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Central and Latin America Database
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| DAAFAR Museum panorama. (Photo: all photographs by Authors, unless otherwise stated) |
A reminder of the past
Fidel Castro, the man who has been ruling Cuba with an iron fist since 1959, wanted 2006 to be the year of the “energetic revolution”.
What he could not foresee, though, was that oil prices would increase so much this year, making it difficult for the country to supply enough electricity. Fifteen years after the collapse of the Soviet Union, and while a US embargo is still in force, Cuba now relies on oil from Venezuela and aid from China.
Until the collapse of the Soviet Union in 1991, Cuba was especially proud of its Air Force : military parades included flights over Havana. Numerous pictures and officials documents, date from that period. More recent photographs of Cuban fighter jets are not easy to find; obtaining information about the Cuban air force (DAAFAR) is even less easy – at least for a private observer.
Military air traffic is very poor (or non-existant) over Havana. “Spotting” around military facilities is a still a “risky“ game in Cuba. But anyone interested in planes can still go to the DAAFAR Museum, the “Museo del Aire”, open to the public. The “Museo del Aire” is located 15 kilometres away from the centre of Havana, in the district of La Lisa (Tel : 271-0632 ; calle 212, between Av.29 and Av.31, La Coronela).
The Museum is open from Tuesday to Sunday. Entrance fee is 2 Convertible Pesos (“CUC”, about 2 Euros) for unguided visit, and two more if you want to takes pictures. The exhibition shows 20 different types of aircrafts, missiles and anti-aircraft artillery belonging to the “Fuerza Aerea Revolucionaria”.
For the European traveller, visiting an “air museum” under palm trees is in itself an unforgettable experience. Unfortunately, a trip to Cuba raises many questions and provides few answers. The day we visited the guide was away. Nevertheless we were able to make very interesting observations with the help of a man “armed“ with a screwdriver : the “mechanic of the museum” as we called him later.
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| Hand painted Cuban flags on MiG-21s. |
MiGs in Technicolor
What struck us most when visiting the DAAFAR museum was the colours of the aircrafts : deep blue and soft green for the Mi-24, for example, very unusual on this helicopter, but rather effective in this part of the world where this big Russian gunship often operates over the jungle and the Caribbean sea. The "mechanic of the museum" claimed that all the colours were authentic and the camo schemes original. To us it was clear that some airplanes had been repainted at least once [1].
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| DAAFAR Mi-24. |
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| Mi-8 in Museum.... |
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