Soviet Airbases in the GDR – Second Chapter

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Soviet Ghosts in Germany

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As pointed out in other posts on the topic – here and here -, the territory belonging to the German Democratic Republic (‘GDR’, or ‘DDR’ in German) was densely populated with military bases of all kinds, including tank bases, logistic bases and airbases. This was the result of two powerful Armies coexisting within the borders of the communist DDR – the local East-German Army and the Soviet ‘Red Army’.

Looking at a map of the Country, the density of airbases is particularly striking. Due to the strategic significance suggested by its very position in central Europe, right on the border with ‘the West’, the DDR was attributed a privileged status by the Soviet government in terms of military equipment. The number of Soviet troops stationed here was in the order of the hundreds of thousands, meaning that on most bases also housing and services for Soviet soldiers and their families had to be built in large numbers.

After the German reunification, the end of the Soviet Union and the retirement of Russian – ex-Soviet – troops by the mid-Nineties, all the bases – mostly stripped of any transportable stuff, which was withdrawn to Russia – were returned to Federal Germany. This resulted in a surplus of military hardware for the German government, which soon started a lengthy plan to convert, refurbish or demolish most of the newly acquired facilities.

Consequently, some of the former bases are now commercial airports, whereas most of them had the airside areas converted into solar powerplants. In most cases, only part of the former installations have been converted to non-military use, and huge ghost hangars, depots and housing can still be found in the premises of these airbases. What remains is sometimes of great interest for war historians and urban explorers as well – especially those bases where communist memorials with writing in cyrillic alphabet can be found, and stand out as vivid memories of a recent past, when everything was very different from now in central Europe.

Similarly to other ones on this website, this post covers with photographs and some info two Soviet airbases – Rangsdorf and Brand – visited in April 2017, and what remains of three more – Brandis, Nohra and Köthen – visited in 2023. Where in the premises of the first two much hardware could be checked out (at least as of 2017), the latter (as of 2023) have been almost completely wiped out, or left to the elements and to the spoilers to the point that only few or very damaged relics remain.

To provide some sort of ‘then and now’ comparison, I included a few pics from the wonderful book Rote Plätze – Russische Militärflugplatze Deutschland 1945-1994 by Lutz Freundt and Stefan Buttner, for which I don’t own the copyright. I recently grabbed a copy of this wonderful, out-of-print book, published in 2007 by a now defunct publisher in Berlin (AeroLit), and distributed only locally. This book is now very difficult to find, and basically a collectible item. Consequently, the price was indecent, but the maps, photos and info therein are really worth the financial effort!

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Rangsdorf

Getting there and moving around

The former airbase in Rangsdorf can be found on the outskirts of Berlin, actually less than 8 miles south of Schönefeld Airport. It can be reached very quickly from the highway N.10, taking through the village of Rangsdorf and reaching its the south-western corner, where a small lake with sport activities and a group of new ‘American style’ houses is being built and partially completed – the land were the new houses are standing was once part of the base.

To be honest, I had some difficulties finding a parking place, because the area is densely populated and much looked after, and most parking lots are privately owned. I finally elected to park ahead of a small kindergarten, which at the time of my visit was already closed.

What remains of the base is totally abandoned, and you will likely find sheep in the former areas of operations. When preparing your exploration, just have a look a the Google map of the site to plan your moves ahead. There are a few remaining huge hangars and service buildings to explore, and they are all in the northern part of the former airfield. The original fence with lines of barbed wire and concrete posts is still standing, but there are many spots where it is cut and broken, so getting in is not difficult at all.

Notwithstanding that you can easily access the base, the populated area around is a potential threat, for entering the buildings is formally forbidden – there is also a firefighters station close to the northern section of the fence, and you could be easily spotted from outside when you are in. So I suggest being careful in your movements.

Sights

The military airbase in Rangsdorf dates back from the years of WWII and the Nazi regime, when it was a major base for transportation of high-ranking military staff traveling by plane. It was from here that Claus Schenk von Stauffenberg, the key-character in the failed attempt to murder Adolf Hitler in July 1944, took off to reach the Wolf’s Lair in what is now eastern Poland.

When the airport fell into Soviet hands, it was soon converted into a helicopter base, due to the inappropriate size of the airfield for the standards of the jet age, and the constraints put on its development by the surrounding villages. It used to be a very active helicopter transport base until the collapse of the Wall. In the years preceding the withdrawal of the Soviet/Russian troops the place became famous as ‘The Dump’ – the Soviet helicopter fleet was rationalised, and many rotorcrafts met the scrapman here.

Approaching from the west of the complex the fenced perimeter is very irregular, and when coming in I passed at least four lines of barbed wire while walking along a straight line! Many original lamps along the fences are still in place.

What seems to be a large air raid shelter, or possibly a reinforced communication bunker can be found before reaching the hangars. It is really big and isolated, with traces of wiring on one side.

Among the traces from the Soviet ‘Dump’ there are some aircraft-style seats, possibly from a big helicopter, several winches and some electric motors.

The two-winged building facing the grass-invaded former apron includes the control tower in the middle, and two lateral hangars. The assembly is a nice example of Nazi military design. The wooden doors and roof confirm the old age of the construction. Nonetheless, these hangars have been used also by the Soviets, as witnessed by the more modern ventilation system and traces of technical schemes and gear inside.

From the top floor of the old control tower it is possible to appreciate the original size of the airfield. As you can see from older pictures, only the northernmost part of the field was converted for helicopter operations. The helicopter platforms can be easily spotted, albeit half-covered by grass in the area ahead of the tower.

To the west of this main hangar there is a mysterious buildings with almost no windows and two pinnacles, which seem to be large twin funnels. I did not explore this thoroughly inside, as the building appeared to be in an especially bad and dangerous condition.

The next large hangar to the east is much bigger than the one with the tower. The construction is again pretty old, I guess again from the Thirties. Inside it is possible to find traces of mottos in big characters in cyrillic alphabet all along the wall. In older times, a famous panel with an ‘artistic’ hammer and sickle was hanging from one of the walls. This is unfortunately gone, only a barely visible trace remaining in place.

On one side of this big hangar a smaller service building can be found. Again, the intended function of this part of the complex is not immediately clear. I found traces of a huge table of chemical elements in Russian, like can be found in schools… but I don’t think they had a school right besides a hangar!

Even more to the east, close to the outer wall of the base and to a still active railway, there are two more hangars. The smaller one with wooden doors is very damaged inside, whereas the one to the north is apparently more recent in construction, but it is closed. My exploration accelerated a bit from here, as I noticed activity in the houses nearby outside the fence of the base, a watchdog started barking, and I feared to be spotted! Luckily this happened almost at the end of the exploration program…

Close to some communist-style housing, refurbished and still in use to the north of the airfield, I found a piece of wall, probably belonging to the original outer wall of the base, with celebrative writings in cyrillic – possibly names of sport teams from Soviet times.

All in all, I would say this base has the relevant advantage it was not converted to a power plant or something else, so it is poorly guarded and not totally off-limits – at least the open air grounds. It is also close to Berlin, easy to reach in a short time, and compact in size, so you won’t need to walk much, and visiting may take less time than with other former bases – about 2 hours for me, taking all the pictures. On the other hand, the populated neighborhood of Rangsdorf makes interception by the locals more likely. While not particularly rich of communist remains, the buildings in the base are still mostly in place, so visiting can be satisfactory also for photographers interested in architecture.

Brand

Getting there and moving around

The area of the former big airbase of Brand is associated to a fairly well-known attraction of our days – Tropical Island. This amusement park, which is officially indicated as an attraction even on highway N.13, connecting Berlin to Cottbus and the border with Poland, was built inside a colossal, modern hangar, designed for airships around the year 2000. This can be spotted from quite afar.

A large area of the former airbase is – from a viewpoint of urban exploration – compromised. The former runway has been turned into a huge parking area, whereas a luxury tropical-themed resort with bungalows and camping lots for mobile homes has been built in the western part of the airport. Most taxiways have been either recycled as alleys in the park, or literally removed. Some of the many aircraft shelters of this once prominent attack base have been converted to host other forms of business, ranging from restaurants to hay storages.

All the part connected with leisure business, which corresponds to everything north of Tropical-Islands-Allee – also named road L711 and going east from highway N.13 to the near village of Krausnick, where a small memorial to the Soviet actions in WWII can be found – is actively guarded by private guards, with their own small modern barracks close to the gate of the complex, and moving around by car.

In striking contrast with this, shrouded in the vegetation to the south of the same road, roughly cross the street with respect to the entrance to the Tropical Island complex, it is possible to find a conspicuous amount of Soviet relics, basically unguarded. All accesses to the roads going south is physically interdicted to cars, so parking may be not obvious in the immediate vicinity of the entrance to the park. I suggest going past the gate along L711 and driving towards Krausnick to find an unofficial but safe parking spot between the roadside and the limit of the forest, away from suspicious eyes.

Another part of great interest for war historians include the storage for nuclear warheads, typical to Brand and other few bases in the GDR. This is rather distant – about 1.8 miles southeast – from the airport area and Soviet housing. The original connection road – not accessible by car – is straight and very long, with little to offer in terms of relics. For exploring that part of the site I suggest driving to Krausnick from Tropical Island, and taking the L71 pointing southwest towards the village of Schönwalde. The road runs deep in the trees, and at some point it comes about .6 mile to the site of interest. You may park on the roadside, on one of the many service roads used by woodcutters and reach the place with a quick walk following one of those trails.

Take your time studying the area in advance on Google Maps, and choose what option best suits your needs.

You may also have a look at aerial pictures of the base, taken during a special flight over the area, described in this report.

Sights

Before being turned into a civil airport and then into an amusement park, Brand was one of the largest Soviet bases in the GDR, with flocks of MiG-21, 23, 27 stationing here, as well as Sukhoi Su-15 and even Su-27 in the final years of operation. Most notably, the base was selected already in the 1960s for storing air-launched nuclear warheads – together with Finsterwalde and Rechlin/Lärz (see this post). This led to the construction of a purpose-built reinforced storage bunker, which can still be seen. As pointed out before, there are two main focus areas in a visit to this installation.

The first is the ghost town for the troops once stationed here, and for their families. This is incredibly close to Tropical Island, but the contrast between the aura of these two places couldn’t be more striking!

There are residential buildings from various Soviet models, mostly three-four storeys buildings possibly from the Fifties-Sixties, but also some more imposing pre-fabricated buildings possibly dating from as recently as the Eighties.

Walking alone in this once lively village, with traces of playgrounds, mailboxes, lamps along walkways now invaded by vegetation, and even a swimming pool with some dead water in it, was for me one of the weirdest and creepiest experiences ever!

Unfortunately, from the pics you can’t feel the unreal silence where the place was immersed – the only sounds were those of the wind blowing in the trees and of some door slamming somewhere within the buildings… you would expect a zombie, some ghost troopers or a mutant monster coming out to meet you at every time!

Most of the buildings are in relatively good overall condition, but almost nothing survives of the interior of the apartments – which may collapse at every time and should not be accessed. By looking closely at some tires in a playground you can spot cyrillic characters on them – maybe they come from a consumed nose wheel of a MiG? The lamps are of the usual model commonly found in Soviet bases.

To the west of the residential area there is a similarly extensive zone with a great number of possibly former barracks or technical buildings. Almost all of them have been half-demolished by destroying the roof – I think this was made in purpose, for literally all buildings in this part have encountered the same fate. The style of these buildings suggests they are older than most of the housing. This is confirmed by comparing historical photographs of the base from above.

Among the most prominent buildings in the area, it is possible to find a former school, with an imposing façade of classical inspiration.

To the back of the school building a small gym can be found. The roof has collapsed – or it was demolished – long ago, so that some trees are growing inside – no more basketball here!

A highlight of the exploration in this area is a huge mosaic wall with the head of Lenin. This item is a bit of a mystery, cause it’s hard to imagine it was originally placed where it is standing today – there is no architectural ‘frame’ supporting the monument nor a backstage completing it – it looks like a decorated floor, but placed in a vertical position!

Anyway, the sight is of course very uncommon, and I would say unique in the panorama of communist-themed art in the former GDR.

Close by the ghost town, three aircraft shelters remain to the south of the road marking the ideal border with the ‘Tropical Island domain’. These can be accessed and explored. Among other particular features, it is possible to spot the rusty engine for opening the gates of one of them. These shelters could host aircraft up to the size of a MiG-23/27.

The second part of interest in Brand is the bunker for nuclear warheads. As stated above, this was built really far to the southeast from the housing and from the airport, differently from the other two bases in the GDR where similar bunkers were built (see this post). A straight connection road links the two portions of the base.

Traces of the further line of inner fence built around this area can be found today. The good quality tarmac of the roads have survived to this day.

The bunker is not accessible, the main gate blocked with a pile of land. Nonetheless, it is still visible and fairly well-preserved – even the camouflage above the front door – as you can see from a comparison with a photo from when the bunker was being used.

On the crane-supporting structures ahead of the entrance you can find traces of cyrillic writings.

There is a truck-loading dock nearby and several larger and smaller service buildings and garages. On some of the walls you can find ‘unofficial’ writing in cyrillic alphabet.

In both parts of the base I didn’t meet a single person during my exploration, which lasted about 3.5-4 hours in total, including the time for transfer from a trailhead to the other. When I visited, Tropical Island was closed for the season, with many people going in and out for maintenance. There were also tourists with mobile-homes and caravans, and guards with their cars. Anyway, during the exploration of the Soviet housing, which is really close to Tropical Island, I didn’t see a person, and as pointed out the place was unnaturally silent! The part of the nuclear warhead bunker is also very remote, and more obviously I didn’t come across anybody.

All in all, even though a substantial part of Brand has been converted into something else, what remains here is a great fun to visit, with tons of photo opportunities, a very intense ‘Soviet-ghost aura’ and much to see also for curious war historians. The countryside is pleasant and even though some walking is required, the place is nice to walk and very enjoyable. And if you feel tired, you can always decide to switch off your camera and enter Tropical Island for a relaxing rest-of-the-day!

Köthen

Getting there and moving around

The base was located immediately south of the homonym village, itself 10 miles southwest of the larger and famous town of Dessau. The entire premises of the former large Soviet base of Köthen have been converted for housing or into industrial facilities, currently run by several companies. The former airside of the base with the runway has been covered by a huge field of solar cells. As a result, visiting as tourists is strictly speaking not possible.

Possibly the only exception – in theory – is the southernmost hangar, which bears traces of the original camouflage, and the prominent portraits of Lenin, Marx and Engels on its side. The hangar is in the hands of a private energy-related company. The area around is fenced. I simply drove in as a visitor, from the road through the open gate, on the company premises all the way to the building. Access is from road K2074, roughly .4 miles south of the crossing with road 185, to the right when going south.

I asked for permission to a worker, and he cordially allowed me to move around a bit and take pictures outside of the building. Then I met another individual, possibly the village idiot having some time in the open air – surely not a worker, he was in shorts and accompanied by a little girl, very weird in a place like that! – who intimated me to leave, with some impolite and intimidating gesture also on the menu. Preferring not to start a litigation and attract attention from the workers, I left, with the pictures I had taken up to that moment. With a better luck, exploring this part of the former base should be easy and more rewarding. However, since moving around at will is clearly not possible on private grounds, the visit may be of just a few minutes in any case, making for an ideal quick detour for those passing by.

Sights

The Soviet base of Köthen was once a prominent part of the arsenal, hosting for long decades during the Cold War Soviet flying groups almost every type of MiG fighter, from MiG-15 down to MiG-29. The base was complemented with modern reinforced aircraft shelters since the 1960s, and a multi-purpose Granit-type bunker was erected later, for employment as a storage for munitions.

The only part of the former premises of this once large base which is today partly preserved and (theoretically, see directions above) visible is one of the main hangars. The construction, flanked by two low-rise towers, shows the actual origin of the facility, which dates to the years of the Third Reich. Actually, the area was busy with flying activities since even earlier (1920s).

