, completely interred.

Ahead of the bunker and to the back, traces of the loading/unloading platforms for trucks can be still recognized.

The westernmost bunker is easy to access from the eastern gate. Inside, it has been spoiled of any metal, similar to its twin brother. It is in a generally better shape though, without sooth on the inside walls.

In both bunkers, traces of original painting can be found.

In between the two bunkers, a number of smaller buildings are still to be found, including – apparently – a water tank, and some sentry boxes.

Also, more than in Podborsko you can appreciate a network of foxholes, which despite fading in nature, can be clearly noticed departing from the main roads once crossing this military installation.

Back to Nadarzyce nearby, you can get access to the former ghost town of Klomino. The majority of the original Soviet blocks have been wiped out, but most incredibly some of them have been restored and are today inhabited. This, and the very bad access road, make this place worth a visit only for completing the tour of this once big Soviet installation, without adding much. There is really not much left to see in Klomino.

Getting there and moving around

As said, the bunkers are pretty popular among the locals, who go there by mountain bike or car. The site can be accessed via an unpaved service road, totally safe also for a standard car, taking south from Nadarzyce. The parking point is here 53°25’51.0″N 16°34’43.6″E. There are also some picnic tables, an explanatory panel and some warning signs.

Templewo – Objekt 3003

Similar to Brzeznica Kolonia, the Templewo site has been largely reclaimed, and is now partly preserved as an unusual spot in the wilderness. The base has completely gone, but the the monolith bunkers are still there.

They can be found following an original Soviet paved road.

Both Monolith-type bunkers can be accessed with little difficulty, despite the gates having being mostly interred, like for Objekt 3002.

With respect to the latter, they appear in a generally better shape, albeit stripped of any metal hardware. Again, going down to the underground level is not recommendable if you are exploring alone, as there are no ladders from the suspended platform.

Taking a detour from the Monolith bunker area reveals an extensive network of trenches and foxholes, with abundant traces of – dangerous – barbed wire.

Finally, a single Granit-type bunker, added to the site at some point similarly to Podborsko and Brzeznica Kolonia, has been completely taken away. Only the side embankments can be seen today, wet and with a slimy puddle in between.

Getting there and moving around

The site can be reached by car, shortly north of the road connecting Trzemeszno Lubuskie to Wielowies. A parking area, part of the former base, is here 52°25’16.2″N 15°19’10.6″E. No special car needed, you can drive the original Soviet service road with a standard city car. From the parking, you may move north for a very short walk. You will soon find mild warning signs concerning the bunkers.

The area is located next to a huge military proving ground, so loud bangs might be heard quite easily, and you will see signs telling not to go south with respect to the access road to the former nuclear installation. However, the bunkers themselves are out of the danger area, and totally open and accessible.

Belgrade War Heritage – From WWII to the Yugoslav Wars

Belgrade, the capital city of today’s Serbia, with a population of 1.3 millions, boasts traces of dating back to the Roman Empire. Strategically located on the confluence of the Danube and Sava rivers, through the ages it grew to become a major military and trading post.

A city at war – brief historical perspective

In the 19th century, with the foundation of a Kingdom of Serbia free from the Ottoman rule, Belgrade became a capital city of an independent power, right at the geographical center of the Balkan region.

In 1914, tense relations with the better established and more powerful Austrian Empire triggered WWI, where Serbia fought on the side of the winners, gaining territories extending to the Adriatic Sea from the dismembered Austrian empire. These regions were encapsulated in an unprecedented entity, the Kingdom of Yugoslavia, where Belgrade played again as capital city.

Soon after, WWII saw a bloody and rather unsung front opening in the Balkans, conquered from the north by Hitler’s Wehrmacht, and from the south by fascist Italy. The Kingdom of Yugoslavia ceased to exist, and Belgrade – initially the target of massive air attacks by Germany – was made for a while the capital of a kind of German protectorate. It was in the final years of WWII that communist-led resistance para-military corps led by Marshal Tito, secretly supported by the Western Allies, started operating massively against the Axis. Tito was backed especially by the British, who provided war materiel, staff for tactical decisions and political support.

