WWII planes face sternest test in move to Moscow

THE La-7 fighter plane of Ivan Kozhedub, the top Allied ace, and the Po-2 biplanes flown by the “Night Witches,” the first female combat pilots, survived machine guns and anti-aircraft cannons during the Nazi invasion.

But now these and other historic aircraft at the air force museum in the Moscow suburb of Monino, one of the largest such collections anywhere, face destruction at the hands of Russia’s military leadership, according to employees.

An order signed by Sergei Shoigu, the defence minister, and leaked online revealed a two-year plan to close the state museum and move some of its showpieces to Patriot Park, the “military Disneyland” opened by Vladimir Putin in 2015.

There they will become interactive exhibits in what the defence ministry claims will be the biggest military aviation museum in the world.

Former pilots at the Monino museum, however, argue that disassembling the ageing aircraft for transport to Patriot Park will irreparably damage them. “What patriots are they if they’re destroying history?” said Alexei Drachyov, a former pilot who flew several fighter jets to the museum.

“They’ll cut up the planes and won’t be able to put them back together. It’s old metal, you can’t weld it.”

The five design bureaus that produced most of the aircraft have similarly warned against moving them.

In response to reports about the move, the defence ministry said a commission was considering measures to preserve the aircraft, which were “suffering the unfavourable effects of weather”.