The hangar is relatively low in height, with sliding doors closing it to the front, and painted in a brown-greenish camo coat. Inside, today a huge pile of manure can be found, arguably employed for some chemical process (the company holding the building runs an energy-related business).

The most interesting sight is represented by two medallions, with pretty unusual portraits of Lenin, Marx and Engels, in black over a white background. Besides the portrait of Lenin, to the left of the front door of the hangar, an inscription in Russian quoting a thought of Lenin on the army can be found as well.

The medallions, inscriptions and camouflage appear rather well kept. Even a small plaque with a German translation of the inscription can be found.

This witnesses an interesting example of a welcome and uncommon preservation effort, making a short visit to this facility interesting at least for the more committed Cold War historian.

Nohra

Getting there and moving around

The former Soviet helicopter base of Nohra used to take a sizable area both to the north and south of road 7, connecting Weimar to Erfurt. However, the base was accurately eradicated, and virtually no trace of it (except what remains of a half demolished helicopter hangar) can be seen to the north of the road. The territory has been returned to agriculture or taken over by industrial facilities, therefore even the original general appearance of the base is impossible to retrace.

Similarly, the area to the south of road 7 has been cleared of almost every trace from its aeronautical past. The only relics, described in the paragraph below, can be found along Pappelallee, which runs parallel to road 7, and can be accessed from its western end from road 85.

Along Pappelallee the old entrance to the pre-existent Third Reich base, in the typical style of the 1930s, can be clearly spotted. Today, a bed & breakfast operates this gate building, which was employed also by the Soviets. Going through would give direct access to the perspective leading to the second highlight of the place, a preserved statue of Lenin. However, going through is not possible. The statue can be reached walking along the road parting to the south of Pappelallee, from a little west from the bed & breakfast. You can leave your car close to the gate buildings, away from the road, and walk along this trail. The statue is in the focus of a perspective, and hard to miss.

Going there is not unlawful, there are no prohibition sign and no fence, plus the statue is clearly preserved.

The area around the statue has been completely reforested, so no dangerous building are to be found in the area. Since some walk is involved, a visit to this site may take about 30 minutes.

Sights

The base of Nohra was established back in WWI, and was potentiated by the Third Reich Luftwaffe from 1936 onwards. By the end of WWII, it was captured by US forces, who had to hand it over to the Soviets in July, following post-war agreements.

It was then potentiated into one of the largest helicopter bases of the Soviets in the GDR, with virtually every type of Mil helicopter being flown from here over the years, including the mighty Mil-24 over the last two decades of the Cold War.

Today, as noted in the previous paragraph, the former airbase has been completely and accurately wiped out, so that its very existence could not be suspected by unaware subjects driving along the busy roads between Erfurt and Weimar.

Curiously, two small preserved portions indeed exist, making for an interesting detour when visiting the area.

The original gate buildings of the old Luftwaffe military installation can be clearly spotted along the road. The style shows the typical features and elegance of German architecture from pre-WWII period – totally incompatible with the generally shabby appearance of Soviet architectures from the post-war period.

The original gate facility is today privately owned. However, when open, the gate between the two wings of the facility allow to spot a statue of Lenin, placed to the far end of an alley departing from the gate.

Luckily, access to the statue is possible with a short walk (see paragraph with directions above). The statue today is basically in a small forest of trees, and its location appears quite inexplicable. However, getting closer to it and moving around, traces of painted signs on a small network of asphalt roads witness the existence of a populated area once around its location. Clearly, with all buildings demolished and tall trees in their place, the scenery is not any more typical for a statue of Lenin…

Interestingly, the statue has been actively preserved – an unusual sight in the GDR panorama. The communist leader is portrayed in its typical appearance, moving forward in a proactive attitude. To the back of the statue, a curtain wall painted in crimson is likely part of the original installation.

The quality of the statue appears pretty good, when zooming on it.

All in all, despite the complete disappearance of Nohra, this preserved fragment represents an important trace of a significant chapter in the history of this area, otherwise irreversibly released into oblivion.

Brandis/Waldpolenz

Getting there and moving around

Brandis is located about 10 miles west of Leipzig city center, immediately west of the homonym village.

Differently from most former Soviet bases in the GDR, what remains of Brandis – i.e. what was not taken over by solar cells and private companies – has been left free to explore for the general public. Therefore, access to the few buildings still standing on site – which include some big old hangars, as well as technical buildings, housing and more – is possible in many ways and from many directions.

This was not my own choice, but in hindsight, the most convenient way to access the premises is getting as close as possible to the buildings in the northern part of the base and park your car, then moving around by foot. A choice for parking is where Am Alten Flugplatz changes name into Falkenallee. Car access to the latter is impeded, but you can park by the obstacles put in place, and move by foot from there.

All accessible buildings are located to the north and northwest of the base. Its original premises, including the runway area and taxiways, are now mostly taken over by solar cells. For the rest they are crossed by public roads, making the perception of the original limits of the base and its original design not so evident.

The very poor condition of most buildings will not appeal much to war historians, possibly more to urban explorers. However, since the base is sizable, the time for a thorough exploration is at least 2 hours after having parked.

Sights

The base of Brandis has a complex history, as usual dating back to the Third Reich era. It was selected for the deployment of the rocket-powered Messerschmitt Me-163 Komet, and from 1944, thanks to the direct railway connection, an ambitious program for the final assembly and operation of this interceptor was started. The war ended with the defeat of Germany before the conversion was completed. Buildings from the Luftwaffe era include at least three big hangars with a wooden door, a control tower, some official buildings, and apparently a number of smaller technical buildings.

The Soviets employed the place mostly for early jets and later (from the 1960s) for transport and attack helicopters. However, from the 1970s the base was potentiated significantly (including the addition of housing and service buildings for the families of the Soviet troops), and became active with Su-25, which were stationed here until the then-Russian military left the facility in 1992. Apparently – and unusually – no reinforced aircraft shelters were ever built by the Soviets in Brandis, preferring laterally-reinforced open-air parking bays and a large open apron (the latter similar to Sperenberg, see here).

As noted above (paragraph on directions), most of the base is gone today, with a huge solar plant having covered most of the former airside, including the runway and the huge area south of it, formerly employed for helicopter operations. Furthermore, some private companies now occupy part of the area between the hangars and the tower.

Therefore, the focus of a visit is in the hangars and tower (immediately north of the former runway), the technical buildings to the west, and the housing and service buildings along the northern perimeter.

The old hangars are three. The one to the northwest of the former airside is home to a big inscription in Russian, mentioning the 28th congress of the Communist Party of the Soviet Union. Also some other inscriptions can be seen on the southern wall, barely emerging from the graffiti layer.

Apparently, in this hangar early jet drones were stationed by the Soviets in the late 1980s.

The central hangar is bigger. Its original wooden front door is pretty well preserved. Inside, the main hall is sided by technical rooms along the solid walls. Some of them are easier to access from outside through the broken windows!

Close to this hangar, a few yards to the west, is the old control tower. Despite heavily stricken by writers and spoilers, this building is an interesting example of architecture from the Third Reich era.

Behind this main hangar and close to the tower, it is possible to retrace original internal roads of the base, thanks to the lights and the now overgrown hedges once framing them. Not far north from this area, major housing from the 1970s can be found.

In the same area, a mystery building with a curved ceiling – a technical building of some sort – offers some relics like Soviet boots and damaged clothes.

Again close to the hangar, some pipelines and some exhausted tires can be found. The labels of the latter clearly bear Russian markings.

A last big hangar can be found somewhat further east. The wooden door, left partly open, has been penetrated by the vegetation, creating an unusual scenery.

An interesting sight in this hangar is an original ‘No smoking’ writing in German. This is apparently in a Third Reich era font, and may be a fascinating witness of the original tenancy of the airbase. Needless to say, the inscription now barely emerges from a thick coat of meaningless ‘works of art’…

The housing and service buildings along the northern perimeter of the base clearly date from different ages. The gigantic facade of some of the houses clearly betray a post-1970 building approach.

Unfortunately, all these buildings are in very poor conditions, just the walls and stairs remain, and they are literally covered in graffiti. Thanks to the severe spoiling action carried out by the writers, the ghost aura of former Soviet bases is hard to feel here – everything looks more like a rotting poor neighborhood of a big town.

To the west of the base, possibly an old railway or truck-loading facility can be found, maybe from the Third Reich era.

Close by, an array of smaller technical buildings, apparently garages, reveal some interesting writing in old-German characters. Also these buildings are possibly from the Luftwaffe tenancy of the airbase.

Finally, a highlight of the visit is what appears to be an old school building. Here an incredible mural of a Soviet soldier honoring the Red Banner, the flag of the USSR, can be found in the hall on top of the stairs.

A little bit of respect has been shown by the usual writers, who massively attacked all the rest of this building similar to all others. Thus this fragment of the original Soviet decoration of the airbase is still surviving. Besides the soldier are other troops, with interesting facial appearances, resembling some different ethnicity from within the USSR. Also some writing in Russian is visible in the background.

Other naive paintings can be found around this building, including 18th century characters, a few trees, and other cartoon characters, today not recognizable. Most of these innocent paintings however have been targeted by spoilers.

Along the external perimeter of the base, now not obvious to retrace, some rusty parts of the original high-security fence can still be found.

Wünsdorf – Nazi/Soviet Supreme Military Command

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For war historians and urban explorers Wünsdorf does not need any further presentation – a central place in the military history of the 20th century, famous for the many abandoned military buildings, from stately headquarters to interred bunkers. The name of this small town appears even in the very modern and interesting Military Museum of Dresden, where it is easy to find an original sign – in double alphabet – from the time when Wünsdorf hosted the Soviet military headquarters in the communist German Democratic Republic.

This report is based on photographs I took in spring 2017 in Zossen and Wünsdorf during a customized visit to the place I arranged with a local guide. For visiting information scroll down to the bottom of the page.

History – in brief

The small town of Wünsdorf, about 15 miles south of Berlin, has a serious military tradition, dating back at least to the beginning of the 20th century. At that time a large military complex with many barracks was set up by the order of the German Kaiser Wilhelm II – a central player in WWI – in the neighbor town of Zossen.

To this ‘Belle Époque’ era belongs part of the housing still in place today, as well as some of the largest and most aesthetically pleasant buildings in town. Among them, a former training camp for athletes of the army, and some big command buildings.

Following the dawn of the Nazi era, the place gained further relevance, with the institution of the German Supreme Command of the Armed Forces, also known as ‘Oberkommando der Wehrmacht’, or ‘OKW’ in brief. This was presided by general Wilhelm Keitel for all the duration of WWII, and represented the ‘top of the pyramid’ in terms of military decisions, as general Keitel reported directly to Hitler.

The staff of the OKW could be accommodated in purpose-built bunkers here, designed to withstand severe air bombing action, as well as to be disguised as normal country houses from above. These were known as the ‘Maybach bunkers’.

Besides bunkers for housing military personnel, a large communication bunker, known as ‘Zeppelin bunker’, was built to the purpose of connecting the brain of all military operations with the various divisions scattered over Europe and fighting on more war fronts.

When WWII finally came to an end, the Soviets captured the region, and that was the onset of a full new chapter in the history of the town. The reference name ‘Zossen’ was dropped in favor of ‘Wünsdorf’. The area of the two villages was totally cut-off by a 17 km wall, guarded with a top security level. Inside, housing for around 40,000 staff was prepared in subsequent stages, adding many purely Soviet-style residential buildings to what was still in place from before and during the Nazi era.

The supreme command of all Soviet forces in the occupied territory of Germany – to become the German Democratic Republic, or ‘GDR’, in 1949 – was installed here. All four branches of the Soviet armed forces had their respective headquarters in a corresponding sector of the ‘prohibited citadel’, with inner walls dividing the four areas. These headquarters controlled more than 200,000 troops stationed in the GDR until the early Nineties.

The Soviets tried to blow up the Maybach bunkers, with some success, and also the Zeppelin bunker, with no success. They developed it into an nuclear-proof installation, and added two further bunkers, for controlling military operations – including all air patrolling ones – in real time over the territory of the GDR, and along the crucial border with the Federal Republic and the Western world. Similarly to WWII, once again Wünsdorf was the main stage of crucial decisions for the full span of the Cold War.

The year 1989 marked the beginning of the end for this military town, with the reunification of the GDR with the Federal Republic and the end of the Cold War. All Soviet forces stationed in Germany – about 500,000 people, including troops and their families -, soon to become Russian forces in 1993 with the collapse of the communist regime in the USSR, began a well-coordinated retreat back to their mother Country, leaving Wünsdorf in September 1994.

Since then, the huge housing is largely uninhabited – the current population having dropped to about 4,000 – and the stately buildings built by the order of the Kaiser are deserted. Nonetheless, differently from other former military bases left to nature or converted into something else, the regional government of Brandenburg has formally taken over the property, which is not totally abandoned, nor in an irreversible state of disrepair, with the aim of selling it or transforming it into a museum.

Up to now, the place is still in the hands of the regional government, and specialized tours can be arranged with a local society of enthusiasts.

Sights

This site is really huge, with countless remains and interesting places to see. My visit took just about 5.5 hours, I think you would really need 1 day – and possibly more – to cover all features with enough time to both learn about the history and take good pictures of everything interesting! Here I will present a mainly pictorial description of the part of the complex I had the chance to visit this time. I think another day I will need to go back and complete the visit!

You may get an impression of the town from above, from this report based on aerial pictures taken during a dedicated flight over the region.

Officers’ House

This is probably the most famous non-bunker building in the complex. It dates back to the early 20th century – the place was the headquarter of a sports training ground established by the Kaiser’s army before WWI. In the Thirties, German athletes were trained here for the 1936 Olympic Games in Berlin. During WWII this became a command building for the OKW, while in Soviet times it was actually transformed into a house for higher ranking staff of the supreme Soviet command, with living rooms and entertainment facilities.

The main building faces an almost square park, where a huge statue of Lenin was installed and is still standing.

Inside the main building it is possible to find clear traces of the original ‘Belle Époque’ architecture.

The inside of the building was spoiled of all furniture – the Russians reportedly tried to sell everything to the German government when they left, but the offer gained little interest. Only little part of the furniture, clearly from the age of the Kaiser, can be still spotted. Among the highlights of the bottom floor, there are two murals, in a typically Soviet naïve style, and a sculptured wall. Somebody is trying to put together Soviet memorabilia in a small museum, but all presented stuff is not original from here.

On the first floor, a very interesting industry-themed mural and a 20-ft long curved view of Moscow can be found in a corridor. In a completely dark room on the same floor, where once a small memorial museum about the Great Patriotic War – WWII for the Russians – was standing, the retreating Russian forces left one of the few remaining written messages, concerned with the atrocities of the Nazi regime – for the guide this was possibly a subliminal memento for the German People… In the same totally dark room it is possible to find a big, finely sculptured wall.

To the back of the main building it is possible to find a modern addition by the Soviets, a cylindrical building once hosting a diorama of the battle of Berlin. The diorama was transferred in the village of Zhukovo, halfway between Kaluga and Moscow, in the westernmost part of Russia, when the Russians left.

The two wings to the back of the Officers’ House host two highlights of the show. In the southern wing it is possible to find an empty swimming pool, dating from the days when the place was a sports training ground, with little changes, which include the showers and the diving board, built by the Soviets. The construction technique was very good, and the pool was operated until 1993-94 reportedly with little updates.

In the northern wing it is possible to find a theatre. This is a bit creepy, for it is totally dark – electric power was cut off years ago – but everything, including the curtain over the stage, is in place like a performance was about to begin! The Soviet past of the place is clear here thanks to the decoration of the medallion over the stage, resembling the monument of the Soviet Soldier in Treptower Park, Berlin. In the roomy foyer it is possible to see the numbered hangers still in place!

The White House

Across the road from the Officers’ House it is possible to see another early 20th century building, used as a command building by the Soviets during the Cold War, and affectionately called ‘The White House’, both for its primary role in imparting orders and for the colonnade gracing the front façade. The building is inaccessible, and still property of the regional government.

