Istanbul Aviation Museum

Hikayemiz

The Istanbul Aviation Museum, a.k.a. Turkish Air Force Museum, (Havacılık Müzesi or Hava Kuvvetleri Müzesi) is a military-based museum for aviation, owned and operated by the Turkish Air Force. The museum is located in Yeşilköy neighborhood of Bakırköy district in Istanbul, Turkey. The area of the museum is 65000m2The museum not only presents various warplanes, helicopters and weapons used by the Turkish Air Force, but also civilian air transport and many samples of Turkish aeronautics history, starting from the Ottoman era.HistoryAt the end of the First World War, the presence in the hangars of some German and other aircraft - the oldest from 1912 - caused the Inspectorship of Air Force to decide to found an aviation museum. Collection of booty aircraft seized from the enemy was started. During the War of Independence these aircraft were brought to Kartal Maltepe, to protect them from damage; however, some of the aircraft were seriously damaged in the course of transportation. This damage delayed the idea of building an aviation museum.In 1960, upon an order by then Air Force Command Air General İrfan Tansel, the idea of building an Aviation Museum in Turkey was raised and, to that end, it was requested with an order issued in 1963 that aircraft used by the Air Forces and other units, one from each, should be reserved. As a result of the efforts exerted, an Aviation Museum Organization was established in 1966 and Turkey’s first Aviation Museum was inaugurated at the Civil Airport in İzmir Cumaovası in 1971.