Museo del Aire (Madrid)

Museo del Aire

Museo de Aeronáutica y Astronáutica
Established	Built in 1979
Location	Madrid
Coordinates	40°22′07″N 3°48′03″W / 40.368744°N 3.80085°W / 40.368744; -3.80085
Type	Aviation museum
Public transit access	Line 10 (Madrid Metro)
Website	website

The Museo del Aire, full title in Spanish Museo de Aeronáutica y Astronáutica o Museo del Aire, is an aviation museum located in the outskirts of Madrid at Cuatro Vientos Airport, Spain. The museum was founded in 1981, and offers six exhibition galleries and it has about 150 aircraft on display.^[1]

Cuatro Vientos was inaugurated in 1911 and is Spain’s first military airfield. The airfield, although surrounded by construction, is still in use.

Museum displays

The museum facilities extend over a surface of more than 66,000 m², including outdoor displays and seven hangars. There are mainly planes and helicopters, many of which have previously served in the Spanish Air Force. Visitors will also find hundreds of miniature aircraft models, uniforms, engines, weapons and many other aviation related objects.

Aircraft on display include a Vilanova Acedo, Spanish version of the Blériot XI built in 1911, the Jesús del Gran Poder, a special version of the Breguet 19 used on the transatlantic flight to Asia and America between 1928 and 1929, a few aircraft of the Spanish Republican Air Force, as well as the famous de Havilland Dragon Rapide used by Francisco Franco from the Canary Islands to Tétouan at the start of the military rebellion which began the Spanish Civil War in 1936.^[2]

Of special interest are also the Spanish versions of the Heinkel He 111 and the Junkers Ju 52.

Visitors

Panorama of the Cuatro Vientos Air Museum.

• The entrance and camera usage fee: none, free admission.
• Timetable: Tuesday to Sunday: 10 am to 2 pm. The museum is closed all Mondays and special days (like public holidays).

Ways to get there

There is no access from the airport to the museum, and this is surrounded by a confusing number of roads.

• By bus: It is better to take any of the Madrid-Alcorcón-Móstoles green buses of the BLAS company at Príncipe Pío station and ask the driver where to drop off. Busses pass here frequently.
• Nearest metro (Madrid metro) and commuter rail (Cercanías Madrid) station: Line 10 (Madrid Metro). Cuatro Vientos Metro station falls a bit short from the museum, about 1 kilometre.
• By car: autovía A-5, 10,5 km. Parking is free in front of entrance to the Museum.

Aircraft exhibits

Source: Odgen 2009^[3]

The museum has over 150 aircraft exhibited in outdoor and indoor displays. Over 50 others are not on display, but can often be seen around the site.

List of selected aircraft on display (individual examples already noted or illustrated in Wikimedia projects)

Gallery

• 
  The Vilanova Acedo built in 1911, is the oldest aircraft in Spain.
• 
  Cuatro Vientos (replica); this aircraft flew in 1933 from Spain to Cuba.
• 
  Jesús del Gran Poder, historical Spanish aircraft.
• 
  Farman F.402 of the Spanish Republican Air Force.

See also

• List of aircraft of the Spanish Air Force
• List of aerospace museums

References

1. ↑ "Presentación del Museo del Aire" (in Spanish). Spanish Air Force. Retrieved 11 August 2011. 
2. ↑ Alpert, Michael BBC History Magazine April 2002
3. ↑ Ogden (2009)

Bibliography

• Ogden, Bob. (2009). Aviation Museums and Collections of Mainland Europe. Air-Britain (Historians) Ltd ISBN 0-85130-375-7

External links

Wikimedia Commons has media related to Museo de Aeronáutica y Astronáutica de España.

• Museo del Aire, the official website (2011) (Spanish)
• Asociación Amigos del Museo del Aire, Spanish association (2011) (Spanish)
• Visit to Museo de Aeronáutica y Astronáutica (2009)
• aviationmuseum.eu: Museo del Aire (2010)