Nearby, a former house for officers dating from before WWII is now operated as a local city hall.

Today, some of the many immigrants coming from Africa to Europe are being hosted in a building close to the White House by the German Government.

Soviet Railway Station, Bread Factory and Soviet Housing

Due to its great strategic relevance in the Cold War era, the prohibited town of Wünsdorf was daily connected two-ways with Moscow. The last train to Moscow left in September 1994. The railway station of Wünsdorf-Waldstadt today operates on a local railway, with trains mainly to and from downtown Berlin. The old Soviet terminal and some warehouses nearby have been abandoned and are in a state of total disrepair.

Close by the station, it is possible to find an abandoned and unattractive small factory with a tall chimney. This is where literally tons of bread were produced every single day since the Nazi era and up to 1994 – reaching 25 tons per day when the place was most crowded in Soviet times. The building was considered a strategic asset by the Nazi, who built it with a 60 cm reinforced concrete roof able to withstand air bombing.

Whilst not very crowded, today some houses from the early days in the village of Zossen have been nicely restored to their original conditions. Unfortunately, they still share the roadside with some abandoned or not refurbished Soviet buildings, keeping the typical ‘Soviet ghost’ aura alive in the town.

Maybach Bunkers

Two complexes of peculiar bunkers were built in the Thirties – Maybach I and II – for housing staff of the OKW. From the distance and from above, these half-interred bunkers had the appearance of large farm houses. In reality, they were designed to be bomb-proof, and when they were blown-up by the Soviets after WWII they did not collapse completely.

One of the two Maybach complexes is very close to the fenced area where the Soviets had their three interred bunkers.

Zeppelin Bunker

This communication bunker was built under the Nazi more than 60 feet deep into the terrain. It was made of layers of land and concrete, making it extremely durable and difficult to destroy. As a matter of fact, the Soviets tried to blow it up after the Potsdam conference in summer 1945, but they didn’t succeed at all. They decided to re-use it, sealing part of it to withstand a nuclear attack – including airlocks, reinforced doors, showers for decontamination, and sleeping quarters for troops trapped in by radioactive fallout. When leaving in the Nineties, Russian troops took home all technical rigs, stripping the bunker almost completely of any technical hardware.

Among the highlights in the Zeppelin bunker there are the sealed main entrance built by the Soviets and the decontamination facilities.

Going down it is possible to appreciate the size of the German design, with tens of rooms, long and roomy corridors and staircases. A small exhibition is dedicated to communication hardware from the Nazi and Soviet times. Copies of the Nazi schemes of the communication network from here to the Eastern front allow to understand the proportions of the system.

One of two long tunnels – the longest is about 600 ft! – was turned into a sleeping quarter for troops isolated in case of nuclear attack, and original berths are still visible today. Another corridor was so long it was used as a rifle range!

The bunker was powered by diesel engines – originally submarine engines under German ownership. These are gone today, but the smell of diesel fuel is still very marked in their room. It’s hard to imagine how noisy this place had to be! Some of the Soviet fuel tanks and air conditioning piping are still there, with original technical schemes.

A lift was added by the Soviets – it’s not working any more. On the bottom level there are water pumps and other supply systems. Normally this area cannot be toured, also due to water flooding problems.

In a small wing of the bunker it is possible to see the effect of the Soviet attempt to blow-up the bunker. The dynamics of the attempt are not clear – what explosive was used and where it was positioned. A pierce in the steel/concrete armored ceiling and a cracked reinforced concrete pillar are the only visible results. The size of the crater in the ceiling suggests much explosive was used, but the damage around is fairly limited and very localized. A feature of many military buildings occupied by the Soviets, signatures and graffitis in cyrillic alphabet can be found on some concrete walls of the bunker.

Soviet Half-Interred Bunkers

Really close to the entrance of the Zeppelin bunker, it is possible to find the way into two other less visible facilities.

One of them is a small communication bunker of simple construction. This is basically straight, with a round shaped cross-section. The corridor leading to the main part of the building is rather narrow and pointing down to the underground. The main part is much roomier, with curved steel frames making the walls and ceiling. This was used also as a training facility. This bunker was totally stripped by the retreating Russian troops.

The second bunker is much more articulated. It was codenamed ‘Nickel’, and the Soviet construction type is UK-20. This was a communication and control bunker for military operations, in particular for air operations. Even though this bunker was stripped similarly to the other two, some technical rigs and tons of paperwork can be spotted in the semi-dark environment of this installation.

Technical plants include the original water pumping system and several high voltage cabinets.

The room where the air control center was is lighted. It is very big, and copies of the original schemes help to understand how the setup was. Everything there was taken back to Russia by retreating Russian army.

Other interesting items include propaganda posters from Soviet times – they always look very exotic!

Garrison Museum & Red Army Museum

In the old pre-WWI stables two really unmissable small museums have been prepared. I would recommend visiting them after the site itself, to better understand the relevance and usefulness of the exhibition.

The first is centered on the history of the garrison in Zossen from the years when the barracks were built, and it documents the history of the Officers’ House and all other pre-Soviet buildings around. A focus is given also to the Nazi period, with many photographs and memorabilia. All panels are unfortunately in German only, but the pictures speak for themselves.

The second collection is dedicated to the Soviet period. Here you can find memorabilia from all stages of the Cold War era, including both museum items already preserved by the Soviets in a museum previously existing in Berlin-Karlshorst, but also everyday items and stuff from Wünsdorf.

Among the many panels, a small insight dedicated to the huge nuclear base in Vogelsang, covered in this other post of mine.

Headquarters of the Soviet Air Force

Besides the building of the society running the guided tours of the place, it is possible to find the abandoned headquarters of the Soviet Air Force. A modern statue of a pilot is standing ahead of an Asian restaurant, whereas the main building is inaccessible. A statue of Lenin – not easily visible from the street – can be found in the vegetation, ahead of the main façade. To the side of the building it is possible to find a typical Soviet memorial.

Much More…!

Among the other uncommon things you can find around in Wünsdorf, there are some Winkel-type air raid shelters, 19 of which were built in the Nazi period for military staff. Most of them were blown by the Soviets, and some of the 7 (?) remaining ones are preserved today.

Visiting

As reported, this ensemble is huge and well looked after. Technically speaking, it is not abandoned – at least the most interesting parts of it. Parts – like the Officers’ House – are awaiting for somebody to own them, parts are destined to remain tourist attractions – like the bunkers and museums. For these reasons, to make your visit practical and enjoyable, and for making the best of your time, I strongly suggest contacting a guide.

Actually the local society also in charge of the nice and interesting book selling activity, for which ‘Bücherstadt Wünsdorf’ – ‘Wünsdorf the Town of Books’ – is famous, runs guided tours on a regular schedule. Full information also in English from their website here. Besides the pre-scheduled tours, some longer special-themed tours can be booked in advance. If you are visiting – like me – from abroad, then I suggest taking contact with the guide before going there.

When I visited, I arranged with the guide a ‘double-tour’ in English just for me, asking to merge two of the tours offered with pre-booking. This was not a cheap alternative – I had to pay alone the price intended for two group tours, but all in all that was worth the financial effort! – but above all I must say I regret not having had more time!

The guide is nice and extremely knowledgeable, he speaks a perfect English and Russian as well. He knows anything from the history of the place, including interesting anecdotes and technical notions. He will take you to all places of interest with a minivan, and of course he will give you all the time for taking pictures, including some with a tripod in especially dark conditions – he has two portable lights for helping in the task! So the guided tour will not be boring at all.

After that, you may like to go back to have a look to the exterior of some buildings you had not the time to check out during the guided visit.

The towns of Wünsdorf and Zossen are basically a single entity, but possibly not on your nav. In case you get confused when driving to the building where you should meet the guide, just follow the signs for the book selling activities – the building is the same.

I mentioned there is a railway station, and of course you may choose to come in by train and move by bicycle – walking would be too time consuming in my view, due to the distance between points of interests. Coming by car is also very practical if you are not moving by train on your trip, and there is room for parking almost everywhere.

 

 

Air Museums in the Former GDR

Due to its strategic relevance to the Soviet empire in the years of the Cold War, the territory of the former German Democratic Republic, or ‘GDR’, experienced an uncommonly intense military presence, growing over the years from soon after WWII to the end of the Soviet Union and the retreat of Russian troops to their home Country.

The coexisting armies of Eastern Germany and of the Soviet Union each managed land, sea and air groups operating from the GDR. As a result, still today the countryside of the former communist-ruled part of Germany is full of airports – many of them abandoned or converted to solar powerplants – and former tank training camps.

Besides this hardware, leaving clear traces reaching to this day, the quick collapse of the Soviet system and the end of the Cold War generated an enormous quantity of military surplus at all levels in the mid-Nineties.

In particular, soon after reunification the People’s Air Force of Eastern Germany was merged with the West-German ‘Luftwaffe’, whose name was retained and which became the German Air Force still operating today. The result of the merger was not ideal from a logistic and supply chain point of view, with too many aircraft and helicopters with radically different designs – implying different spare parts, maintenance procedures, specialized training, … Consequently, all Soviet models, which had been the backbone of the East German forces, were soon stricken-off the military register, many of them going to private collections.

For this reason, you can often find former GDR aircraft in museums all over Europe. Clearly, many of them remained in the territory of their bygone mother Country, enriching local air collections and museums. This post is about four less-known gems of the kind close to Berlin and Leipzig. These photographs were taken during visits in 2017 and 2021.

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Flugplatzmuseum Cottbus

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This collection is located on the outskirts of the town of Cottbus, easily reachable about 70 miles southeast of Berlin. The premises occupied by this mainly open-air museum are to the south of the former local airport/base which was more recently converted into another solar plant. Actually, a hangar from here dating from WWII was dismounted and relocated to the state of Virginia.

The collection here is very rich, the majority of aircraft are kept in a well-maintained, non-flying condition, with a pretty large area devoted to aircraft restoration, and a well prepared and perfectly presented inside part with memorabilia, artifacts, aircraft parts, models, … – all in all, a primary attraction of the kind, well worth visiting for any aviation enthusiasts.

By passing the gates you will walk between a part of an Airbus A380 used for testing – a bit of an outlier for a military museum… – and an array of MiG-21, MiG-23 and MiG-27 formerly in service with the air force of the GDR.

The display of these aircraft side by side, the MiG-21s also in multiple different variants, is very interesting for making comparisons and spot both obvious and less evident differences between these iconic Soviet models.

A more rare, recently restored MiG-17 is proudly standing in front of the entrance to the main building of the museum.

Other highlights of the collection include two Sukhoi Su-22 aircraft. One of them bears markings of the Luftwaffe, suggesting it was used for some time in the air force of reunified Germany. The difference in size between the two massive Sukhois and the sleek MiGs is apparent having them sitting close to each other!

On the grass closer to the former runway are some Soviet helicopters, including a very well-preserved Mil-24 attack helicopter, also in Luftwaffe colors.

Close by, a couple of other MiGs in a bare metal colorway – one of them from Tschekoslowakia – can be spotted, together with some old western models, in the original colors of the Luftwaffe – these include an F-84, F-86, T-33 and a rare Italian G-91.

Other less aggressive aircraft in the area include a Let L-200 twin-propeller aircraft possibly for training, a Yakovlev Yak-11 acrobatic aircraft and some other aircraft for training, observation or crop dusting.

A full array of service trucks from various Soviet manufacturers are aligned in an open hangar, where a Soviet anti-aircraft SA-2 missile with its light launch gantry is also present.

The inside collection – not the usual dirty-and-dusty collection typical of wannabe air-museums, but instead a clean and well-presented, good-level small museum in itself – shows something on the local history of the former airport, various jettisonable seats from Soviet aircraft from different times, technical schemes for maintenance and training, as well as local findings of aeronautical interest. Among the latter, some pretty rare parts of downed aircraft from WWII, both from Nazi Germany and from the Allies – including the Soviet Union.

Also interesting was a temporary exhibition about the MiG-21 and its world-class success. The only thing I regret about the inside part is that all explanations were given in German only.

Some very interesting findings on the outside include a largely complete wreck of a Focke-Wulf FW190, what appears to be a bulky Napier Sabre II 24-cylinders engine, possibly from a Hawker Tempest or typhoon, a MiG-15 awaiting restoration, plus other engines and aircraft parts.

I would recommend this place for a dedicated visit about 1,5-2 hours long, especially if you are touring the area south of Berlin, very rich in terms of recent and past military history.

Getting there

Cottbus can be reached quickly by train from Berlin, but the museum is far from the town center. Going by car is definitely more convenient, a very fast highway going to the border with Poland – a few miles away – connecting Berlin and Cottbus in about 1 hour. Contact and information from their official website (in German, but basic info on opening times and location can be obtained very easily with some Google translation). Small parking nearby.

Luftfahrtmuseum Finowfurt

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The Luftfahrtmuseum – i.e. aviation museum – in Finowfurt has taken over a part of the former Soviet airbase of Finow, about 35 miles northeast of Berlin. Over the last two decades of the Cold War, this airbase was pretty busy with high-performance Soviet MiGs, ranging from the older MiG-21 fighter-interceptor, the ubiquitous MiG-23 fighter, the rare super-fast MiG-25 interceptor, and up to the modern MiG-29.

Finow received a plethora of aircraft shelters, including the older AU-13 for MiG-21 and -23, but also AU-16(2) and AU-16(3), the former intended for the Yak-28 and MiG-25, the latter for the MiG-29. The picture below portray the relatively rare AU-16(2), with its non-circular vault, in the still-active part of the airport in Finowfurt, today a general aviation field.

The museum, encompassing the northwestern corner of the former military premises, offers the chance to walk close and inside AU-13 shelters, with their heavy reinforced doors, self-actuated by means of motors mounted close to their own bodies, and moving on a rail.

Parked ahead of a group of such shelters, a MiG-21 and a MiG-23 make for a scenario closely resembling the days of operation of this former Soviet installation. The shelters are interspersed with former technical gear from the base, including searchlights of evident Soviet make – see the writings in Cyrillic.

A spherical dome on top of one of the shelters may have been the case for a rotating aerial.

An Ilyushin Il-14 old two-engined transport and a Yakovlev Yak-28 bomber sit on the opposite sides of a former taxiway, typically built with large concrete slabs.

To the far end of the museum area, a low building, possibly a former canteen or technical facility, hosts a nice collection of artifacts, which tell much about the history of Finow over the years. For instance, during the Third Reich, this airbase was involved in testing the Allied aircraft landed in emergency on German territory – models of B-17 and B-24 in the unusual colors of the Luftwaffe witness this episode.

Of course, most of the material on display is from Soviet times. An original schematic of the base, and old signs in Russian – both propaganda posters and more technical explanations – are included in this collection.

Also a few naive paintings from Soviet times have been preserved.

An interesting collection of Soviet technical gear includes aircraft cameras for optical imagery, helmets, flying suits, as well as weapons partly dismantled possibly for instructional purposes.

Ahead of the small museum building, a statue of Lenin can be found, possibly relocated from another spot of the former Soviet base.

On a spot nearby, anti-aircraft and theater missiles can be found together with ranging aerials – as well as an ubiquitous Antonov An-2 transport biplane.

An imposing sight in the museum is a freshly refurbished Tupolev Tu-134, in the colors of the East German flag-carrier Interflug. It was not the case on the day of my visit, but it is likely the aircraft can be boarded on some occasions. Nearby, also a large Mil helicopter – a former transport – can be found ahead of yet another aircraft shelter.

On display in the latter are some aircraft jet engines, as well as some communications rigs, and some explanatory panels, likely from a former technical school for air personnel.

A particularly interesting collection is hosted in an adjoining shelter, wisely converted for the scope. It is based on relics from crashed aircraft, from the years of WWII. A very active group of aviation archaeologists operates in Finow, and this fantastic display is the result of their preservation effort.