When Serbia was liberated, with the help of the Red Army attacking from southern Ukraine through today’s Romania on Serbia’s eastern border, Tito raised to power, re-founding Yugoslavia as a communist country extending from Greece to Austria and Italy, and with borders with Hungary, Romania and Bulgaria – all the latter three being communist countries, deeply entangled with the Soviet Union. Belgrade was again the capital city of a powerful and strategically relevant state.

Quite oddly from Stalin’s perspective, Tito did not capitulate the sovereignty of Yugoslavia to the USSR – unlike most states in Eastern Europe. This again was possible likely through the support of the West, in the quickly evolving geo-political situation soon after WWII leading to the Cold War, where former allies split on the two sides of the Iron Curtain. As a matter of fact, no Soviet military bases were ever placed in Yugoslavia, a communist country which until the Fifties even obtained war material from the West!

Tito managed to keep his post on the international scene and internally until his death in 1980. Soon after, the artificial ties between the many nations united in Yugoslavia began to crack, and almost at the same time of the end of communism in Eastern Europe, the country literally fell apart. As of now the bloodiest conflicts in post-WWII Europe, the Yugoslavian Wars saw the secession of several new national entities from one another and from Serbia. Belgrade is now the capital city of the Republic of Serbia.

War heritage in Belgrade – What is covered in this chapter

The troubled history of Belgrade as a capital city has left permanent traces in the fort, one of the oldest and most prominent highlights in town. The foundations bear traces of the ancient Roman fort, but a defense bunker dug underground within its premises is a witness of the role of this old part of the town in more recent years.

An ideal setting for a weapons display, the fort is also where the museum of military history can be found. Dating from Tito’s era, this place boasts a remarkable collection of war material from all ages, including WWII, the Cold War and the 1990s. It stands as a perfect counterpart for the air museum, covered in this chapter. Further items of interest include one-of-a-kind memorabilia items belonging to Marshal Tito.

Being Tito’s Yugoslavia capital city, it is no surprise the founder of postwar Yugoslavia was buried here. An extremely interesting purpose-built museum – a major relic of the Cold War era – surrounds the mausoleum. There you can find a massive documentation on the dictator, including signed photographs and gifts from prominent western political leaders – including virtually every US President in office during Tito’s many decades in charge! This witnesses the special status of Marshal Tito in the eyes of western powers.

Another characteristic sight is the ‘Genex Tower’, a unique skyscraper of American size, with a style resembling ‘Blade Runner’ motion picture’s set. A real punch in the eye in the landscape, this is tower is of course another witness of how private enterprises – this time, the Yugoslavian tourism group Genex – could get a prominent status in communist Yugoslavia, differently from Soviet-style fully centralized economies. It is also an example of an original architectural style from the Cold War era, showing the great care given to art and architecture by the communist party of Yugoslavia – another prominent example being ‘spomeniks’, monuments scattered over the entire former territory of the country (see this dedicated chapter).

Similarly interesting is ‘Avala Tower’, a TV tower with an elevated panorama platform from the 1960s. Besides the architectural interest, it is worth mentioning this tower was targeted by NATO air raids in 1999, and completely demolished. It was rebuilt in an identical shape and re-opened only recently.

The oddest among war-connected items in town is the former building of the ministry of defense, close to today’s capital directional center. Having being targeted by NATO bombing raids in 1999 and severely damaged, it was left for years damaged and derelict, a memento for the attack by NATO forces, and the focus of much controversy.

Photographs of these sites are from a visit in Spring 2019.

Map

The sites covered in this chapter can be found on the map below.

Navigate this post – click on links to scroll

Sights

Military Museum of Belgrade

When getting access to the beautiful historical fort of Belgrade, a vantage point to watch the oldest districts and the rivers, you will hardly miss an impressive array of cannons, howitzers, tanks and missile batteries from earlier than Napoleon to the Cold War.

This rich collection is the outside part of the Military Museum of Belgrade. Founded back in Tito’s era, this museums offers an overview of the war history of this war-battered part of the world, since ancient times to the latest Yugoslavian Wars of the 1990s.

The collection features interesting items especially from WWII, including pieces of German make, as well as from the Cold War period, like Soviet-made ‘Katyusha’ launchers and SAM batteries.

