Нидерландыдағы Aviodrome әуе кеңістігі мұражайы

Aerospace museum at Lelystad Airport in the Netherlands

The Nationaal Luchtvaart Themapark Aviodrome (also known simply as Aviodrome) is a large aerospace museum in the Netherlands that has been located on Lelystad Airport since 2003. Previously the museum was located at Schiphol Airport.

In 2004 the last of KLM's classic Boeing 747 200's named Louis Blériot was sold to the Aviodrome for the symbolic amount of 1 euro. Though the aircraft could still fly, Lelystad Airport was too small to handle such a large aircraft so the aircraft was partially disassembled and moved over water on a barge with the wings, engines and empennage removed and stored alongside the fuselage so the aircraft could fit under bridges along the way. After the journey over water that attracted a lot of attention the aircraft was lifted from the barge at Harderwijk and the last bit of the trip took place over land. At its final location the aircraft was re assembled and opened to the public. The tail was fitted with a top beacon since, technically, the Boeing now is a building.

Perhaps one of the most spectacular pieces in the collection of the Aviodrome is the Lockheed L 749 Constellation, often just called Connie. After several years of restoration work it was flown over to the Netherlands in 2002 from the United States where it had been in storage. More work, including a new paint job, was done to the aircraft in the Netherlands but the aircraft suffered from engine problems in 2004. To resolve this, two replacement engines coming from the Korean Air museum were fitted. However, it hasn't flown since 2004, performances by the aircraft being limited to engine runs only.

De Uiver was the name of a Douglas DC 2 that placed second in the 1934 MacRobertson Air Race, only being beaten by a purpose built de Havilland DH.88 racer Grosvenor House. The real Uiver, which is an old Dutch word for Stork, no longer exists. The Aviodrome owns one of the last still airworthy DC 2s in the world. This DC 2 is a former US Navy aircraft painted in the Uiver's original KLM colors. After an unexpected gear collapse the aircraft suffered some minor damage, but after the needed funds were raised the aircraft was repaired.

The Fokker F 27 Friendship was Fokker's best selling aircraft model of all time. Production of this first post war Fokker airliner started in 1955 and many of them are still in service today. The Aviodrome purchased the oldest still flying series produced F 27 from its Australian owner in 2004 and painted it in the colors of the no longer existing Nederlandse Luchtvaart Maatschappij (NLM). Exactly fifty years after the first flight of the first F 27 on 24 November 1955 this aircraft made a memorial flight as a tribute to fifty years Fokker Friendship.