Gatepage to Datangshan Air Museum info
(a.k.a. Beijing / Xiatangshan Air Museum)
While I made no list during my visit (2002) of the aircraft present at this impressive museum, I found it a handicap in assessment of the true identities. Various people helped me out.
Malcolm Fillmore provided me with a list without construction numbers, but I found it a good start to begin with. A list by Alexander Duncan was used too. This was my start for a comprehensive list and I decided to put it on my website, for help to others and with hopes of further identifying various airframes.
Malcolm Fillmore wrote (feb.2003):
"I went to the Beijing Museum on 12 October 2002 and noted its title as CHINA AVIATION MUSEUM, Xiaotangshan, Changping, Beijing
There were 8 Lisinov Li-2s present - of which two did not carry obvious identities.
Two wore CNAC markings, one painted as XT-115, the other only painted as such on one side and carried serial 311.
Of the others painted up - one was 4766, another 8205 [coded 15 and also with name CKOTA in Cyryllic] another 5070 and the fourth was 3029."
Ronald Stevelink sent me his report of his visit 08Jul04 and reported the following:
"The China Aviation Museum in Datangshan is about 40 kms northwest of Beijing and is the largest aviation museum in China.Planes are polished, repaired and put in rows. Almost all the aircraft are displayed outside and are easy to photograph. The museum intends to display an as complate as possible picture of aviation in Chinese history.
The museum has obtained a budget to restore aircraft, which often seems to be limited to a fresh layer of paint, often obscuring relevant markings (e.g. constructionnumbers).
The museum can be reached from the Andingmen busstation in Beijing. Have the full adress of your destination written down by someone in Chinese characters:
China Aviation Museum
Datangshan, Changpin County
The museum has become a fairly widely known attraction and in most of the larger hotels in Beijing people will know what you mean.
Take a taxi to the Andingmen busstation. From here bus 912 leaves. But not all 912 busses take the long d-tour along the museum... Employees of the busstation will direct you to the right bus, but someone speaking English will be rare. The bus that will drive along the museum leaves about once every 90 minutes and it will take 01:20 to get there.
Entrance fee is RMB 45,-/ 4 Euro."
Roger Soupart (RIP) wrote in nov.2013 on Yahoo's Classic-Propliner forum:
"Was there in May.
We just took a cab, paid 12 euro one way. Told the driver to be back at 5, by pointing on our watches, and he was there every time (we did the museum in 3 days).
We also walked to the dump at the other side, with many AN-2s. Nobody cared we did, so do not miss that."
The museum was closed for a period in 2019, to reopen late this year (2019); it will be interesting to see whether and what has changed!
Stefan Krause also wrote: "Visited alo the Xiedao downtown museum, where even some of the Datangshan exhibits ended up in the past years."
EMAIL
Heinz Rentmeister sent me these 2 aerial views (dated 04Dec04) of the museum, click on the thumbnails to view the larger images:
-- In case someone wants to have a look at it on Google Earth:
40deg 11'00"N 116deg 21'33" --
Sent by: R.Ureta
| - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - External links - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - |
| www.china.org.cn/english/kuaixun/72761.htm |
| Phil Hawks visit in Feb.2003 |
| Chinese Military Aircraft Designations |
| Wikipedia.org on 'List of Chinese aircraft' |
| Datangshan on Airliners.net |
| Xiaotangshan - China Aviation Museum - Scramble - a very comprehensive report!!! |
| Chris Pinn on www.1000aircraftphotos.com, his photos include many taken at the museum |
| A visit 03Feb08 by Esko Kippo |
| Colin McKeeman's on 21st May 2013, images on Flickr.com |
| eLaReF on Flickr (2001) |
| www.travelchinaguide.com (Beijing) aviation museum |
| Chris Redford on Flickr (1997) |
| Grant Newman's visit in Sep.2017, on Fickr |
| The China Aviation Museum |
| Visit 2019 by Stefan Krause |
| Visit by Fred Streep 07May2024, series of photos Airhistory.net |
If you decide to travel by public transport to the China Aviation Museum, here's what Fred wrote me in June 2024, how he got there recently: 'Take subway line #5 all the way to the northern end of the line. Tiantongyuanbei Station. Then transfer to bus 643. The station has a straightforward bus terminal with approximate 10 doors. Behind each door the mentioned line numbers stop & depart. Bus #643 is the most remote, at the far end. The bus leaves every 20 - 30 mins. and took about 30 mins. until the stop 'Hangkong Bowuguan (Aviation Museum) Station'. Perhaps keep your GPS on, on your smartphone, so you disembark at the right station. It may be helpful if you manage to have the Chinese signs of certain names saved on your phone or on a print. The museum is at about 1 km from the bus station. Perhaps someone is kind enough to point you in the right direction. But at the beginning of the long straight road to the entrance there are Tuktuks and taxis waiting. Fare Y5 for the metro/subway, Y2 for the bus and Y10 for the Tuktuk. Total travel time from centre of Bejing ca. 2 hours'. |
 To email me, click on the image and write the correct adress as given below (replace -AT- by the @ symbol).  Sorry for the inconvenience, but this is because spam has increasingly become a problem. 
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