Despite the initial struggle with Stalin, after the latter’s death, relations with the USSR improved. Since then, military supply for Yugoslavia mainly came from the USSR, flanked by a non-negligible domestic production.

The indoor collection starts from much back in time, with weapons dating from the centuries of the struggle against the Ottoman rule. A major section is dedicated to the 19th century, when the Kingdom of Serbia was founded. As known, the spark for WWI came from the Balkans. Serbia took part to the war on the side of the Entente. As a result, after WWI the Kingdom of Serbia increased its territory and became known as the Kingdom of Yugoslavia since the late 1920s.

Resulting from the political union of peoples of diverse ethnicity, religion, language and commercial vocation, this kingdom never experienced much stability. As a matter of fact, king Alexander I was murdered on a visit to France by Macedonian fighters for independence. The blood stained shirt of the king following the assassination – notably the first such event to be video recorded, albeit in 1934 quality – is preserved in the museum.

Like elsewhere in Europe, WWII years saw the suppression of the existing institutions. In 1941 Yugoslavia was invaded by neighboring Hitler’s Germany (which at that time was a single entity with Austria). The Nazi rule was implemented in the region of today’s Serbia, administrated by a German-backed local government. Items from this era are abundant, and include maps, weaponry and uniforms.

Of special interest are also the double-language notices – in German and Serbian – produced by Nazi Germany, with the distinctive eagle and swastika (similar to what you can find in the occupied territories of the USSR, see for instance here).

Also interesting are the bounty signs about Tito and other ‘comrades’ – the resistance movements were well organized and supplied, with the backing of Western Allies operating from Greece and southern Italy in the latter years of the war, thus creating real troubles to the invading powers.

Despite that, also improvised weapons were used, presented in the museum. Being an installation from Tito’s time, the operations of the communist-led resistance para-military units is showcased with flags, banners, uniforms and weapons.

A true relic in the museum is made of a small collection of Marshal Tito’s own uniforms and everyday items. These include some field items – torchlight, map magnifier – as well as more personal belongings – glasses, a USSR souvenir, apparently a pencil case, and more.

Some interesting photographs include portraits of US staff and aircraft operating from Yugoslavia, as well as a copy of the declaration of support to Tito’s army from the participants to the Tehran conference – Churchill, Stalin and president Roosevelt.

A very Soviet-style part of the museum is a kind of memorial, with a statue of Tito and a myriad of banners from various military groups – a kind of homage – completed by a massive engraved metal map of communist Yugoslavia.

A significant part of the museum deals with the 1990s wars. These include the early secession war mainly opposing Croatia, but deeply involving Bosnia-Herzegovina. Weapons of the Croatian army are on display.

A latter part is devoted to the war with Kosovo, which resulted in an open, mainly air-fought conflict against overwhelming NATO forces. From the fierce and polemical titles of the display cases in this latest part of the museum, it is clear that this fragment of history is still an open wound in the collective memory of Serbia. Maps of NATO bombing incursions have been created, and curiously translated into English, for the eyes of western visitors.

More substantial remains from this relatively recent struggle can be found at the air museum of Belgrade, covered in this post, in the form of wrecks of downed aircraft and western missile bodies.

Visiting

The museum is a major attraction among those scattered over the premises of the fort. Access to the outdoor part, surely deserving a walk-through also for those not particularly interested in history, is free of charge, and may be very appealing for the kids. The indoor collection is extremely interesting for war historians or history-minded people, but the exhibition may be hard for children. Most items are labeled also in English, making the visit interesting. Visiting the inside part may take from .5 to more than 1 hour, depending on your level of interest. A photo permit is required to take pictures inside. Website with info here.

Mystery Bunker in the Fort of Belgrade

This bunker is poorly advertised, and only scarce on-site descriptions are provided. It is basically made of a tunnel built close to a the most panoramic corner of the fortress. Access is via a narrow stair, giving access to a U-shaped corridor, connecting two double-floor underground circular towers.

On the lower floor of the towers, sleeping rooms for troops can be found, together with water tanks. On the upper floor what appears as an unfinished or lately interred firing position for high-caliber artillery can be found.

Construction is similar to some installations of the Atlantic Wall (see for instance here and here), hence it may date from WWII or soon after.