Artifacts range from engine parts to aircraft components from all the air forces involved in WWII, and include substantial remains from the wrecks of a Soviet Ilyushin Il-2 Sturmovik, and a German Föcke-Wulf FW-190, a high-performing fighter manufactured in great numbers, but today sadly very hard to find even in museums.

Finally, closer to the former runway, two shelters cover a few helicopters, including some formerly in service with the Volkspolizei – the police of the GDR – as well as a MiG-15 with two seats for training, and a MiG-21.

Outside on the grass, a MiG-27 fighter bomber and a MiG-17, both in the colors of the GDR Air Force (aka NVA).

Approaching the exit, a deployable aircraft-stopping harness for emergencies can be seen, close to a movable SAM launcher from the NVA, and a massive Sukhoi Su-22 similarly in the colors of the NVA, like those to be found in Cottbus (see above).

The ticket office of the museum is hosted in a former technical facility with reinforced doors, possibly a storage for special ordnance.

Thanks to the proximity with Berlin and the wealth of interesting artifacts, this museum is a highly valuable Soviet counterpart to the Westwardly-oriented museum in Gatow (on a former British airfield near Potsdam, website here). Besides a rich collection of aircraft and technical gear, complemented by a display of interesting findings from the aviation archaeology group, Finow allows to get a flavor of how a Soviet base looked like in the days of operation. For aircraft enthusiasts, a visit may easily take 2 hours or more.

Getting there

The museum is conveniently located in Finowfurt, immediately out of the highway A11 (exit Eberswalde), going from Berlin to Szczecin in northern Poland. It is less than 1 hour driving from downtown Berlin. The museum is mostly open-air, with some collections hosted in former aircraft shelters. A large free parking is available on site. Website here. Please note that credit card may not be accepted. Going with cash is recommended.

Luftfahrttechnisches Museum Rechlin

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The museum of Rechlin can be found in the former premises of an Army research center dating from the years of the Third Reich. It is located in the open countryside, about 80 km north of Berlin, in the vicinity of lake Müritz. Following the Soviet occupation of the area in 1945, the center went on as a technical site of the Red Army.

The museum has restored the original buildings, and set up an exhibition mainly focused on the history of German military aeronautics. The exhibition is both indoor and outdoor.

The indoor part has on display a number of German aircraft, aircraft engines and several related parts, mainly from pre-WWII or WWII. A highlight of the show is a number of reconstructed exemplars, created putting together original parts and some reproduced components. Of course, the result is now airworthy, but considering how hard to find these aircraft are today in collections, this is a rare opportunity to have a first-hand look at how these models looked like.

A very interesting collection of original engines and components from the Third Reich period is on display. The level of engineering sophistication reached in the years of WWII is really astonishing. It was at that time that piston power reached its top development in aeronautics. Furthermore, the first jet engines entering production date from the final stages of WWII too, and are here represented.

Another hangar is mostly dedicated to large 1:1 mock-ups of extremely rare German designs from WWI and WWII, including a Dornier Do-335 in a push-pull configuration, which have been accurately assembled, providing a vivid portrait of how these now very rare-to-find aircraft.

Other exhibits include Soviet-made aircraft, partly dismounted for didactic purposes.

In another wing, the museum displays a rich exhibition of original artifacts from the era of Soviet occupation. These include many aircraft components, jettisonable seats, helmets, several radio components, papers and pictures.

Simulators for aircraft and helicopter cockpits are also part of the display.

Memorabilia include everyday items, Soviet newspapers, badges and celebration plates. The page of a German newspaper, from the date of the final withdrawal of then-Russian troops back home from Germany, titles ‘Farewell, Muzhiks!’ – really a momentous event.

In an adjoining room, uniforms and emblems from both the USSR forces and the East-German NVA can be found in display cases.

The outdoor exhibition is centered on a few original aircraft and helicopters, as well as fast motorboats and other vehicles. Aircraft include a MiG-21, MiG-23, and a massive Sukhoi Su-22.

As for helicopters, there are a Mil-2, Mil-24 and a Mil-8 – all Soviet-made. The latter two have the main rotor blades still dismounted.

The research center, and today the museum, is located just about 5 km north of Rechlin/Lärz airfield, active in the Third Reich in aeronautical research – Messerschmitt Me-163 Komet rocket-powered interceptors were studied here. The airfield became a large Soviet base from 1945 to the time when the then-Russian troops left. Today the airport has been converted for general aviation use. A report from an exploration of its premises can be found here.

Getting there

This is a proportionate collection, friendly to visit for everybody, in a nice rural setting. Memories from the history of aviation in Germany before and during WWII, as well as from Soviet operations taking place in the area – an often overlooked but crucial chapter in the military history of the GDR. The exact address is Am Claassee 1, 17248 Rechlin, Germany. Official website here. Visiting may require 45 minutes to 1.5 hours.

Flugwelt Altenburg/Nobitz

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Similarly to the museum in Cottbus and Finowfurt, this collection – whose name ‘Flugwelt’ translates into ‘World of Flight’ – is built on the premises of a former airbase – Altenburg/Nobitz, 20 miles south of Leipzig. Actually this was a very active center, managed by the Soviets who operated from here in the years of the Cold War with MiG-21, 23 and 27, and was also one of those sites in the GDR selected for nuclear weapons storage. Tactical missiles batteries were located also here in response to the deployment of Pershing missiles by the US on the territory of Western Germany. in the Eighties.

The airbase has been converted to non-military use, and today it is active mainly with general aviation flights. Some former hangars are used by private companies.

The air museum is made of two physically separated parts. The main building with the ticket office is the former entrance to the Soviet airbase. Here an incredible, original mural from Soviet times is still gracing the wall, together with a map of the airfield, again from Soviet times. From there you access the inside exhibition, cluttered with aircraft parts, engines, flight suits,… Not everything from the Soviet part of the Iron Curtain though, as uniforms and parts from Western Germany and other non-communist Countries can be spotted.

Among the most interesting artifacts in the exhibition, a large explanatory scheme of a servo-actuation plant of an aircraft, with explanations in cyrillic alphabet, and a simulator for a radar mounted inside the MiG-21. Both really used training items, very uncommon to find.

A part of an A380, two gliders, some Interflug memorabilia – the flagship airline of the GDR – and tons of models and radio-transmission hardware complete the picture. Unfortunately, also here everything is in German only. The volunteers are welcoming and helpful, but unfortunately communication is not easy due to language issues.

In a first part of the open-air exhibition it is possible to find a couple of MiG-21, one East-German and the other Soviet, a helicopter of the Police of the GDR, plus other aircraft from the West-German Luftwaffe, namely a Dassault Atlantique patrol, a G-91 and an F-86.

The two MiGs have been carefully restored, and the Red Army one appears to have been a former gate guardian at Altenburg/Nobitz.

Another part of the open-air collection can be found across the street, where a big Transall C-160 a Lockheed F-104 and a Sukhoi Su-22 can be spotted. The area is big and there is room for more aircraft – hopefully, this good-caring staff will have the chance to add even more items to their well-preserved collection in the future!

Curiously enough, the area was liberated from the Nazis by US troops in 1945, and handed over to the Soviets only after the end of WWII. A memorial stone remembers the actions of the US divisions fighting in the area in wartime.

Not time-expensive to visit (about 45 minutes to 1 hour for aircraft-minded people), besides a valuable aircraft collection and some rare artifacts of interest for aviation enthusiasts, this places offers the unique chance to enter a preserved gate building of a former Soviet airbase.

Getting there

The airport is located about two miles east of the nice historical town of Altenburg, itself about 30 minutes southeast of Leipzig. I would recommend going with a car and a good nav, for reaching the exact location of the museum may be a bit tricky with visual navigation. Website here, with some basic info also in English. The place is run by volunteers and it’s closed except during weekends in the good season, so carefully check opening times.

Places with a Soviet Flavor in Saint Petersburg

Saint Petersburg is one of the two ‘big cities’ in Russia which you’ll likely be touching during your visit to this great Country, and probably among the most tourist-friendly in this part of the world. There are tons of sights to see for anyone with an interest in art, architecture, history, fashion, shopping, dining, nightlife, etc. The city is very large, with a population of about 5 millions, and touring just the most famous places – like the Winter Palace, St. Isaac and the central area along the Nevsky Prospekt, as well as the Peter and Paul Fortress – will take already at least a few days.

What people from abroad – unlike Russians – are sometimes less aware of is that the Revolution in 1917 started and evolved in Saint Petersburg, which at that time was still the capital city of the Russian Empire, where the Tzar and the government resided. Here Lenin and the Bolsheviks worked in the tumultuous moments preceding and after the abdication of Nicholas II, the last of the Tzars, and here the communist-led organization of the ‘Soviet’ imposed its rule, before the governmental body moved its headquarters to Moscow, the ancient capital of Russia, soon in 1918. The prominent role the city had in the Revolution was acknowledged changing its name to Leningrad, the ‘City of Lenin’, which would stay until 1991.

So, besides the countless sites of great historical and artistic value connected with the city’s founder Peter the Great and the Tzars who succeeded to him, there are in Saint Petersburg countless places recalling the Communist Revolution and the Soviet period.

Furthermore, as this city used to be a frontline destination for people traveling for cultural interest from both within the USSR and abroad much before the end of Communism, many interesting museums were established here. Some of them still retain a typical Soviet flavor, in the choice of artifacts, exhibition style and in the management policies – you will be left unscrupulously in a queue in a freezing -20°C winter evening outside of a museum, waiting just for more hangers to be available in the cloakroom, if the rules say so!

This post is about some places in todays Saint Petersburg connected with the Revolution and the Communist era, and some museums still retaining their Soviet style. All photographs, both the good and the bad, are from mine and were taken in early 2017.

Sights

Here is a map of the sites described below. The city is huge, and the coverage of the subway system is by far less developed than that of Moscow, with stops quite afar from each other – so expect to walk really much in Saint Petersburg! You may also elect to take a taxi when needed, for you pay the distance, not the time, and it is much less expensive than in other big cities in Europe.

All attractions in this post – except perhaps the House of Soviets – are fairly central, so even when you need to walk for reaching them, you will never need to be in an unpleasant or dangerous area of the town.

Kirov’s Apartment Museum

This museum, located ten minutes north of the Peter and Paul fortress, is rather deceptive – it is located on the two top floors of a formerly luxurious apartments building from the late 19th or early 20th century, where all other apartments are privately owned today. You will need to go through the foyer of the building, where the stately and elegant appearance of the façade is soon lost to the incredibly shabby, purely Soviet style of the inside, with a small and poorly looking elevator to ease you climbing to the top of the building.

Before the Revolution these apartments, exceptionally large and modern for the time, were property of wealthy businessmen and professionals. Soon after the Revolution, when property was abolished and housing was reassigned, the second floor from the top was given to Sergey Kirov, a top ranking communist leader successfully enforcing Soviet power in Azerbaijan, a great supporter and a close friend of Stalin during his struggle for power after the death of Lenin in 1924, and later to become the leader of the Communist Party in Leningrad and supervisor of industrial production – a prominent figure in his times. Stalin ended up ordering him killed in the early Thirties – although not officially – coincidentally marking the beginning of the harshest period of communist dictatorship in Russia.

The apartment of Kirov has been preserved very well to this day. You can see a studio and living room, with hunting trophies including a polar bear, bookcases and photographs of Stalin and Lenin. The aura of the early years of Stalin has been integrally preserved, and the apartment looks like comrade Kirov had just gone out for a Party meeting! Stalin himself reportedly visited Kirov here more than once.

Other rooms in the living quarters include a dining room, a small living room, a library and a nice bedroom for children. A kitchen – with a General Electric refrigerator! -, a junk room and bathroom complete the main part of the private apartment. Two very large rooms include Kirov’s study and a sort of waiting room today turned into an exhibit of soviet-themed paintings and sculptures, mainly about Kirov. You can easily imagine Kirov receiving delegates from the factories around the smoky Leningrad of the late Twenties in this room, with the portraits of Marx, Lenin and Stalin always carefully listening to the talk!

On the top floor, the museum offers a two-rooms reconstruction of a school, a meeting room of a youth organization, a shared apartment and a children bedroom from the years of Kirov, from the late Twenties to the early Thirties. Many interesting everyday items, as well as communist-themed flags, banners, memorabilia, some paintings and sculptures and much more can be found here.

All in all, this is one of the most evocative exhibitions on communist personalities I’ve ever seen! Visiting in a freezing winter evening also helped to relive the old Soviet atmosphere. Visit is recommended for everybody with an interest in Soviet history, and for those with a thing for living architecture, for this is a good occasion to get an insight on the standard of life of the wealthy class immediately before and after the Revolution in this region. You can take a self-guided tour, and you are given a detailed booklet in English to help yourself along the visit. Visiting may take from 45 minutes to 1.5 hours, depending on your level of interest.

Arctic and Antarctic Museum

This nice little museum is interesting both for the pretty unusual subject – polar explorations carried out by Russian and then Soviet expeditions – and for the setting and style of the exhibition. It is hosted in a former church building in a neoclassical style from the 19th century.

The exhibition maybe pretty outdated for modern standards, but it may appeal to you if you are interested in the topic more than in cheesy presentations, and if you want to experience how a Soviet-style museum looks like! The small setting is cluttered with dioramas with stuffed animals, including a polar bear, dim lighted showcases with artifacts and memorabilia from expeditions, plus ship models and some larger artifacts, like tents, polar shelters and instruments for taking measurements.

There are also very interesting frescoes and large paintings, both on the walls and ceiling, all about moments in the history of Soviet polar expeditions. Models, photographs and much more complete the exhibition.

The ground floor is about arctic exploration, which was started in the early history of Russia thanks to the proximity of the Country with the arctic region. The top floor is on antarctic missions, and here the accent is more on international collaboration and permanent missions. Some very nice paintings, rather rare to find elsewhere, can be found here.

All in all, an unusual museum with much to tell on a very specific and not often well-covered chapter of explorations. The place is very popular among Russians, and the exhibition is totally in Russian. There are audio-guides, but I wasn’t offered one during my visit, so maybe there is no chance to get explanations in English – but I’m not sure about this. Of course, you may decide to go with a local guide on a private tour, able to translate the explanations for you. Visiting alone if you are interested in the topic and you have a basic knowledge of the matter may take about 1 hour – even without a guide and with no knowledge of Russian… this is the time needed for looking at the many photographs, paintings and artifacts!

Krassin Icebreaker

This ship, preserved in perfect conditions on the river Neva, has an incredible story. The hull was manufactured under Nicholas II in Britain, but the ship took service under the communist rule. She used to be a steam power ship at that time. She was involved in explorations and arctic missions, including the rescue of the Italian explorer Umberto Nobile, who went down with his airship over the Arctic after reaching the North Pole by air in the late Twenties. Krassin was deployed after the most famous polar explorer from Norway, Roald Amundsen, was lost while on an ill-fated rescue mission by plane.

Later on, the ship was sent to the US during WWII, where she was modified to receive structural reinforcements and defensive weapons in Bremerton, WA. She worked as an escort ship traveling back to Europe via Panama during the Battle of the Atlantic against Nazi Germany, and spent the rest of the war patrolling the northern shores of the USSR, reportedly grounding some German aircraft.

After the war, being part of the arctic fleet and having had a history so glorious, it was refurbished and upgraded with more modern equipment and propulsion system in Germany. It was then constantly improved while in service as a scientific platform, until a few years before the collapse of the Soviet Union, when it was permanently moored where you find her today.

The restoration work was carried out very well, and the vessel looks like it could sail away at any time! You can visit on guided tours in small groups. The visit includes the living quarters of the captain and crew and of the scientific staff – rather much above the military standard! – a room with technical stuff and the commanding deck. You are offered also a quick intro video in Russian.

I don’t know whether they’re offering tours except in Russian, but there are some explanations in English along the visit. Visiting in winter may add to your photos from the outside if the Neva is covered with ice, but the tour is shorter – about 40 min -, for you can’t see the power plant, as heating is probably absent in that part of the ship.

