Egyptian Air Force Museum is one of the Egyptian military museums, which tells the stories of the championships and the glories of the Egyptian Air Force, from 1932 until now. There are educational tours, a large variety of old and new Egyptian aircraft that participated in various wars as well as weapons and ammunition that were used in the past. Visitors can watch a film about 6 October, 1973 war in the 3D cinema and they have access to a F16 flight simulator. Children can enjoy the play area, puppet theatre and a variety of artistic & scientific workshops.
The EAF motto is ‘Higher and higher for the sake of glory‘ (Arabic: إلى العلا في سبيل المجد, I’la’ al-‘olà fī sabīl al-magd) and that is certainly on display in this easily accessable museum.
The EAF was originally known as the Royal Egyptian Air Force until 18 June 1953, and it changed to EAF following the declaration of the Republic of Egypt by Muhammad Naguib.
On 2 November 1930, the King of Egypt and Sudan, Fuad I, announced the creation of the Egyptian Army Air Force (EAAF). On 27 May 1931 the Egyptian Council of Ministers approved the purchase of five aircraft and the building of an airfield at Almaza (Cairo) with a budget of 50,000 pounds.
The aircraft chosen ro begin the EAAF was the British de Havilland Gipsy Moth trainer. Five modified aircraft were flown from England to Egypt and on arrival in May 1932 the air force was founded and the airfield was formally opened.
The epitome of a fighter jet, this American built F-16, has been in service since 1982. It has a top speed of 2470kmh.
Did you know? The F-16 was designed to be the best air-to-air dogfighter. To enable this, the F-16 was the first aircraft with a reinforced airframe, enabling it to survive 9-Gs. The pilot’s seat was elevated and set to 30 degrees instead of 12 degrees like other 4th generation aircraft.
This is an AH-200 which saw service in the EAF from 1964-1975. Top speed was 650kmh.
The USA built Phantom F-4 was in service between 1979 and 2012. It had a top speed of 2370 kmh.
K-8E was built by an Egyptian and Chinese collaboration and had a top speed of a slow(?) 800 kmh.
The “Silver Stars” are the current Egyptian Air Force aerobatic display team and they are flying 10 K-8E Karakorum jet trainer aircraft painted in a white, red and black paint scheme.
All of the team’s aircraft are equipped with smoke generators that are capable of producing white, red and blue smoke.
Four different helicopters in amongst all the fighter aircraft on display.
And they come in small, medium, large and EXTRA LARGE.
The interior of the MI-6 passenger helicopter. Without doubt the largest helicopter I have ever been in. As there was aircon in here and it was VERY hot outside, I spent longer here than was required.
The cockpit if off limits to visitors, but it seems that for guided tours there is a video available to watch on a large screen set up in the rear of the helicopter.
This helicopter in service from 1964 to 1988 and was operational in the wars against Israel in 1967 and in 1973.
The centre of the outdoor static display at the museum is this Tupolev Tu-16 (NATO reporting name: Badger), a twin-engine jet strategic heavy bomber.
Although this looks like a Harvard, it is, in fact a USA built Vultee (BT-13A). It was in service with the EAF from 1947 to 1957 and could reach a top speed of 290kmh.
Walking from the outdoor exhibits towards the building that houses a movie theatre, a souvenir shop and a variety of static and interactive displays.
The high-vaulted ceilings of the indoor exhibit shows of all the displays to their best advantage.
The museum is well lit and although all the signage is in Arabic, there are guided tours on offer, or you can do what I did, which was wander around and ask questions afterwards.
SO many switches and dials. But the expertise of the pilots is what makes this branch of the Egyptian military rank amongst the top 15 military powers in the world and leads the Middle East and North Africa region in air power.
If you are a fighter pilot, you want to make certain that your plane has one of these tucked away behind the seat.
This is part of the parachute that is attached to the ejector seat that is designed to save lives should the aircraft get into trouble for any reason.
If the sight of all these aircraft gets your creative juices flowing, then why not make a plane of your own…
Standing proudly in the grounds of the museum, with the indoor exhibition building in the background.
My visit to this fine museum was most certainly worthwhile. Luckily it was only a short walk from the hotel that I was staying at.
To find out more about the museum, click on the logo above.
Check out the archived and current interviews… click on the image above.
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