Due to the (strangely) scant description, it is hard to tell the history of this mystery bunker, and I am only guessing its function.

Visiting

The site can be visited with an inexpensive ticket, to be purchased (cash only) by the entrance to the helical pit, a much more advertised attraction nearby. To be honest, nobody checked my ticket once by the entrance to the bunker, which at a first glance can be confused with a backyard deposit (it is really not much celebrated as an attraction). Anyway, I came across a Serbian-speaking small guided group on my visit, so there must be chance of getting inside like that, enjoying some better explanation. Visiting alone may take 15 minutes. A little info on the site of the Fortress, here.

Marshal Tito’s Mausoleum and Memorabilia Museum

This installation lies to the back of the older building of the Museum of Yugoslavia, dating from Tito’s era and currently closed for renovation (2020). The neighborhood is very nice, with buildings of many embassies. The mausoleum and the annexed museum are part of a nice ensemble, surrounded by a garden. A very modern entrance hall with shop and services has been prepared at the entrance.

The burial place of Marshal Tito is in a greenhouse-like building, pretty nice and peaceful. The tomb is definitely plain and not bombastic, nothing you would expect from a dictator. Tito’s wife is buried nearby.

To the sides of the building you can find a well designed exhibition including personal belongings of Tito, parts of his office furniture, as well as pictures – including a magnified one with dignitaries attending his funeral ceremony in 1980.

A small excerpt of the huge collection of scepters, a traditional gift offered to Tito by every group or local society on his domestic visits, can be visioned here. Some of these are really nicely crafted, some are funny – some are really kitschy and caricatural.

A second part of the installation is hosted in a small, separate building. Here an incredible collection of gifts, personal belongings, photographs, authentic papers from the fund of the Museum of History about momentous events in Yugoslavian history, autographs and scepters can be found.

Of special interest are the official portraits – often signed – of presidents, dignitaries, kings and queens from various ages and from all over the world. This collection witnesses the relative popularity of Marshal Tito in the West, even though NATO forces never trusted him fully – the missile defense system placed in northeastern Italy in the 1960s and 1970s is a clear memory of that (see this post).

Similar to Ceausescu’s house in Bucharest (see here), the items on display make for a very vivid memory of Marshal Tito life and actions, and really bring back the man from history. Really an evoking place those interested in the Cold War can’t miss out!

Visiting

This attraction can be easily reached by car, a few minutes from central Belgrade, in a nice and safe neighborhood (see map). The local name is ‘Kuca Cveca’. As a branch of the Museum of Yugoslavia, it is modernly managed and has been recently revamped, making the visit enjoyable and interesting. For those with an interest in the Cold War era or Tito’s life and legacy, a visit to this site may easily take 1-1.5 hours on a self-guided basis, despite the place being relatively small and easy to tour. Guided tours are possible as well, info on the official website (in English) here.

Genex Tower

An internationally known piece of contemporary architecture, this strange looking massive skyscraper can be clearly spotted from the fortressof Belgrade, looking west towards ‘Nikola Tesla’ airport. It was built between 1977 and 1980, and is made of two bodies connected at the top through an elevated platform.

The name Genex Tower comes from the legacy Genex company, a large tour operator from the Yugoslavian era, operating even an independent airline, Aviogenex, flying mainly touristic routes conveying visitors from western Europe to the beautiful coast of Dalmatia. This openness of Yugoslavia to western tourism has been an uncommon characteristic in the panorama of communist-led countries. Overt trade relations with the West contributed to a higher standard of living of Yugoslav population, compared to the USSR-controlled Eastern Bloc neighbors.

The tower is today partly a relic. The half once hosting the offices of Genex and its subsidiaries is mostly empty, even though not abandoned – there is a porter apparently living there, and willing to answer your questions on the history of the place! Going beyond the entry hall is not possible, but the hall itself deserves a glance – built with style, it is much more pleasant than the outside of the building!

The atmosphere is really evocative of the Cold War era. Like other buildings – mainly hotels – in former Yugoslavia, the style of the interior somehow recalls the old-fashioned luxury of some older James Bond movie setting!

