Shenzhen aircraft museum

[vs]

Last week I was in Hong Kong for work and went to Shenzhen in China for a day off. I heard there was a old Russian aircraft carrier with airplanes on in that not many Western tourists were aware of.

An amazing place. Very friendly people and alot of development going on.

Taxi ride over the hill was one of the very amusing...anyway hope the pic comes through and I will add some more soon

[vs]

[vs]

Mig 23


2 seat Mig 23

You can see all the development in Shenzhen going on....amazing place

[Dave Homewood]

Wow, superb shots! Thanks for bringing these to us. I had not heard of this attraction before.

[flyjoe180]

Yeah, great shots VS. Bit like the equivalent of the US carrier museums. Except the aircraft on the Chinese carrier appear to be in poor health.

[vs]

They sure are a little rough!!! I am pretty sure the Hinds have their rotor blades bent like that to prevent damage from typhoons. They were all hand painted as well. You can get inside the Hind but all the real panels had been removed. The actual ship was in very good condition.

Still well worth the visit, as the guide said.....not very well known by western tourists

[Peter Lewis]

A most interesting display, first I have heard of that one. Is English spoken there?

I was in Shanghai about 18 months ago, and managed to find one very obscure internet reference to an aircraft museum/display area said to be in the outskirts of the city near a leisure park. My wife booked into the hairdressers for one morning, so I decided to trek to the area mentioned and explore. Well a taxi from the hotel got me there (right across the other side of the city from the Bund), but no-one had heard of any aeroplanes. Mind you, no-one could speak any English either! Wandering around the leisure park revealed a single MiG15, but I felt that there should be more than that. There was a motorway overbridge nearby, so I scaled the heights and scanned the horizon. Sure enough, in the distance I could see the tailplane of a sizeable jet. When in doubt, ask a policeman, so I tried that. No English (and no Chinese from my end) but he pointed hopefully in a direction that I sensed was intended just to take me away from him and remove this stranger from his life.
Eventually, after much walking around an industrial area that had never seen a white man, I arrived at what seemed to be the forecourt of a hotel. Beside the hotel, in a grassed area, were several Chinese AF jets. On entering the area I was immediately attacked by a Chinese lady who demanded "How did you find us?" in a highly accusative manner. I felt that they had invested quite a lot of time and effort in trying to make the place obscure and were very put out that someone had discovered it.
When in doubt, in Asia, produce a pilots licence. It always works wonders, and worked again in this situation. She even offered to take my photo in front of the lineup, so I obliged. I do have a lot of pics filed away, if anyone is interested.
To cap off the adventure, I was so far into the provinces that I had great difficulty in finding a taxi driver that would take me right across town back to the hotel. I don't think any of them had ever ventured that far.
Quite an adventure, in Shanghai. on my own. Its amazing how far mime can get you.

[Barnsey]

Interesting stuff.

Might tempt me into going across the border with the wife the next time she decides she needs to go on another clothes/handbags/luggage/general crap shopping expedition there!

[flycookie]

Great happy snaps. Thanks for posting them. A few years ago a friend in HK sent pics of the old P&O liner 'Oriana' at her fixed berth in Shanghai (I think) and it suffered from the same non-existent maintenance as the ship and aircraft here.

[corsair67]

Great photos of aircraft that not many of us can ever claim to have seen in the flesh.

Peter, I'd love to see the photos you took too, if you're inclined to dig them out?

[vs]

here are some more