HAL Aerospace museum, Bangalore

Last Sunday, we’d been to the HAL Aerospace museum. Located on a quiet patch of Airport Road(one of THE MOST busiest roads of Bangalore), this museum is studded with static exhibits of significant planes of the Indian Air Force placed outdoors amidst a beautiful and well-kept landscape. At the entrance you will be greeted by this display :



In front is a big inverted-V structure…a big, colourful mural.

On the extreme right, is a scale-model display of the GSLV and diagonally right is a big heat shield of the PSLV.

The heat-shield of a PSLV:

There are 2 halls, one displays photographs, depicting milestones of the Indian aviation industry while the other has exhibits of motorized cross-section models of aero engines, highlighting various functions of the engines.

MIG-21 :


Trainer :

Navy Aircraft :

Indoor Displays : the engine cut-section :

Fan engine :
Radar :

Other interesting displays :

The place is well-equipped with a cafeteria, an Aero-modelling club for aviation enthusiasts, a small library and a souvenir shop and a place to sit/relax and eat in peace.
We missed a few things that would have made the visit more interesting (primarily because we were unaware that they existed) : a view of the HAL airport runway from the Heritage Centre ATC, an audio-visual at the lounge and the flight simulator which gives a feel of sitting in a cockpit.

Our trip to the museum served its purpose for all of us (Kirti, Abha, Aai, Baba, Kaustubh and I) individually -- all of us (yes! including Abha) love planes and the science behind it (Abha is learning! :-)) , Aai was smitten by the landscape, Abha had lots of place to run around; there was a water spot with lots of fish to keep her excited. Kaustubh had seen a similar museum in Tuscon, USA -- except that there were about 200 more planes than what was on display here! :-) However, he was impressed by the standard maintained here. Baba (a scientist at ISRO) was more than happy to see and explain the details of each exhibit to us! :-)

The first one of its kind in the country, the HAL heritage centre and aerospace museum is definitely worth a visit! Visit this site for detailed information :
http://www.warbirdsofindia.com/wbblrhal.html