The residential part is still inhabited as a high-rise condominium. The entrance is via a small door, but despite the derelict appearance of the small square ahead of the building, it looks normally cared for.

The circular platform on top of the tower used to host a panorama restaurant, today long gone.

The view of the platform from between the two main bodies from the base makes for a peculiar photographic set – as a matter of fact, professional photographers were taking pictures  from that spot for a fashion review!

Visiting

The tower can be reached by car, a few minutes north of the city center. This is basically a non-public building, so while visiting is not possible, the open, unfenced premises at the base of the tower allow walking freely around the tower. The neighborhood is densely populated and safe, despite the base of the tower not looking good, due to disrepair. Parking opportunities all around. A walk around the base may take 15 minutes. If you like to get inside the hall of the largely unused (as of 2020) commercial building, you may also have a chat with the porter about the history of the place. The visit won’t be much longer, anyway.

Avala Tower

This tower is located south of Belgrade, and is a vantage point for observing the town and the countryside around. The original tower was completed between 1961 and 1964, entering the world’s top-ten list of tallest buildings at the height of the Cold War era. That tower was targeted by NATO bombing in 1999 and destroyed. It was rebuilt between 2007 and 2009, mostly identical to the original design.

It is today a renowned tourist attraction. A remarkable engineering and design masterpiece, the tower boasts an uncommon three-leg base, giving a shape well fitting in the years of the space age when it was designed – despite the inspiration being reportedly from a three-legged Serbian traditional chair.

The platform on top can be reached via a fast elevator. Strange massive condominiums in the southern outskirts of Belgrade can be clearly spotted from here, but the most striking feature is the wild countryside surrounding Belgrade, really a spot in the green.

Not far from the tower, the interesting Monument to the Unknown Soldier from the 1930s is a remarkable national shrine from the years of the Kingdom of Yugoslavia.

Visiting

The Avala Tower can be reached by car in about 45 minutes from central Belgrade – mainly due to traffic, since it is not geographically far (see map). Parking on site. The place is managed as a modern large scale attraction, website here.

The Monument to the Unknown Soldier is open 24/7, a quick and interesting detour from the tower, with a dedicated small parking close to a fashionable ‘old-Europe’ vintage hotel. Explanatory panels nearby.

Ruins of the Ministry of Defense

The building of the ministry of defense was targeted during a bombing raid in April 1999, and severely damaged. An administrative building right in today’s administrative district of downtown Belgrade, it has been left mostly untouched for years now, as a memento of the war against the NATO alliance.

Two buildings can be seen cross the street. Part of the corresponding blocks are still in use, and for safety reasons portions of the damaged buildings have been finally demolished in recent years. More and more plans to convert this very central area to something else have been elaborated, as memory of the troubled 1990s is slowly fading.

Visiting

The place can be reached easily with a walk from the historical and shopping districts of Belgrade (see map). The buildings are inaccessible, and can be seen from the outside. A 5 minutes stop along your walk may suffice to check this item.

The Aeronautical Museum of Belgrade

With a few parallels in aviation history, especially in the years immediately following WWII, former Yugoslavia benefited from supplies by a great number of countries. As a matter of fact, the air force of this newborn communist republic was formed at first from leftovers of retreating Germany and conquering Britain, followed by the establishment of a supply line initially from the USSR, and later the US and again Britain.

The special political ability of marshal Tito, who ruled uncontested as a communist dictator since the foundation of Yugoslavia in 1945 until his death in 1980, and the credit he benefited from especially in Britain, allowed him to keep out of the sphere of influence of the USSR since 1948. In a strategic position on the border with NATO countries like Italy and Greece, Tito adopted a detente policy of ‘equal-distance’ between the two opposing blocs over the Cold War period (even though NATO did not trust him fully, as testified by the deployment of a SAM defense line in northeastern Italy, see this post).

Of course, most of the military supply was of Soviet make, especially after the death of Stalin and well until the end of communism in Europe and the bloody fragmentation of the Yugoslav state. However, concerning civil aviation, autonomy from Moscow allowed the adoption of western aircraft, like the French Aerospatiale Caravelle and much of the Boeing and McDonnell-Douglas inventory, in the major national airline JAT – something which happened very rarely anywhere in the communist bloc over the years of the Cold War, another notable instance being Romania, again a ‘semi-autonomous’ communist dictatorship, who refused the Soviet Tupolev Tu-134 in favor of license-built British BAC 1-11s.

