Cold War Air Flight, with Yaks and Changs

Jon and Miguel took the Cold War Air Museum CJ-6 out for some exercise last weekend. Jon needed to keep his formation skills current and Miguel needed an excuse to fly and take pictures.

Yaks often fly with CJ's but there are some distinctive differences on view. The rounded tail is noticeable on the ground or in the air as different from the CJ's more squared tail. In flight the nose gear of the Yaks hangs lower and the main gear comes forward rather than folding into the wing as the CJ's does. No matter the differences, aircraft in flight are lovely to behold. Miguell's picture of a red and white plane against a blue sky is beautiful and the colors are appropriate whether you think of them as belonging to its original home in Russia or its current home in the U.S.

The Yaks in the exercise are seen here in formation. Our next post will feature more pictures and Jon talking about formation flying and the pilots and ships involved.

Another well restored, painted and maintained CJ was part of this flight. We all look forward to the times we can fly together.

No matter how much fun you are having, at the end of the day coming in for a landing is a welcome sight.

Credit and thanks for the pictures in this post go to our friend and associate, Miguel Relayze. For more pictures of this flight, visit Miguel's latest postings on Flikr

Cold War Air Museum - DFW Expo

DFW Airport, the Federal Aviation Administration and American Airlines recently invited Elementary, High School and College students to their Career Expo at KDFW.

Thousands of students were brought together with modern and vintage aircraft as well as college and career recruiters and advisers.

The Cold War Air Museum was pleased to fly their Mi-2 and participate in the event.

This year, as in previous years, we have taken part in Career Events at Lancaster, (KLNC) and other local airports. Although numbers were down at DFW from the prior year, the students in attendance brought our total for such events for this year to over 4,000.

- On This Day in Cold War History -

December 12, 1991 - Following a failed military coup aimed at preserving the Soviet Union, the USSR was dissolved into fifteen independent states.

December 12, 1993 - The Constitution of the Russian Federation was adopted.

Christmas Shopping

Looking for a few last-minute items for the aviation fans on your shopping list?

We'd like to point out a few items in our eBay and Zazzle storefronts.

Mousepad featuring the museum's Mi-24. $10.95

Shirt with museum logo on front and large Mi-24 Hind Graphic on the back. $22.75

Copy of the L-39 patch worn by factory pilots. $5.95

Proceeds go to support the museum's mission of restoring and maintaining our historic aircraft.

Mil Mi24, Startup Video

It's back to business as usual at the Cold War Air Museum after the MiGs, Mils and Models photo shoot.

Our friend Ziggie stepped us through starting an Mi-24 helicopter. While we've had this video "in the can" waiting to post, it has received more than 3,000 views on YouTube.



We know that, in addition to our museum visitors, there is a large gaming community that follows our MiG and Mil videos. If you post comments about something different in your experience, please let everyone know if you are relating to a game sequence or an actual airframe.

If you are sharing actual experience with an aircraft, please provide enough specifics about the model, engine hours and revisions along with your standard procedures, time hacks and temperatures to make your comments meaningful and helpful to us all.

Thank you.