Absolutely recommended for everybody with an interest in ships, polar explorations, engineering and scientific expeditions! This is good for the kids as well. Be warned, the distance from the closest metro station is about 1 mile, but you may choose to walk along the bank of the river, with a nice view of the Winter Palace and the central district, with many photo opportunities. Rather close to the Krassin there is also the WWII submarine C-189, which I had not the time to visit. This is another entity from the icebreaker, with a separate ticket.

Museum of Artillery

This huge State-owned museum hosts a world-class collection of Russian and Soviet weapons from the middle ages to our days. The building is that of a former large artillery depot from the mid-19th century, in the immediate vicinity of the Peter and Paul Fortress, from which it can be reached in a few minutes. The museum is really a temple of Russian nationalism, and it’s very popular among Russians, whose military battles and victories are celebrated also with banners, uniforms, paintings, and several memorabilia.

There are two main branches inside the U-shaped building, placed in the two wings. In the first there is a collection of ancient swords and armors from the middle ages to roughly the early 18th century and Peter the Great. Next come many cannons and rifles from the 19th century, and more modern weapons, including what appear to be naval cannons from the years of WWI. The collection is really immense, and I had not purchased a photo permit – I had not enough cash! – so unfortunately the quality of the pictures is not very good.

The second branch covers from WWII to the Cold War. In this section there are cannons, howitzers, armored vehicles, and, much incredibly, full-scale tactical and early strategic missiles – which seem really big in the small rooms of a museum! There are also pieces of communication equipment and engineering tools, for the museum is namely also dedicated to the Engineering and Signal Corps.

Two small but interesting separate rooms are dedicated to the guard of Peter the Great and to Mikhail Kalashnikov, the man behind the world-famous attack rifle, who really existed and passed away in 2013 aged 94. Some technical drawings and some exemplars of the rifle – including some special designs – are showcased in this room, together with portraits of the man in various ages, in Soviet and later Russian colors. Unique and extremely interesting.

A good third of the museum’s collections are on the outside, in the front courtyard and to both sides of the building. Most of the items preserved on the outside are too big for being stored inside the building, meaning they are really big! You can find cannons, armored vehicles, SAMs, strategic missiles and their transportation and launch vehicles, special vehicles for snow removal, and much more – all stuff you might spot in the historic video recordings of the countless parades on the Red Square, deep in the years of the Cold War!

To the northern side of the building a battery of older cannons, possibly from the war against Napoleon, is preserved, whereas on the southern side a strategic missile of incomparable size is sitting in his canister on the launching vehicle.

Especially for war historians and military technology enthusiast this museum alone is a good reason for coming to Saint Petersburg! As I wrote, the atmosphere is nostalgic, so go prepared to a very old-style, traditional Soviet exhibition. There is not a word in the whole museum except in Russian. Payment is not possible except cash. I was asked about American citizenship at the cloakroom – not unexpected in the hostile Russia of the closing days of the Obama administration – but did not undergo any special treatment. Great for the kids, visiting the outside may be tough in winter, but surely worth the effort. A visit may easily take 1.5 to 2 hours for an interested person or an expert of the matter.

Museum of the Political History of Russia

Again in the vicinity of the Peter and Paul Fortress, this modern museum is mainly dedicated to a detailed description of the causes and to the timeline of the revolutions of 1905 and 1917, and to the history of the Soviet system.

The main exhibition about the characteristics of the soviet system soon after its inception is rather short in size, but with many details and artifacts, as well as explanatory panels and reconstructions of rooms from various ages of the Soviet era – including shared houses.

Besides the main exhibition there is a constellation of some smaller exhibitions. It is not always easy to put things in the right chronological order, but surely among the most interesting there is one about the timeline of the Revolution of 1917 – extremely complicated – and the ensuing civil war.

The building, once belonging to a famous dancer who fled the country following the early-1917 turmoil, is most notably where Lenin resided from the abdication of the Tzar to the summer of 1917, before the fateful Red October and the Bolsheviks conquering power. The study where Lenin worked and the very balcony from where he addressed the crowds of the Bolsheviks are preserved, and you can see them both for real and in a painting from Soviet times – really impressive!

Another part of the exhibition is about Stalin’s purges and the use he made of the gulag’s system for ‘re-education’. The museum is not nostalgic with respect to soviet times, but rather objective and duly critical concerning Soviet dictatorship. It is well designed to western standards, with many explanations in English, but more popular among Russians. Due to the historical significance of the building in the 1917 revolution, visiting is surely recommended for people with an interest in that part of Russian history. Visiting may take about 1.5-2 hours for an average interested person.

Museum of Cosmonautics and Rocket Technology

The museum is located right inside the Peter and Paul Fortress, but due to its peripheral position it is often overlooked by mainstream visitors. The location, apparently clashing with the historical significance of the surroundings, is instead appropriate, for the State institute responsible for studying and experimenting with rocketry was placed  in the very part of the fortress where the museum is in the years preceding WWII.

The museum is rather small. In an introductory part, scientists from all over the world and from all ages contributing to the history of rocketry are mentioned. In a second part the early designs from the institute are presented, including some real items from the time, like rocket models and engines.

In a final part, more modern big rocket engines from the Vostok and Soyuz missions and a reentry capsule are presented, together with some other artifacts. These include some space-themed Christmas decorations – note the sunny smile of the small Soviet astronauts in the pictures…

Visiting won’t take much time, about 0.5 hours, and is surely recommended especially for the kids if you are already in the fortress.

Cruiser Aurora and Finlandia Station

The very famous Aurora cruiser, marginally involved in the initial phase of the 1917 revolution, is preserved on the bank of the Neva, not far north from the Peter and Paul Fortress. I missed the last entry, so I could see it only from the outside. The ship is very well preserved and constitutes a very good photographic subject.

About 15 minutes walking to the north of the ship you can find the Finlandia railway station, where Lenin arrived in town ready to put his efforts in the 1917 revolution. The station is still in business, and the building has been modernized since the Twenties. The square ahead of it is where one of the surviving statues of Lenin can be found in Saint Petersburg.

On the southern side of the square there is a branch of the Academy of the Russian Army.

Smolny Institute

This area to the east of the city center has its focus in the majestic building of the Smolny Cathedral. What is possibly less known is that the building to the south of the cathedral, hosting the Smolny educational institute until 1917, was chosen for the headquarters of the Bolsheviks soon before the October Revolution. From here Lenin directed the moves against the other revolutionary factions, and the government of the First Soviet was established in this palace in the closing months of 1917 and early 1918, marking the beginning of the Soviet era, before leaving for Moscow.

Today the building still retains an institutional role and cannot be approached freely. In a small building to the opposite of the perspective leading to the façade of the palace you can find plaques and friezes with quotes from Lenin. The British Consulate is located nearby.

A huge area moving from Smolny to the west and the city center is occupied by enormous palaces built mainly in a Soviet brutalist style, now largely unused – up for sale or rent. I don’t know much details about their former function, but this was probably connected with Soviet government or administrative functions. The area features a rather grim aura, with few people around and oversized spaces.

House of Soviets

The area along Moskovsky Prospekt was developed under Stalin’s rule in a style which is more typical to Moscow than Saint Petersburg. Among the highlights, the huge Moscow Square is where the stately building of the House of Soviets was built in the late Thirties. Due to the Nazi attack in 1941 and the siege of Leningrad, the building was converted to a military headquarters of the Red Army. After the war it was handed over to scientific institutions, and now it is a multi-functional executive building.

The frieze with the triumphs of Socialism culminating in the gigantic hammer and sickle emblem on top really recall the Soviet times. Right at the center of the square, very popular among the locals as a gathering place and a hub for public transport services, a very big statue of Lenin still dominates the scene.

The place is very convenient to reach, thanks to a metro station in Moscow Square. The monument commemorating the heroes of the siege is located about 5 minutes south of the square.

War Museums in Moscow

People visiting Moscow from abroad usually spend much of the time in the Kremlin and the nearby districts, where they can find many cultural attractions, as well as fashion stores, great hotels and restaurants. Among the features of Russia’s capital city less known to the average tourist are the many monuments and museums dedicated to war history, which in some cases host extremely interesting exhibitions and artifacts from various ages, which would tell the visitor as much as the most prominent attractions in town.

Three I could visit in person are cited in this post, all of them easily reachable with the usual metro rail in a few minutes from the downtown.

The following photographs were taken during a visit to Moscow in September 2015.

Central Museum of the Armed Forces

This is a purely Soviet installation Cold War buffs will definitely like very much… Despite the old-fashioned website – which after all contributes to the picture of a Soviet-state-owned company… – the building was built following WWII, better known in Russia as the Great Patriotic war of  1941-1945. On the outside, besides the entrance there are a missile and a tank. Once inside you immediately find yourself in a large two-levels hall, dominated by a sculpture of Lenin and a huge mosaic wall, plus paintings of battles and other war-themed scenes all around.

From soon after your arrival, you get to grips with the only real ‘problem’ of this installation, where – just like many others touristic sights in Russia – everything – including the escape plan in the event of fire… – is written in Russian only. So, from the viewpoint of history, you’d better go prepared if you want to get the most from this exhibition, for you won’t find any understandable written information, unless obviously you understand some Russian.

There are several halls in the museum, related to historical moments from WWI up to the present day. A first notable room presents a lively reconstruction of a WWI trench fight, with lights and sounds.

The path through the museum follows the course of history, including the revolution, which put an end to WWI for Russia. Then follows WWII. I have to say I never found a collection of Nazi artifacts so rich as the one preserved here in any other place I visited. Literally hundreds of items, from propaganda posters to flags and banners, weapons, medals, papers,… Also present in due quantity are flags and banners of the Soviet Union, as well as Soviet uniforms, weapons and medals from the age of WWII.

Probably the most notable items from the time are the red banner raised on the Reichstag in Berlin – the corresponding b/w photograph is today one of the symbols of the end of WWII – and an original metal eagle with a swastika, probably taken from the Reichstag or the Reichkanzlei. The flag and the eagle are put together in a kind of monumental installation in a large central hall, celebrating the victory of the Soviet Union in the Patriotic War.

An old coat and a hat belonging to Stalin are also part of the exhibition.

Moving on to the Cold War period, a first focus is on the early history of the Soviet atomic program, leading to the detonation of the first nuclear asset in 1949, and to the testing by the Soviets of the largest thermonuclear device ever. Many models and some documentation are available – I could not understand the details, in that occasion I really regretted having no knowledge of Russian! The development of strategic missiles is covered next, including the much connected race to space.

The highlight of this part of the exhibition – at least for western visitors – may be the wreck of Francis Gary Powers’ aircraft, downed in 1959 by a SAM, basically a Soviet invention, during an illegal flight over the territory of the USSR ordered by the CIA. A large part of the fuselage and of the wings can be seen, with technical labels in English. Also part of the ejectable seat and other parts of this Lockheed U-2 are packed together somewhat inelegantly. Some original papers and maps the pilot had with him at the time of the accident are exhibited, together with many photographs. Extremely interesting.

Approaching the last stage of the Soviet Union, scale models, mockups and parts of larger nuclear missiles are presented. Also the war in Afghanistan is mentioned and the more contemporary war actions in Chechnya and other theaters following the collapse of the USSR are outlined and artifacts and photographs showcased. A window from the relic of the ill-fated Kursk submarine remembers this more recent tragedy – together with a monument on the outside to the right of the entrance.

Finally, the backyard is full of interesting items like missiles, gantries, heavy vehicles, tanks and so on. Unfortunately, it started raining heavily at the time of my visit, so photographs were not possible.

All in all, I would say one of the best museums in Europe on the topic of 20th century war history, and probably the best on Russian/Soviet operations in the 20th century. The presentation may be perceived as antiquated for todays standards, nonetheless this may be appreciated by people who are not totally new to this piece of history and who are more interested in seeing valuable and unusual ‘hardware’. I would recommend at least a full hour for the interested visitor, extendable to 1.5 hours rather easily including a detailed visit to the outside exhibition.

Getting there and moving around

The museum is not far north from downtown Moscow, less than .2 miles from Dostoyevskaya metro stop (line 10). The building can be approached walking along ul. Sovetskoy Armii, on the side of the park. The neighborhood is decent and safe, I had no bad feelings visiting alone.

Museum of the Great Patriotic War

Moscow is scattered with monuments remembering the Soviet effort and the victorious outcome of WWII, but the focal point of the celebration is the park at Poklonnaya Hill with the museum of the Great Patriotic War. The park is an extensive area, built around a perspective leading to the top of the hill, where the museum can be found (website here). This is hosted in the curved building behind the very tall spine which can be seen from the distance.

Approaching from the east, from the famous Kutuzovski Prospekt where many important political players of the USSR used to live, including Brezhnev, it is possible to spot first a huge arch, just in the middle of the road, and departing from it the perspective leading to the hill, just to the left of the Prospekt. To the left of the hill as well as beyond the spine there is a park with several smaller installations remembering war actions involving the USSR and more recently Russia, and following WWII. It is also possible to find there an exhibition with cannons, armored vehicles and other warcrafts.

The museum, accessible from the front of the circular building, is intended basically to celebrate the heroism of the Red Army in the war against Germany. It acts as a place of remembrance for the many who never came back, and during my visit there I coincidentally could assist to a ceremony with high ranking military staff celebrating the 70th anniversary of the end of WWII.

Inside the most notable items are huge and very vivid dioramas – I must say, very well made, especially for the age – reconstructing some scenes from some especially dramatic battles of the war against Nazi Germany.

In the crypt it is possible to find the very interesting ‘Hall of sorrow’, a more modern monument to the fallen soldiers, with many crystal drops hanging from the ceiling, representing the tears of Mother Russia. These should be really many, with a proportion to the number of soldiers actually lost in the conflict.

The exhibition of artifacts includes a selection of items from various moments and fronts of the war. I could not tour this part freely because of the above mentioned ceremony, but what I could see was interesting. Unfortunately, I could not see the Hall of fame.

Above all, the plan of the whole installation and the Soviet style adopted, not so bombastic in this case, are extremely interesting. Touring the museum may take less than 45 minutes. If you are interested in moving in the park, you may need more. Distances here follow monumental proportions, so monuments are not really close to each other as they might seem on a map.

Getting there and moving around

The area can be reached easily from Park Pobedy metro stop on line 3. The perspective leading to the museum starting from the arch (and from the metro station) is about .6 miles long.

Museum-Panorama ‘The battle of Borodino’

You can find this museum very close to the Museum of the Great Patriotic War described above. The theme of the exhibition is here the battle of Borodino during the war against Napoleon and the French Army.

Borodino is located about 80 miles west of Moscow. There the advancing French Army faced the full power of the Russian Army. Napoleon himself was present and led war operations, while Kutuzov and Bagration, the top-ranking generals of the Tsar, were among the strategists on the Russian side. The battle was a prototypical battle of the time, with wild fire from cannons, infantry and cavalry, all in the arena. It turned out very cruel, taking a huge death toll on both parts. As a matter of fact, the Russian Army, which had constantly retreated avoiding the contact with the French until that great battle, continued back towards Moscow, which was finally abandoned and set on fire as Napoleon’s Army was reaching it. On one side, the Russians failed to stop the French at Borodino, on the other they set for the French a deadly trap – the French did not quit chasing the Russians until the winter of 1812 finally struck when they were infinitely far from home with no active supply lines, nor food nor resupply storages at hand. The season killed basically 9 out of 10 on the French side, triggering the end of Napoleon’s dreams of power.

The museum was recently refurbished in a modern key, with a detailed description of some moments of the battle on wide screens and interactive panels – again, unfortunately all in Russian. Uniforms, weapons and artifacts add to the visit, but the highlight here is the beautiful panorama painting. This is similar to the cyclorama in Gettysburg, PA, and it is a more than 300 ft long circular painting vividly depicting some important moments in the battle of Borodino. As you can learn from the website, the painting was made in 1912 (before the Soviets) to celebrate the 100th anniversary of the battle. The building was renovated in 1962.