Another effect of the autonomy from the USSR was the creation of a national aviation industry, which especially in the case of SOKO, produced military trainers and light attack aircraft of good success, which despite ageing, are still flying today.

More recently, the fierce conflicts raging over the Balkans in the 1990s have created a major active front for modern aviation, where the air force of Serbia – which inherited the geographically central part of Yugoslavia and its capital city, Belgrade – confronted the NATO alliance in an open conflict. The unbalance of forces allowed the western coalition to quickly establish air superiority, which did not come without a few notable material losses however.

A rich display of this peculiar aviation history, actually tracing back to WWI and the early years of aviation, can be found in the Aeronautical Museum of Belgrade, which despite being in today’s Serbia, acts as a kind of Yugoslav Aviation Museum. As a matter of fact, it was founded as such back in the years of Tito, and opened in its current building nearby ‘Nikola Tesla’ civil airport of Belgrade in 1989, when Yugoslavia was still a reality.

This short post provides an outline of what you can find in this museum, with photographs taken on a visit in April 2019.

Sights

The museum occupies a relatively large area in the vicinity of the airport of Belgrade, and is made of an open-air exhibition, open-air storage area, and big mushroom-shaped building hosting an indoor exhibition.

The ‘gate guardian’ is a SOKO J-21 Jastreb, a nice light multi-role aircraft from the 1960s, powered by a British Rolls-Royce Viper jet engine.

Indoor exhibition

The entry hall of the mushroom-shaped building features is a good example of the architectural style from the late communist era. The ground floor hosts a small exhibition about the early days of aviation in the former region of the Balkans, with documents from WWI years. Among the items on display, you can find early pilot’s licenses from notable war pilots, likely granted after training abroad, and actually written in French.

The main hall of the museum can be found upstairs. This large can be walked on two levels. Most aircraft are to be found on the lower level, but a few are suspended to the glassy circular sidewall of the mushroom, lighted from behind by the sunlight – so that taking pictures is just a nightmare!

The centerpiece of the collection is an exemplar of the SOKO J-22 Orao, a twin-engined – two Rolls-Royce Viper turbofans – light ground-attack and trainer aircraft from the 1970s. Designed jointly by Yugoslavia and Romania, this model equipped the Yugoslav (then Serbian) air force during the 1990s, where a handful exemplars are still flying today.

Indeed a clean design with an interesting performance, this aircraft was possibly the last heir of the Ikarus-then-SOKO lineage, originated back in the years before WWII. In this respect, some unique exemplars of aircraft are preserved in this museum, witnessing the existence of a school of skilled aircraft designers in Serbia, not much known in the western world.

A key figure of the Ikarus design bureau, Dragoljub Beslin led the design of Ikarus S-451, a nice, very small, twin-prop attack aircraft flown in 1951, especially designed to sustain high load factors in maneuvers at high speed.

Another unique specimen is the twin-jet Ikarus 451M, the first jet aircraft built by Yugoslavia. Same designer as the S-451, this unusual jet-engined taildragger flew in 1952, but was soon superseded by more modern models, in those years of quick-paced development of aviation technology. Again, the engines were from the West, in the form of two French Turbomeca Palas turbojets.

Another member of the ‘Ikarus 451’ family – it must be said this Yugoslav one is likely the oddest model numbering systems ever created… –  the T 451 MM Strsljen (Hornet) features a more convincing configuration, resembling the single-engined British BAC Jet Provost and the Italian Macchi MB 326, both rather successful trainers from the late 1950s. On display is actually the ‘Strsljen II’ version, which is a attack/training version with more thrust than the first series aircraft. This model was conceived to operate from unprepared runways, and featured two Turbomeca Marbore II French turbojets. The aircraft flew in 1958, but an air force contract was not granted.

Some functional wind tunnel models of other aircraft, actually never reaching the 1:1 prototype stage, are on display. These include a rare ekranoplane design, the UTVA 754. With a mechanic-monster-like appearance like all ekranoplanes (the most famous being probably the Bertini-Beriev preserved at the Russian Air Force Museum in Monino, see here), this machine was designed in 1982 in the then-Yugoslav town of Zagreb, today the capital city of Croatia.

