Riga Aviation Museum (Rīgas Aviācijas Ttehnikas Muzejs) Riga, Latvia July 2011

Victor Talpa is the driving force behind this large collection of aircraft. As a an aviation engineer he had worked for Aeroflot and the Latvian Civil Aviation administration which sponsored the Young Pilot's Club (YPC). The YPC were tasked with providing professional training for students starting at age 14 on airport procedures, flight theory and military training including parachuting. As the YPC needed training aids they were allotted retired aircraft which the students could study and rebuild as necessary. The collection of airframes grew and included examples of aircraft which are now very rare. When the Soviet Union disintegrated the funding ended the Riga Airport administration stepped in and offered a plot adjacent to Riga - Skulte airport and between 1998 and 1999 the collection was moved to this location. Victor Talpa is the founder and permanent director of the museum which is now privately owned receiving no state funding. Normal opening hours to the museum appears to be between 09:00 and 18:00 Monday to Friday, the website suggests that access can be pre-arranged for the weekend, however contact details appear to be absent. A message in his guestbook was not responded to. However I have since found in the Russian language section of the website where it appears that you can send a message directly to Victor Talpa. The English section of the website has some informative details of museum and the exhibits. My visit on a Thursday was met with a locked gate but a bell on the gate post alerted the museum staff to my presence and my five Euro was collected and I was in! There is a feast of aircraft that are not so tightly packed that photography is impossible, with the exception of the Tupolev Tu-22M1 'Backfire' which is unfortunately stored outside the confines of the public viewing area.

Antonov An-24B (YL-LCD) the Tupolev Tu-22M1 'Backfire' ('53 red') can be seen behind the hedge.

Left to right: Antonov An-24B (YL-LCD), Antonov An-2 (110547307 '22 yellow') the long construction number has the following explanation; (first digit no significance, 10 – is the batch number, 473 – is the Kiev Aviation Plant (now 'Aviant') number and 07 – aircraft number in the batch). Yakovlev Yak-18T (CCCP-38342).

Left to right: Mikoyan-Gurevich MiG-15U (022611 '58 yellow' and 022638 '14 red') and Antonov An-14 Pchelka (thought to be 902614 '01 red').

Left to right: Aero L-29 Delphin (294966 '38 blue', 291109 '92 red', 691847 '26 red' and 290421 '22 blue').

Mil Mi-6A 'Hook' (10680704V '09 red')

Left to right: Mil Mi-6A 'Hook' (10680704V '09 red'), Mil Mi-4 (CCCP-31449) and Mil Mi-1 ('17 yellow').

Left to right: Mil Mi-2s (513832104 '22 red' and 513219103 '21 red') and Mil Mi-24A 'Hind A' (2201407 '20 red').

Left to right: Mikoyan-Gurevich MiG-29UB ('52 blue'), Sukhoi Su-7BKL 'Fitter' (5710 '27 white') with Blanik L-13 ('72 red') glider.

Mikoyan-Gurevich MiG-25RBS 'Foxbat' (0200004 '34 red')

Left to right: Mikoyan-Gurevich MiG-25RBS 'Foxbat' (0200004 '34 red') and Yakovlev Yak-28R (7960808 '22 red').

Left to right: Mikoyan-Gurevich MiG-23BM (3910601), MiG-23M (07525 '74 white') and MiG-23MF (06502 '16 red').

Left to right: Mikoyan-Gurevich MiG-21SMT (50023100 '10 yellow'), MiG-21ST (50029804 '40 yellow') and MiG-21bis (50027021 '76 yellow').

Left to right: Sukhoi Su-7U (2318 '43 red'), MiG-21US 'Mongol B' (02685133 '06 red') and MiG-21UM ('94 yellow').