The visit may not take much, especially if you are not interested in the war against Napoleon, but I would suggest going there even only for the uniqueness of the installation as well as  for its artistic significance. In any case, the visit may not take more than 45 minutes, especially if you don’t understand Russian.

Right behind the museum it is possible to see the wooden hut where Kutuzov and his staff discussed and decided for the destruction of Moscow in order to jeopardize the plans of the French to find a shelter there for the approaching winter season.

Getting there and moving around

The museum can be reached easily from Park Pobedy metro stop on line 3, like the Museum of the Great Patriotic War. From the metro stop you can walk west on Kutuzovsky Prospekt, and you will soon find the museum on the left (northern) side of the road, about .2 miles from the station.

Stalin’s Skyscrapers

A distinctive feature of Moscow and some other European capital cities, Stalin’s skyscrapers were designed in the Forties and built from the early Fifties to the early Sixties. For this reason they stand as an symbol of the early Cold War period, when the Soviet Union and the Western Powers were starting to openly competing on almost everything, from the blast intensity of thermonuclear devices to the new frontier of flight – space.

Stalin died in 1953, so he couldn’t see in person the completion of the buildings bearing his name, but it is reported that he was involved personally in the master plan – approved before 1947 -, choice of architects and design of the towers in Moscow, which were to symbolize the might of the Soviet Union, a key player and a winning power of WWII, and to showcase a tangible realization of the Socialist social model. This was also to create a counterpart to the American skyscrapers, a prominent feature of many cities of the US since the mid Twenties.

Today all Stalin’s skyscrapers are still in place, and especially in the very fashionable and modern Moscow, they remain among the most evocative remains of the Communist era. Besides the gothic-renaissance style they are built in, with imposing volumes and tall pinnacles and spines, resulting in a “Gotham City” appearance in contrast with today’s mostly widespread minimal style, these buildings are covered with symbols and sculptures totally bound to the old ‘Communist code’ – tens of hammers, sickles, waving flags and stars, plus portraits of farmers, workers, socialist virtues and happy families – a true relic of a bygone era.

Visiting is generally limited to coming close and walking around, for these buildings are all still used today for various functions, including housing and governmental.

This little report is unfortunately not complete, as I will present only photographs I’ve taken myself of those buildings I had the chance to come close to in Moscow (but not all that you can see there), Warsaw and Riga. Yet I hope to give an impression of what these buildings look like, and… to be able to complete the report with the missing ones in the future!

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Moscow, Russia

Moscow State University (Lemonsovo University)

This building is the largest of Stalin’s skyscrapers, and the tallest educational building in the world – taking pictures of the facade is a real challenge even with a wide lens! The perception of the volume of the building is reduced – to some extent… – due to the isolated position on top of a hill dominating central Moscow from the west.

The campus of the University can be accessed freely (there are gates and fences, but I guess they are normally open at least in daylight), and I suggest going for a walk from the metro stop ‘Vorobyovy gory’ (line 1) to the top of the hill, where you will get a breathtaking panorama of downtown Moscow, as well as a perspective view of the university building. You may then walk closer to the building and eventually move around it, reaching the metro stop ‘Universitet’ (line 1) for your train back to Moscow. The area is huge, so consider more than 1 hour for a complete relaxed tour of the area, even if you are just taking pictures of the outside.

The decoration of the building is probably the most elaborate of all Stalin’s skyscrapers, and include huge communist coats of arms, metal banners with engravings, a Lenin memorial sculpture, a big clock, various allegorical sculptures, and a gigantic USSR emblem with a star on top of the 787 ft tall central spine.

The panoramic view you get from the easternmost part of the perspective allows you to spot from the distance all other Stalin’s skyscrapers in town, including Hotel Ukraine (today Radisson Royal), which is partly covered by the modern skyscrapers of ‘New Moscow’.

Ministry of Foreign Affairs

Located on the western end of the very popular Arbat boulevard next to the ‘Smolenskaya’ interchange station on metro lines 3, 4 and 5, this imposing building is still today occupied by the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of the Russian Federation.

The decoration is sober, and the tiles covering the exterior are made from a dark brownish material, giving a solemn, serious and possibly grim appearance to the complex. Slabs with hammer and sickle engravings can be found on the western gate on Smolensky Blvd.

Kudrinskaya Square Building

This imposing apartment building, built for high-ranking members of the Soviet cultural panorama, can be reached from ‘Barricadnaya’ on metro line 7 or equivalently from ‘Krasnoprechenskaya’ on the circle line 5. It is very close to the American embassy, and not excessively far from the Ministry of Foreign Affairs.

The neighborhood is composed mainly of smaller residential buildings, but nonetheless this skyscraper is proportionately designed, rather ‘mimetic’ and not excessively imposing. The typical pale tiles covering most of the façade and the lack of bombastic decoration add to the nice overall perception you may get of this skyscraper.

Kotelnicheskaya Enbankment Building

This is probably the most prominent and impressive of Stalin’s skyscrapers, due to the incredible location on the Moskva river. It can be admired from the distance from the southeastern corner of the Kremlin, and especially from the bridge immediately south of the Red Square and St. Basil. The very light color of the façade gives this large building an airy appearance. A huge spine with a star and a hammer and sickle emblem complete the profile.

It is still today an apartment building. Needless to say, from the building you will get an almost unobstructed view of the Kremlin. It can be reached with a walk from the Kremlin or a more quiet walk from the interchange station ‘Taganskaya’ on line 5, 7 and 8, ideal if you are also visiting Bunker-42.

Walking closer to the building will give you a mixed feeling of grandeur and poor quality at the same time, due to size of the skyscraper on one hand, and to the many small commercial activities on the ground floor, and a certain disorder around the main entrance on the other – due to an overcrowded small parking, and a small, unnecessary fenced park.

Leningradskaya Hotel & Red Gates Administrative Building

I only had the chance for a quick pass by these buildings. The Leningradskaya Hotel (today Hilton) is the most modestly sized of Stalin’s Skyscrapers in Moscow, and is located on the western side of the highly trafficked Komsomolskaya Square, with three railway stations offering connections to everywhere in Russia and to international destinations as well, and a terminal for the world-famous Transsiberian line. The corresponding metro station is ‘Komsomolskaya’ on line 1 and 5.

From the square you can see the tower of the Red Gates Administrative Building, which can be reached with a quick walk from there or with the metro line 1 (‘Krasnye Vorota’ stop). Together with Leningradskaya Hotel, these are probably the least imposing of all Stalin’s skyscrapers, even though some mastery was reportedly necessary in the construction process of this building, due to a complicated reaction of the soil to its weight.

Riga, Latvia

Latvian Academy of Sciences

The latest of Stalin’s skyscrapers to reach completion – opened in 1961 – this distinctive building can be spotted from quite afar in the skyline of Riga, the capital city of the Latvian Republic. In the era of the USSR, this was not a ‘satellite state’, instead it was annexed to be one of the Socialist Soviet Republics, together with its neighbors Estonia and Lithuania. The building can be spotted to the south of the historical district and can be reached with a short walk from there.

This building retains only the style of Moscow’s Stalinist skyscrapers. The construction method is here based on reinforced concrete, where all buildings in Moscow are based on steel frames and masonry. The covering tiles are rather dark, giving a grim appearance to this otherwise well proportioned tower. The building can be accessed and you can reach the top to enjoy the panorama to a small fee.

Warsaw, Poland

Palace of Culture and Science

This service building is on Marsalkowska, next to the metro station ‘Swietokrzyska’, about .6 miles from the totally central University of Warsaw on Krakowskie boulevard.

The building is somehow isolated from the surroundings, being in the center of a large square. It is very imposing and comparable in size to those in Moscow – it is still today one of the tallest buildings in Poland, and can be easily spotted from several places around Warsaw.

You can climb to the top for a fee.

 

Wolfsschlucht II – Hitler’s Forgotten Headquarters in France

A few miles from the city of Soissons, and precisely in the municipality of Margival in the northern French countryside, southeast of the region of the Somme – where the fierce offensive of the British and their Allies took place in 1916 – lies a very little advertised and almost unknown item of great interest for war historians.

It was here, not far from where young Hitler fought for the Kaiser in WWI, that the occupation forces of Nazi Germany started building their headquarters in 1942. The place, not far north from Paris and at a similar distance from the coasts of Normandy and the narrowest section of the Channel, was probably selected also for the existence of a long railway tunnel, with an entrance hidden in a small but deep valley – of use for hiding the special armored train Hitler used to travel over the occupied regions of the Third Reich.

Being intended for acting as a major directional center where the Führer himself should be in charge, the military installation was designed with all that was necessary for leading the German offensive and directing operations on a potential western front, and with some comfort for the top figures of the German government. Similarly to other bases destined to host the Führer, the fort in Margival received a picturesque name – ‘Wolfsschlucht II’ or  ‘Wolf’s canyon II’.

The fact that soon after the D-Day operations and the real opening of a western front for Germany the region fell under Allied control meant that the installation was used intensively for only about three months in the summer of 1944 – it had began to be used more considerably from the first months of 1944, when an invasion from the sea began to be seen by the Nazi high command as likely.

Hitler reportedly visited the place only in one occasion and for 1-2 days in June 1944, soon after the successful landing of the Allies in Normandy, electing to concentrate personally on the Eastern front and leaving the command of operations to other generals. General Model resided in the installation in August 1944. Soon after the area was lost to the Allies.

But the history of the place was not over. The bunkers, barracks and service buildings had been constructed by the German paramilitary Todt organization with good care and had survived the war basically undamaged. They were used by the French Army until 1955 before being selected for quartering NATO forces until 1968. Then control was given back to the French Army, who abandoned the place with the end of the Cold War in the early Nineties.

Since then the place has been left deserted and has fallen into oblivion. Only in recent years a local society of enthusiasts has begun a lengthy but precious restoration work, which by now has interested only a limited part of the huge area of this military installation.

Due to the extensive use by western forces in the Cold War period, much of the few remaining interiors date from more recently than WWII. On the other hand, the buildings and their disposition are original from the German master plan.

The following photographs were taken during an exploration of the site in August 2016.

Getting there and moving around

Wolfsschlucht II has three main gates, one to the south in Margival, leaving the D537 as the road climbs uphill in a horseshoe bend, one to the east in Laffaux, leaving the D537 to the right before reaching the town center approaching from north, and the last to the north, on Rue Principale in Neuville-sur-Margival.

I selected the first of the three, for immediately after passing the gate and the former guardhouse there is a free area where you can conveniently park your car. This area is technically inside the old fence, so if there is nobody around to greet you and to ask about, you may be worried about your car being blocked inside if somebody closes the gate. I watched the door closely and decided it had been open for months, so I left my car inside. Soon after I met one of the members of the preservation society, who assured there was no trouble in parking where I had actually parked, so I guess you can adopt the same strategy…

I must mention the preservation society has a website where they advertise guided tours of the place, even in English language (website here). I tried to contact them in advance the days prior to my visit, about twenty-five times via phone, but could never speak with anybody – the line was free but nobody answered. I sent also some emails to the guys on the contact list of the site, and never received an answer. I decided to go anyway, and in the event I could tour the place without troubles, except a few restored bunkers, which are closed and cannot be visited except with a guide I guess.

The place is not particularly creepy. Once there, I found an entire family and various other people touring the area, plus people busy in the restoration of some of the bunkers. The railway track is still active, so there are also trains passing right besides the bunkers.

The bunkers are roughly aligned along a single road leading from the southern to the northern entrance, to the east of the railway track. The length is about 1.7 miles one way, so plan a walk of about 3.5 miles for a round tour of this installation.

Sights

The first large bunker you find when approaching from the southern gate is the ‘Loano’ bunker – all names are from after WWII, where the numbers painted on the bunkers are original German. The distinctive concrete dome and the surface with holds for practicing with climbing and doing exercises is an addition dating from after WWII.

The road then splits in two. Both ends lead to the northern part of the installation, where the most interesting bunkers can be found. The lower path goes along the railway, and climbs uphill steeply towards the end. There is less to see along that than the other path, going uphill immediately behind the ‘Loano’ bunker.

Along the latter, you can find a series of service buildings, barracks, clubhouses and canteens for troops. Also a former square with a flagpole can be seen to the side of the road at some point. Most of the buildings are totally abandoned. I explored some of them with some satisfaction, but what you can find dates clearly from relatively recent years.

Among other buildings, a partially interred bunker for troops, similar to those you can find in the batteries of the Atlantic Wall, can be spotted in the trees, refurbished but unfortunately not accessible. A distinctive feature of some of the buildings is their ‘partially armored’ construction, with the part reaching to the road made of lighter materials and that closer to the hill made of reinforced concrete.

I guess the iron window frames and blinds date back from WWII.

After a good walk you finally reach a T-shaped crossing and a group of buildings. Among them, the one belonging to the preservation society – ‘Berezina’ bunker. To the east you can spot the only multi-storey building of the complex, which reportedly served as a building for visitors, and actually looks like a small hotel. I don’t think this dates back from WWII, for the style is somewhat ‘un-German’. You can step inside at your own risk, for the building is totally derelict. Baths and canteens are still easily recognizable. To the back of the ‘Berezina’ bunker it is possible to find the entry of a heavy armored bunker, in a refurbished camouflage.

Going back to the T-shaped crossing and taking to the west you find one of the most interesting bunkers, a former communication bunker which was named ‘Patricia’ after the war. This building follows the ‘partially armored’ construction scheme. It is exceptionally long, possibly one of the largest of the kind in Europe.

Inside the building it is easy to distinguish the unarmored part to the front from the armored part to the back, closer to the hill.

Again the inside of the armored part is very similar to the bunkers of the Atlantic Wall, a consequence of both being designed by the same design studio. Remains of cables from WWII and of other equipment from various ages make this visit very interesting. It’s very dark inside the armored part, you will definitely need a torch, and be very careful, cause the pavement is uneven and there are manholes and other strange cavities all around.

The last part of the visit will bring you to the Führer’s quarters. Keeping going uphill, the road will turn north. As you reach the top of a steep climb you will be facing a corner building with three square pillars. This is bunker N.1, where Hitler was in his only visit to the Margival site in June 1944. The very sober decoration of the façade with the three pillars is the only distinctive feature of this building, which is again armored to the back.

Leaving the N.1 building to your left you may take a road proceeding around the hill without climbing. Along this road you see a grassy area with curbs framing a square spot on the ground. This is where a ‘normal’ – i.e. not armored – house for the Führer’s entourage used to stay. Further on, you can find an original Nazi swimming pool, again intended for top-ranking staff stationed in the installation.

Going back to bunker N.1 and taking to the north, you can find large buildings possibly originally hosting command services and canteens. At the time of my visit these were undergoing restoration.

A refurbished bunker with a ‘Tobruk’ shooting post can be found to the northernmost end of the building complex.

During my exploration I came back to the southern gate and to the ‘Loano’ bunker following the lower road along the railway. Being an active track, it should be approached with extreme caution. It is part of the tour, for it was there from the origin.

All in all, this was a stress-free, easy and enjoyable exploration. The site is rich of historical significance and showcases interesting military buildings from the period of Nazi Germany. I would recommend it for everybody interested, including those in lower than average physical condition. Don’t forget guided tours are possible in principle – I wish you are luckier than me in scheduling one!

Jüterbog/Niedergörsdorf – Abandoned Flight Academy in the GDR

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The area around the small town of Jüterbog – located 60 miles south of Berlin – has a long military tradition, with storages, barracks and training installations in place since the years of the Kaiser and Bismarck, about mid-19th century.

The region was selected for building one of the first flight academies in Germany before WWI, and flight activities with airships and other exotic flying material from the early age of aviation took place in those years.

Much was forcibly dismantled following the defeat of Germany in 1918, but the place regained primary attention with the advent of Hitler and the Nazi party to power. Among the various military installations built in the area, a modern flight academy was erected anew – baptized ‘Fliegertechnische Schule Niedergörsdorf’.

Initial technical training for both ground and flying staff of the Luftwaffe was imparted here until the break out of WWII and the conquest of Poland, when the academy moved to Warsaw.