A medevac aircraft conceived for easy conversion between floats and wheels, the UTVA 66H can be visited also inside. The indigenous SOKO is represented by a number of models. These include the SOKO G-2 Galeb, a successful trainer/light attack aircraft from the 1950s, built around a single Rolls-Royce Viper turbofan. During its long history it was exported to several international operators, and gave birth to the more recent SOKO J-21 Jastreb. The Galeb was in service with Serbia until 1999.

Another section of the museum features aircraft of foreign make which witness the intricate history of alliances of both the pre-WWII Kingdom of Yugoslavia and the post-WWII communist Yugoslavia. Most remarkably, these include a Messerschmitt Bf-109-G! The history of this particular aircraft is not very clear, some sources stating it was captured from Bulgarian air force. As a matter of fact, Yugoslavia acquired about 70 Bf-109-E from Germany in 1940, which in turn furiously invaded from north in a quick an violent campaign in spring 1941.

Next in line is nothing less than a British Hawker Hurricane! A group of Hurricanes were acquired from Britain in the immediate pre-war years, and even license-built in Belgrade in a small number – Yugoslavia apparently purchased aircraft seamlessly from both opponents at the outbreak of WWII. Later on, Hurricane-equipped squadrons of Yugoslavia fought back on the side of the Allies from bases in southern Italy, finally regaining control over the Balkans.

In a similar fashion, a Supermarine Spitfire Mk.V witnesses the involvement of British-supplied national air force squadrons in the liberation of Yugoslavia from the German invaders.

In the closing years of WWII, Yugoslavia benefited also from the help of the USSR. This is witnessed by a massive – and pretty rare, out of former soviet republics! – Ilyushin Il-2 Sturmovik. This big attack aircraft, possibly the most famous Soviet aircraft of WWII, equipped three squadrons in the Yugoslav air force, and helped in the fight on the so-called ‘Srem front’ north of Belgrade. An often overlooked sector of the European front, substantial operations were carried out since late 1944 until April 1945, with the forces of Nazi Germany slowly retreating under the offensive of the Red Army (including Bulgarian divisions) and of Yugoslavia from the south. These operations involved 250’000 troops on either side, thus engaging the Germans and draining resources from mainland defense. At that time, an entire division of the Yugoslav air force were equipped with this aircraft type, kept in service until the 1950s.

Similarly, an elegant WWII Yakovlev Yak-3 fighter of Soviet make can be found nearby in the colors of Yugoslavia.

After the end of WWII, Tito was determined not to surrender his political and economic independence to Stalin. In this high-stake gamble, he made no secret of his thoughts, and sought international recognition from the west. As expected, Stalin showed no sense of humor in that matter, and as the USSR broke relationships with Yugoslavia, this country faced the risk of isolation and of Soviet invasion in the early stage of the Cold War (late 1940s).

Over the years, the good relationship established with the western Allies during WWII were strengthened further, and most incredibly for a communist country, the US provided aircraft and helicopters, in the form of Republic P-47 Thunderbolt, Lockheed T-33 Shooting Star, Republic F-84G Thunderjet and (much later, in the early 1960s) North American F-86D ‘long-nosed’ Sabre.

The years of Kennedy administration saw a significant improvement of the relationship between Tito and Khrushchev, and this led to a switch to Soviet aircraft in the form of the supersonic MiG-21, which equipped the Yugoslav air force in substantial numbers over the following two decades. An exemplar of this iconic and ubiquitous aircraft, an unquestionably well-performing aircraft in his age, is preserved in the museum. By the way, the early 1960s saw also the widespread adoption of SOKO Galeb trainers and the phase out of older British/US models.

Other peculiar exhibits in the indoor part of the museum are the wrecks resulting from air fight operations during the Yugoslavian wars of the 1990s. On the national (Yugoslav) side, the tail cone of a SOKO G-4 Super Galeb – a totally different design from the quasi-homonym G-2 – damaged by a shoulder-launched Stinger missile in 1991.

