Hi all,
I spent two weeks in Cuba with my girlfriend. No spotting holiday obviously, didn’t see anything flying anyway, but a few W&R were included in the itinerary.
Museo de la Revolucion, Havana (29-3)
50 OS2U-3 pr, no mks
542 Sea Fury FB.11 pr, no mks
A few nice items here, with a real history (not only the aircraft). Also here are the engine of the U-2 that was shot down in 1961 (56-6676) plus the rear section of an unknown B-26. This museum is on the edge of the old centre and both aircraft are outside and easily visible.
Fortaleza de San Carlos de la Cabana, Havana (29-3)
522 MiG-21PFM pr, no mks, c/n 27-10
The connumber is taken from a little plate in the nose wheel bay and is also stamped in the “ceiling” of this nose wheel bay (photo available). Any more info on this is welcome of course. Also here are some rockets, of which two are built by converting old MiG-15s (an FK-R-1 and an SSC-2 rocket). No id could be found on those though. And again parts (including a wing) of the U-2. All are outside the fortress and again easily visible.
Museo Playa Giron (3-4)
541 Sea Fury FB.11 pr, no mks
Looking very nice, and apparently recently repainted judging by pictures I found on the internet. Probably another fake scheme though. It is outside in front of the museum.
Museo Nacional de la Lucha Contra Bandidos, Trinidad (7-4)
According to the Lonely Planet the “fuselage of a US U-2 spy plane shot down over Cuba” is supposed to be in this museum of revolutionary forces. It was not in the WMOOS, but obviously I wanted to check this out. It turned out there is a piece of less than 1 m long of the air intake in the museum, nothing more…. This does beg the question: what happened to the actual fuselage/cockpit? I have seen bits and pieces of the U-2 at a few different places, but the most substantial bit is missing. And judging by photos on the web, a large part of the aircraft did survive the crash.
Aviation museum, Santa Clara (8-4)
675 MiG-21bis pr, no mks (c/n 75091180)
This one I wasn’t planning to go and get originally, but since we had a few hours to spare in the end I decided to get a taxi to the military airport where this was supposed to be preserved. The taxi driver spoke no English and my Spanish is very limited, but making clear I wanted to go to the entrance of the military airfield was no problem. What WAS a problem, is that the MiG wasn’t there… I tried to explain to the driver I was looking for a “monument aeroplane”, and suddenly he mentioned a “mik beintiuno”. I know enough Spanish to recognise that of course, and I was very surprised the guy knew what a MiG-21 is. He explained the MiG is in a museum in town nowadays, together with a “Mi ocho y un An beintiseis”. It turned out he is a former Mi-8 pilot himself and used to fly from Santa Clara airbase. Nowadays he drives a (very very) old Lada as a taxi….. What are the odds of finding him as my driver! Obviously next stop was the little museum in town, where indeed the MiG is preserved plus a civil Mi-8 and An-24 (not 26). Only problem is that it is really pouring down as we arrive here (only hour or so of rain during two weeks of holiday), so I decide to only make a very quick snapshot of the MiG with my phone and don’t investigate any further.
The location is 22 24 17 N, 79 57 32 W, and judging by Google Earth pictures the MiG had disappeared from the airbase by October 2015 and had appeared here by January 2017.
And that’s it aviation wise. I can recommend a visit to this beautiful and friendly country, especially now it is not yet spoiled by tourism.
As always, remarks, additions and corrections are welcome.
That’s all folks!
Patrick Dirksen
Tristar Aviation
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