The extensive group of buildings in Jüterbog retained a primary role in the advanced training of flight officers and engineers, aircraft and engine technicians. Technical personnel were trained to operate innovative weapon systems, in collaboration with research centers of the Luftwaffe.

With the end of the war the region fell under Soviet rule, and the military facilities – including the academy, which survived the war largely intact – were reassigned to various functions.

Info is available in less detail about this part of the story, as typical with military bases in the territories occupied by the Soviets… Part of the buildings of the academy were used again for training staff of tank divisions, but also a KGB station was reportedly activated there. As with most Soviet installations, it was given back to reunified Germany by 1994.

The place is since then abandoned, but differently from other sites formerly managed by the Soviets, it has been inscribed in the registry of landmark buildings, being an interesting specimen of Nazi military architecture.

Following WWII, the nearby airbase of Jüterbog – about a mile south of the academy complex – was operated both by East German (GDR) and Soviet air combat groups, until the Russians left in 1992. Soon after, the airport was permanently closed and partly dismantled. Unlike other Soviet bases in the GDR, flying units there never upgraded to MiG-29, so the aircraft shelters you can see there are of the oldest types.

I would suggest visiting the site for two reasons, a) the uniqueness of the architectural composition, with much of what you see dating back from the Nazi era – you can clearly notice the typical Nazi ‘sheer grandeur’, differing from the often poor and shabby Soviet military architecture… b) the very famous mural of the Soviet Soldier, which apart from the result of a little attack by an ignorant writer, is still in an almost perfect shape.

The following photographs were taken in late August 2016.

Sights

Niedergörsdorf Flight Academy

It should be pointed out that this place is actually off-limits, and there are clear prohibition signs at least on the front gate. Furthermore, it is not an isolated installation, but surrounded by other buildings, close to a small but active railway station and not far from a supermarket. Accessing the site via the blocked main gate is clearly not possible.

Finding an easy way in is not difficult, but standing to the signs on the gate, the place is also actively guarded, so you should be quick and concentrated when moving around. In order to shorten your time in, I suggest turning your attention to the northernmost part of the site.

Walking along the northern perimeter inside the base some Cold War, not very artistically significant murals can be spotted on the external wall made of the usual Soviet concrete slabs.

From there you can easily reach the semicircular building of the grand hall, probably the most notable of the base, and the one where the famous mural of the Soviet Soldier is.

When moving around the corner from the back to the front façade of the building, you find yourself on the road leading to the blocked main gate. You may be spotted from outside the base, so be careful.

Once in the area in front of the semicircular building, you can see to the south a nice perspective of the other buildings of the academy, surrounding a large inner court.

The inside of the main semicircular building – which should not be accessed – is in a state of disrepair.

There are two main floors and a less interesting third attic floor.

The beautiful mural of the Soviet Soldier can be easily found close to the stairs.

Here are some other details of this nice and sober example of Soviet monumental art.

Many other parts of the lower floors are covered in painted decorations, but these were probably of lower quality with respect to the Soviet Soldier – which appears to be a real fresco – and are today falling from the walls.

Another highlight of the visit to this building is the grand theatre. You should consider going with a tripod and/or a powerful torchlight for getting better photos than these, for the room is totally dark. Very creepy, btw…!

On the former part of the sports arena to the west of the building complex it is possible to spot a new little gym. Possibly to your surprise you will find the place is still run by a sporting club – this is nice, also for getting a better idea of how the place looked like when it was an active training center. On the cons side, walking around undercover is not easy, and maybe you are violating a private property ‘no trespassing’ instruction – even though I didn’t notice any.

An interesting part of the sports arena is the abandoned pool, which I guess was already part of the Nazi construction plan too – check photographs of postcards of the time on the Internet.

To get an impression of the complex from above, you may have a look to aerial pictures taken during a dedicated flight, reported here.

Jüterbog Airbase

A quick visit to the airbase south of the academy can reveal some interesting sights, including aircraft shelters from the early Cold War era which have been converted to hay storages or garages for agricultural vehicles. Many former taxiways can be freely accessed by car, some of them have been turned into ‘official’ roads. Also the apron in front of the large maintainance hangars can be accessed with a car with no restriction.

A small aeroclub operates with trikes from a new narrow grass runway in the northwestern part of the field, so access to this part of the field is restricted. Interestingly, much of the external fence with barbed wire is still in place around this area.

Other activities on site include go-karting. To the east of the base, part of the shelters are occupied by a private collection – Shelter Albrecht – centered on WWII and Cold War relics (covered in this chapter).

For a comprehensive set of aerial pictures of the base, taken during a flight over the area, have a look to this post.

Compared to other Soviet bases in East Germany, Jüterbog doesn’t offer much to the curious urban explorer today. Yet due to the vicinity of the flight academy it’s surely worth a visit. Furthermore, the countryside around is nice – apart from the unpleasant sight of a real forest of wind turbines! – so you may choose to have a walk around just for pleasure.

The area of Jüterbog is actually full of other interesting sites related to military history, documented in this post.

Getting there and moving around

Reaching the former flight academy is an easy task. The main gate is on Kastanienallee, Niedergörsdorf, and it can be accessed with a 0.1 miles walk from the Altes Lager railway station, again in Niedergorsdorf, Brandenburg. There is a convenient small parking besides the railway station. In case you want to explore the site, I would suggest considering this as a trailhead.

The area of Niedergörsdorf and Jüterbog can be reached in about 1 h 15 min from downtown Berlin by car. This is my preferred way for moving around – I hate having tight schedules when exploring! – but reaching the ‘operational zone’ by train from Berlin would take probably a bit less.

For visiting the base at Jüterbog you will need a car. Driving on the former taxiways is part of the fun when touring the base!

There are aircraft shelters both on the northern and southern sides of the runway, which is oriented in an east-western direction. The most convenient to come close to are those on the northern side, but be careful not to interfere with the many private businesses around. Barb wire fence can be found on the northwestern corner of the base.

I would suggest having a quick look at the Google map of the area for deciding how to move around. I wouldn’t rate these two ‘attractions’ difficult to visit in terms of physical barriers or when it comes to keeping the right course.

Vogelsang – Soviet Nuclear Base in the GDR

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‘The lost city of Vogelsang’ – this is the complete name often attributed to this former Soviet installation built under Stalin’s rule in 1952, located about 35 miles north of Berlin in the former territory of the communist German Democratic Republic (GDR, or DDR in German). Actually, the base was among the first three of the kind in size, housing about 15.000 Soviet troops of tank and artillery divisions, service staff and their families – much more residents than the majority of ‘normal’ cities in the region.

In the case of Vogelsang, two facts add to the usual grim aura of a deserted Soviet base.

Firstly, it was never much publicized among the locals, being large enough to contain all services needed by the troops and their families – it was basically a ‘secret base’. The trees now invading all free areas between the skeletons of the remaining buildings were not there until the early Nineties, when Russian troops left the former territory of the GDR – during 1994. Yet even when it was active, the place was hidden from the eyes of those passing by, thanks to the very rich vegetation. Its very location, pretty far away from everything, surely helped in shrouding it into secrecy.

Secondarily, at least in one instance in recent history, in the years of Khrushchev, of the latest Eisenhower and Kennedy administrations, this place was used for the deployment of an arsenal of strategic missiles pointing to European targets, reportedly in core Europe and Britain. Much confusion exists about dates and many details are missing – the deployment was so secret that even the government of the GDR didn’t know about it, so the existence of the base and its role are a somewhat ‘inconvenient reminder’ of the recent past for Germany. Today this base is still really hard to spot.

Anyway, I visited the site several times between 2016 and 2020, and I took the following photographs. While from the sequence of my visits it is apparent that the installation is quickly decaying, thanks to the combined action of the government and of ignorant writers, both showing a bothering null respect for history, there is still something left to see. I give also some basic info for getting to this site on your own.

Getting there and moving around

The village of Vogelsang can be reached by car from downtown Berlin in about 1 h 30 min – the road distance is about 40 miles, but a substantial part of the itinerary follows local roads, resulting in a pretty long time needed. Be careful when pointing your nav, for there are several towns named ‘Vogelsang’ in Germany. This one is in Brandenburg, located north of Berlin, along the road 109. The closest major town is Zehdenick, a few miles to the south of Vogelsang on the same road 109.

As usual with military bases, there is a railway track reaching Vogelsang, and getting there by train is of course possible. During my stay I heard the whistle of various trains passing there – even though I noticed only a very small station and nobody around, so possibly there’s no ticketing service. I noticed the scheduled time for arriving by train from Berlin is identical to that needed moving with a car. If you don’t want to be forced to stick to timetables, I suggest going by car.

Once there, I parked my car on the grass close to the only crossroad in town – where the 109 is crossed by Burgwaller Strasse. I parked behind the info table – there is obviously no info on the base, just about ‘regular’ nature trails in the area. Nobody complained about me parking there, and I found my car intact about six hours later…

Burgwaller Strasse crosses the railway and heads straight into the ‘zone’. Please note that soon after crossing the railway a) the road is not paved any more, b) there are prohibition signs about vehicle traffic, so you can’t go further with a car.

For moving around you will need an electronic map and possibly a GPS, cause the site is huge, and the area is covered with trees and vegetation, and many former roads are not visible any more, so getting lost is pretty easy. Moreover, from Google maps you can’t spot much from above, because of the trees. This makes a GPS + map of the site very important for the particular case of this site, differently from other bases.

I used my iPhone and it worked perfectly. Just install the free Ulmon (aka CityMaps2Go) app (app website here) and download the offline Brandenburg map – this provides an incredible detail. Furthermore, there is a strong Internet signal over most of the base – strangely enough, the area is well covered.

Anyway, if you don’t want to depend on the Internet once there, you can pinpoint the places you are more interested in on the offline Ulmon map before going – I did also this as a backup, cause I didn’t know whether Internet would be working.

I suggest not to overlook this point. Thinking back, I would have hardly made it without a cell phone with a GPS + map. You have to walk in the trees quite a bit before reaching any buildings. The trees hide everything and you can easily get disoriented – wasting much time moving around. Everything is solved with a GPS and a good map.

Over five visits, I spent almost 20 hours touring the place. During my first visit (lasting about 6 hours), I just concentrated on the southernmost part of it, which is of course the richest in remains, electing not to reach the launch pads closer to the village of Beutel (see this chapter). On that first visit, I walked approximately 11 miles standing to my iPhone, so be ready to walk. Even though there are no great physical barriers for moving around, the place is really abandoned and vegetation is wild. Probably you will need to walk in nettles and brambles at some point, so choose your clothes and shoes carefully.

On the plus side, you will see much wildlife!

Many interesting sights are outdoor, some are indoor. As usual, all abandoned buildings, except perhaps the nuclear storage bunkers that are very sturdy, must be considered dangerous. You should observe through the windows or enter at your own risk.

Sights

Missile Launch Pad

This is the southernmost, isolated launch pad on the site. You can see a concrete platform at the level of the ground about 20 feet long, with metal holding points. It was used to anchor missile-carrying trucks before tilting the missile canister vertical and preparing for launch. It is highly probable that the missile system intended to be installed here was the R5 ‘Pobeda’, NATO codename SS-3 ‘Shyster’. The relatively small range of this missile is in support of a deployment in a region so close to the border with european NATO Countries (see this chapter also for a general map of the missile installations in this area).

The road leading to the missile pad and from there to the main complex of the base today is barely visible. Traces of a barbed wire fence, delimiting the external perimeter of the base, can be found here, together with a network of trenches and dips once needed for the missile launch system (which included technical trailers with generators, control system panels, …).

The territory of the base is scattered with tokens from their former owners, from mugs to batteries, to military material of all sorts.

Southeastern Inner Access Post

Walking along the barbed wire fence from the missile launch pads to the core of the base, you will come across a long concrete wall. Soviet bases are often divided into sealed sectors. Access to the ‘service part’ of the base, with living quarters, schools, … was past this wall. The gate has disappeared, but you can find traces of it where the wall is interrupted and a concrete-paved road points into it. A cage for watchdogs can be found close to this checkpoint.

In a first building for the guards, with window railings, look for Russian writings even on the ground.

Buildings by the entrance post include a garage with writings in Cyrillic, with an apron for maneuvering trucks or cars. On the cranes inside the garage, you can find inscriptions by the Soviet troops occupying the base. Leaving this type of ‘autograph’ was typical for Soviet troops (see for instance the traces left in the theater of bases in Poland, here).

Nearby the entrance, a clubhouse, visitor center, or something alike can be found, with a pleasant architecture – large windows and a bar.

Entertainment Quarters

Two main buildings here, a movie theater and a clubhouse.

The theater is still in good shape. Some of the original lights and traces of the performance program board can be seen outside.

The road leading to the front entrance is still visible, but the façade is not imposing any more, for trees are now hiding it.

Signs and propaganda posters in Cyrillic alphabet and with photos can be spotted here and all around the base.

The café, with an original banner in Cyrillic, can be spotted to the left of the theater, close by a small warehouse with a loading platform.

Some kitchen furniture and gear can be still spotted around.

Between the theater and café buildings, you can find an incredible Soviet sculpture. The most striking feature you can see in the pics is a portrait of Lenin!

The Lenin panel was moved in 2017 to a Soviet-themed museum in Wünsdorf (see this dedicated chapter about this incredible place and its museum). The rest of the mural was there as of 2019, still reasonably resisting to the weather and spoilers.

Mural monuments are among the most interesting features of Vogelsang. Not far from this base, you can find another example of these Soviet creations described in this chapter.

Children School

This is rather creepy – even the curtains are still in place on some windows…! On the ground floor you can access a small gym.

Much of the heating system – made in Germany – is still in place.

On the first floor some very interesting murals can be easily spotted, together with traces of a small theater and special classrooms for language teaching and other purposes.

Soldiers Sports Ground

This has been turned into a corn field. Something of the original tribunes still stay, with original decoration made from parts of machinery I guess.

Water/Heating Plant

A small water pumping/heating plant occupies a building nearby the gym (see next section). Traces of the original hardware can be found, with writing in Russian.

Also a small living room, likely belonging to a technician looking after plant, is part of this small construction. Traces of the original curtains are still there! Unofficial writing in Cyrillic can be found on the concrete wall making for a small backyard to the plant.

Soldiers Gym

Very creepy! Gym apparel, subscription forms, record boards and gym gear still around…

To the back you can spot a former Turkish bath with no roof and trees in it.

Soldiers Barracks

There are pretty many buildings of the same kind aligned along a still visible concrete paved road between the school and the training center. Many of these buildings look like being close to collapsing. Some interesting halls and various items can be found in some of them.

Soldiers Canteens & Training Center

There are various canteens and entertainment centers scattered over the territory of the base.

Some nice murals in pure Russian naïve style can be found in some of the buildings. Some of the halls are very very large.

Among the most notable features in Vogelsang, a peculiar tank simulator and a small but very deep pool, for training purposes, can still be found in a dedicated training building.

Unfortunately the door appears to be blocked by a collapsed roof or something, but you can reach or at least see the features of interest through broken windows.

Base Headquarter

The headquarter of the soviet base in Vogelsang sit in a two-levels building with an imposing facade. Today you can see the remnants of a porter’s office, giving access to the main staircase.

Climbing to the upper floor, you reach a hall with a wooden canopy. Two corridors leading to the offices of the military staff depart from there.

From a 2020 visit, this building has taken a particularly rotting appearance, and maybe it is not going to last for long.

Mural of Soviet Triumphs & Soviet Soldier, plus Buildings Nearby

This is an incredible mural, about 60 feet long, with various symbolic scenes – army power, technology and agriculture, family and helpful society and housing for everybody.

A collection of Soviet emblems follows. This mural contributes greatly to the uniqueness of Vogelsang in the panorama of Soviet bases!

Turning your head 90 degrees to the right from this mural, you will see an artistically pleasant giant head of soldier, embossed on the side of a building. Differently from the mural nearby, this is of some artistic value. The head was still there during my next visits, even though writers have attacked the base of the wall where it is standing, and the plaster is starting to fail. Who knows how long this old guardian will stand, recalling the past splendor of Soviet Vogelsang with his sad expression?