But much more material is from NATO countries, resulting from combat during operation ‘Allied Force’ against Serbia in 1999. Most notably, you can see a substantial part of the wing of a Lockheed F-117 Nighthawk, the famous stealth aircraft downed by a vintage Soviet SA-3 Goa surface-to-air missile in March 1999, as well as a landing gear, ejection seat, pilot’s helmet, Vulcan cannon and some smaller parts of a General Dynamics F-16 Fighting Falcon downed the following May, again due to an SA-3 missile. The first stage of the missile which hit the Nighthawk is on display too.

These are basically the only aircraft lost in action over enemy territory during that operation.

An apparently easier prey, General Atomics RQ-1 Predator UAVs were used in great numbers, some twenty of them being downed. One wrecked example is put on display.

More items of the kind include parts of NATO missiles, including HARM anti-radiation missiles and cluster-bombs containers.

On the upper level, you can find a mostly photographic exhibition mainly about the national carrier JAT. Interestingly, not a single Soviet-made model appears in the pictures, whereas you can find Boeing 707s, 727s, 737s, Douglas DC-9s, McDonnell-Douglas DC-10s, Aerospatiale Caravelles and ATR-42/72s – clearly a strong commercial bound with the West, pretty unusual for a communist country!

Another Yugoslav airline started operations to a later date – Aviogenex. This apparently did use aircraft from the USSR, in particular Tupolev Tu-134s, later flanked by Boeing 737s. Aviogenex ceased operations much later than the end of Yugoslavia, and operated as a Serbian company for some years.

One of the most iconic brutalist monstrosities in northern Belgrade is the skyscraper which used to host the headquarters of this airline – it looks like a good setting for some ‘Blade Runner’ or ‘Judge Dredd’ movie…

Some more panels include descriptions of airport history and modern operations in the nearby airport of Belgrade. The history line of the national aviation industry is also presented in detail through historical pictures.

Some more aircraft can be found on this level, as well as a SA-3 Goa missile in a non-operative paint scheme, likely for training or telemetry tuning purposes.

Outdoor exhibition

The large area around the building is split between a small outdoor exhibition prepared for the public, and a larger storage area with many more aircraft which can not be neared nor walked around.

The displayed aircraft include an Aerospatiale Caravelle in the colors of JAT. This exemplar was one of three operated by this airline, and was active between 1963 and 1976.

A much elder transport, a German (French license-built) Junkers 52 with P&W engines represents a fleet of four such aircraft operated by the Yugoslav air force, complementing another group of originally German aircraft captured during the war.

An aircraft of historical significance is an Ilyushin Il-14 twin-prop transport. This aircraft was a personal goodwill gift from Khrushchev to marshal Tito, and the founding member of Yugoslav presidential fleet.

A couple of Lisunov Li-2 and some original Douglas C-47 Skytrain, of which the former is a license-built Soviet version, are on display, albeit not all complete. A MiG-21 Fishbed and a Kamov twin-rotor helicopter are also on display.

Another extremely rare item from the post-WWII years, a Short SA.6 Sealand amphibious aircraft of British make has made its way to Belgrade, after years as a transport aircraft in the Yugoslav air force.

The non-visible part of the museum features a rather impressive collection of MiG-21 in several versions, SOKO J-21 Jastreb and SOKO J-20 Kraguj in a large number, a SA-2 Guideline soviet-made SAM launcher with two missiles, and a number of partly assembled aircraft and wrecks.

A mystery item is a part of an allegedly US aircraft, apparently a part of the tail empennage of a bigger transport – any suggestion about this item welcome!

Visiting

The museum is located to the northwest of the airport of Belgrade. It can be easily reached by car from the access road going to the main terminal area. Website with info in English here. Parking ahead of the entrance.

The museum can be visited in about 2 hours by an interested subject, much less if you have just a mild interest in aviation. Much paneling is in double Serbian and English language, allowing to get the most from your visit.

Despite being fully operative, the place has a somewhat rotting appearance especially from the outside, as mostly typical to former state-run institutions in former Yugoslavia. Furthermore, some form of protection for the aircraft in the outside exhibition is hopefully to be considered by the management, otherwise the aircraft with literally disintegrate to the action of the elements in a matter of some years.