Close by, it is possible to find scant remains of other propaganda gears, like a three-steps stand for speaking, a bigger one in the shape of a Red Banner flag made in concrete and bricks, and an adjoining painted mural with planes, ships and soldiers. Unique!

In this area you can find also some service buildings in a relatively good shape. Among other things, there is a (likely) central laundry, with (possibly) ironing machines still in place.

Still in the area, some buildings appear to host small apartments. As usual in Soviet bases, Pravda and other news adorn the walls – they were used to hang wallpaper, but this has largely gone today, and old news have faced again. Just reading the publication dates and titles, or looking at the pics, can be really intriguing.

Some of the buildings hosted nearby the mural hosted technical services, like boilers for centralized hot water supply, or similar. You may spend some time exploring this area, finding some curious rooms – and even a well preserved sauna!

Underground Cellar with Mural

An interesting sight for braver – maybe crazier – explorers can be found in the underground cellar, in the basement of a canteen building, among the service buildings just described.

There a big plaster (?) mural can be found, painted in bright colors, with missiles, soldiers, the Kremlin in Moscow and a huge red banner with hammer and sickle! The state of conservation is exceptionally good.

Also very interesting are the inscriptions left by troops stationed at Vogelsang, apparently coming from districts like Kishinev (now Chisinau, Moldova), Chelyabinsk (Russia), Krim (Crimea), Yakkabag (Uzbekistan), Donbass (Ukraine) – all around the USSR! The years reported range between 1989 and 1990. The mural might date from just little earlier, hence it may be relatively new, justifying its still good condition.

It is not a long walk from the surface, you just need to descend a short flight of stairs. The only thing is that the cellar is flooded, so you will need to explore it moving around in a kind of pool of clean but cold water, reaching up to your crotch! A good torchlight is mandatory. Other adjoining rooms display further inscriptions in Cyrillic.

Mirage Mural & Most Peripheral Buildings

A painted portrait of a Mirage 2000 was made on the back of a fence wall not far north from the mural of the Soviet triumphs, close to a watchtower. A data sheet in cyrillic alphabet is painted besides, and another aircraft is visible on another part of the wall.

Pretty curious about the choice of the Mirage, among all ‘enemy aircraft’ of Western powers. May be this was just the beginning of a gallery of portraits? As of 2019, I could not find this any more, maybe it is now gone.

As a matter of fact, this corner of the base is now close to an area to the north end of the base, where demolition works have stricken hard, flattening huge lots once occupied by many more buildings.

On the border of the surviving group of buildings, you can find some interesting items, including a garage, and another 3D monument, on the side of a secluded flat area now invaded by vegetation, which might have been a square or a small outdoor sporting facility.

Northeastern Gate Area and Defense Bunker

On the northeastern corner of this major remaining part of the base, just north of the school and theater you can find traces of a kind of park, with a network of walkways sided with hedges. Today, the plants used for hedging are overgrown, but you can still clearly recognize the original patterns. Furthermore, there are street lamps still standing an showing the way!

On the northern end of this once pleasant area, you can find a half-interred bunker. The entrances are bricked up, so you can’t get in. Considering the position, close to service buildings for everyone in the base, like canteens, gym, school, etc., this bunker might have been a defense bunker for the people of the base, in case of an attack.

A lonely gate and fragments of the wall surrounding this sector of the base can be found not far from here, a rather evoking sight.

Bunkers for Nuclear Warheads

These are located to the south-west of the base, pretty far from the living quarters and training centers, and closer to the limit fence of the and to the road and railway. A long concrete-paved road connects these two sections of the base.

Two bunkers can still be seen. They are very large and covered with land and vegetation. They have security gates at both ends. On one end, there are cranes probably for moving the nuclear warheads between trucks and the bunker. On the other end there is a small service building, attached to the side of the bunker.

The ventilation system is huge, with large openings, valves and extensive piping.

At the time of my first visit one of the two bunkers could be entered with no difficulty by the back gate. The thickness of the gate is impressive. Inside there are multiple interconnected cellars running along the main axis of the bunker, separated by walls and gates. Approaching the other end, where the entry gate to the crane area is blocked closed, there are rooms and ventilation control gears.

The inside of the bunker is very dark, but surprisingly it is far less wet than expected. Probably at least the construction layers for climate control are still working properly.

Since 2017, both bunkers are closed, but as you can see from the pics below, the exterior is still basically intact. Writings in Russian can be found on the gates of the bunkers.

Scattered around the bunkers are some guard turrets overseeing the area, walls enclosing it in a perimeter, as well as protected entrances to some subterranean passages. In front of the blocked entrance of the bunker you can walk in, there is a mystery wall of ceramic brick, whose function I can’t guess.

Warning: in the area between the two bunkers I almost stepped on much dangerous debris, like pieces of rusty barbed wire and similar items. Carefully watch your step.

North of the bunkers a large garage for trucks can be found. The bunkers just described were for warheads only. The missiles used to be stored in dedicated bunkers, once located besides the trucks depot (trucks were used to take the trailers carrying the missiles to the launch pad).

These missile storage buildings have been partly demolished, leaving some concrete slabs once making for a pavement. Some further bunkers have been interred (filled with land). I took some pics from the top of these old halls, by letting the camera down a loophole on the rooftop.

Cutting from the bunkers directly south to the road going back to the village, you cross the former perimeter of the base. From the inside you cross a wall, two lines of poles with traces of barbed wire, and a ditch. Thinking back, mines might have been buried between the two lines of barbed wire…

Southeastern Corner and Carved Graffiti

An incredible testimony of the people once occupying the base came as a surprise during a short detour in the trees from one of the major roads crossing the base, approaching the southeastern corner of its large premises. A group of graffiti carved in the trees by the presumably young Soviet soldiers stationed there, totally in Cyrillic with names and year, left a vivid trace of archaeological value in this region of Germany. Some inscriptions date back to the 1960s!

Approaching the railway track an unusual parking can be spotted, where only the lights are still in place. Totally disproportioned to the size of the town, it was probably connected with the military base, and is now deserted. A now dead railway crossing can be found too.

Final Comments

You can’t see anything unusual at a glance when passing by the very small village of Vogelsang. To say it all, you can hardly spot todays village itself – a handful of small houses along the main road.

This would be good for urban explorers and war historians, as it should protect what remains from writers and other spoilers. Paradoxically, it is not protecting the site from disappearing at a quick pace, as the German government is reportedly promoting reforestation in the area, and buildings are being demolished little by little.

It is a pity, for this former base is rich of examples of Soviet ‘art’ and of other very rare artifacts, which after all are now part of history, and perhaps should deserve more consideration.

Since my first visit some years ago, some buildings to the north have been demolished, and the bunkers closed forever. Ignorant writers and spoilers are taking their toll, too. In 2020 there were huge construction trucks and teams with heavy machinery working in the northwestern part of the base. Recent updates from fellow explorers reported that not much remains of the northwestern part of the base. Remarkably, the mural with the Soviet soldier has been demolished, and so the painted underground cellar, between 2020 and 2022.

This was partly expected, but as of 2022 it looks like we are getting close to the point when the present chapter will be a memento of what used to be in Vogelsang. There is still something left to check out there, but possibly not even such to justify a specific tour and the inconvenience of reaching this wild destination.

Monino – Central Museum of the Russian Air Forces

Probably the most famous air museum in Russia – and formerly in the whole USSR – the Central Air Force Museum in Monino doesn’t need a presentation for aviation enthusiasts from every part of the world. As a matter of fact, still today this is probably the world’s largest collection of military and experimental aircraft manufactured in the Soviet Union.

Similar to many air museums in western Countries, this aircraft collection has been located on the premises of an active airbase since it opened its doors back in 1958. For this reason, in the years of the Soviet Union and even for some time after its collapse, the collection couldn’t be visited without prior permission. A specially restrictive visiting policy was applied to foreign visitors, due to the technological content of the exhibition. Today things have greatly improved in this respect, and visiting is absolutely free for everybody, both Russians and foreign tourists, like it is the case for most similar sites in the West.

To be sincere, I expected something like what you can find in former peripheral Countries of the Soviet bloc – an array of rotting fuselages, landing gears, rusty jet engines and no information around. It turned out I was totally wrong. What caused my inaccurate prevision was I had failed taking into account the singular passion and nostalgia that Russians show still today for their Soviet past, at least when it comes to military power and technological glory. In this respect, many other more ‘western’ and politically correct neighbor Countries in Europe, like Italy and France, have a much colder attitude towards aviation and their own past aeronautical endeavors.

So, at Monino the conditions of the aircraft both inside and outside are extremely good, especially if you consider the harsh weather that aircraft bodies have to sustain in the terrible Russian winters. From photographs on the web you can rapidly realize most aircraft are covered in snow in winter, so visiting may be also not much rewarding in that season. I visited in September, and except for a Soviet-grey, cloudy day I could enjoy a normal visit.

From the technical viewpoint, the collection is composed of many aircraft and engines up to WWII, hosted indoor, plus a huge outdoor collection of aircraft covering the majority of military models deployed by the Air Force of the Red Army over the years of the Cold War, in their respective roles – strategic bombers, fighters, …

Also some really rare prototype aircraft are part of the exhibition – some of them, like the Tupolev Tu-144 and the Sukhoi Su-100, are unique and very famous. There are also some iconic (gigantic) Mil helicopters, and some liners. There is much information around for less experienced enthusiasts, almost all placards both in Russian and English – a very rare sight in English-unfriendly Russia! If you can speak or understand Russian – unlike me – you can also have guided tours with former Air Force staff, which are reportedly much interesting.

The following photos were taken during a visit in September 2015.

Getting there

One of the reasons for so few interested people actually include Monino in their visit plan is the fame of the place as almost unreachable, inconvenient and expensive. This fame is due to the many companies on the web chattering about permissions, passport requests, tickets in advance, many hours to get to the place and so on. These companies usually ask for many hundreds dollars for taking you on the trip.

These are genuine tourist traps. There is no need for any permission, the place is not any more an active base (since long) and you are not asked any document. Plus, getting there with the local railway system serving the greater Moscow area is very easy – the train has Monino as destination – and the totally inexpensive trip takes about 1h 20min, only due to the countless stops.

First of all, note that I don’t speak russian nor can I read the Cyrillic alphabet. Nonetheless, I managed to get to this place about 20 miles from center Moscow to the East without troubles and traveling solo.

Trains going to Monino depart Moscow Yaroslavskaya in central Moscow rather frequently, about two to four times per hour – accurate timetable available briefly googling for local trains from Moscow to Monino. The terminal is the local railway terminal, placed right behind the main cottage-like building of the railway station (from where you can go as far as Vladivostok…). You can buy a ticket from one of the countless automatic vendors – in Russian, impossible for me – or from one of the countless ticket offices – this was my option. I got a ticket for both ways – you just have to say “To Monino and back”, even though Russians are not friends of English, this request was immediately understood by the officer. The fare is very cheap. The line I considered terminated at Monino, reached after many many stops and about 1h 20 minutes later. Note that the railway ticket is required also for leaving the station on arrival, so you’d better keep it safe.

If all you had seen before in Russia is St. Petersburg and central Moscow, you might be a bit shocked, and feel like you had leaped in the past and well back into the Soviet era – large and cheap concrete buildings, partially paved roads, many elderly people walking around along silent streets and more bicycles than cars around. Sure the village is nothing special and far from monumental, but it’s not dark nor scary or unsafe. Plus you can notice signs of its past vocation, as ghost insignia and abandoned control booths typical to a former military installation can be spotted immediately close to the railway station and around the village, together with a Lenin’s statue still proudly placed in a small square on your path to the museum.

The only problem is that there are no signs for reaching the museum – not any until you are in front of the gate -, which is about .7 miles from the station to the other end of the village (South). You can take a (rare) taxi, or enjoy the walk. The latter was my option. The road is extremely straightforward. Actually it’s basically straight. If you don’t have a digital map, you can simply print the Google map of Monino with a satellite view of the buildings – this again was my option – and this is definitely enough to get to the place. I prepared this small map with the path I’ve followed and some notable sights.

The ticket to the museum is less than 3 dollars, very cheap.

For going back you just reverse the plan. Travel time in total for the trip both ways may be 3h 10min, including train and transfers between the gate and Monino station by foot. Adding about 3 hours for visiting the museum with a relaxed pace, a visit to Monino from central Moscow may take about 6 hours, so you may plan something more than half day for this visit.

Opening times can be obtained from the official website http://www.monino.ru, some Google-translation is needed if you like me don’t know Russian.

Sights

Including descriptions of all aircraft in Monino would be impractical and probably uninteresting. For this reason I will include only photographs and some comments. For an almost-full list of the aircraft in Monino, with something about each of the preserved exemplars, I would recommend the book in English A guide to the Russian Federation Air Force Museum at Monino by Korolkov and Kazashvili, published in the US.

In the blue-roofed building of the ticket office some early aircraft engines and panels about the history of aviation in Russia are presented.

Then you can enter the neighbor hangar, with some unique aircraft from up to WWII. These include an exemplar of the world-famous Ilyushin Il-2 Sturmovik.

The rest of the exhibition is hosted on the other side of the road. Immediately past the gate on one side you have probably the world’s largest helicopter, the twin-rotor Mil Mi-12. Facing this monstrosity, some iconic bombers, including the Tu-4, i.e. a licence-built Boeing B-29, and a prototype Tupolev Tu-22M, with ancestral engine fairings later replaced on the production version. Also notable are a Tu-22, Tu-128 – a really massive interceptor – and two very famous Soviet prototypes, the Myasischev M-50 and the Sukhoi Su-100, with its characteristic Concorde-like deflectable nose.

In a hangar nearby it is possible to find some further experimental aircraft, including rocket-propelled aircraft, high-atmosphere balloon capsules and other curious items.

Placed on an off-limits grassy area nearby the hangar there are some very uncommon aircraft awaiting restoration, and on the other side a good collection of Mil and Kamov helicopters, including the Mil-24A featured in the third chapter of the John Rambo series, a Mil-10 flying crane helicopter and a huge Mil-6 which used to work as a flying command station.

Nearby is the ‘Yakovlev alley’, where most aircraft from this high-tech design bureau are presented.

Approaching the far end of the exhibition grounds you can spot some of the Soviet ‘big ones’, including an Antonov An-22 Anthei, an Ilyushin Il-76, an Il-62 and a very rare Tupolev Tu-114 turboprop with counter-rotating propellers. This was among the fastest-flying propeller-driven aircraft in history.

Recently added to the collection, on one corner of the exhibition are two truly iconic Cold War veterans, a Tupolev Tu-142 and a Tu-22M Backfire, both retired production exemplars.

Other interesting items are a rare Beriev Be-12 huge seaplane, a pretty old Ilyushin Il-18 and a Il-2, and obviously the world-famous prototype Tupolev Tu-144 supersonic liner.

Before taking to the ‘MiG alley’ and ‘Sukhoi alley’ reaching to the exit, three unique prototypes should not go unnoticed, namely the Lavochkin La-250 supersonic interceptor, with a 1956 variable incidence delta wing, the high altitude Myasischev M-17, a twin tailed, ultra-high aspect ratio wing, the Buran flight emulator, created to reproduce the flight dynamics of the ill-fated Buran orbiter in terminal maneuvers, and the Bertini-Beriev VVA-14 ekranoplane. The latter was off-limits when I visited, and could be spotted sitting derelict in the backyard, awaiting restoration.

Approaching the exit you can notice a full array of MiGs, including some more rare to find in the West, like the MiG-25 ‘anti-Blackbird’ Mach-3 interceptor, and various Sukhoi designs ranging from early prototypes to the more modern exemplars. Among them a Lisunov Li-2, a licensed Douglas C-47, was undergoing active restoration when I visited.

Finally, some photos of the ‘pleasant village’ of Monino, a former militarized village.