Tupolev museum

Tupolev museum was founded in the 1970s; Andrey Tupolev personally took part in the establishment of the museum. In 1972, the museum that displays the history of the country’s oldest aviation enterprise became an affiliate of the Nikolay Zhukovskiy Scientific and Memorial Museum and gained a national status. In the late 1990s, the Experimental Design Bureau management made a decision to suspend the museum activity.

In 2008, surviving items and artefacts were rearranged to form a restored exhibition. Currently, the museum is located at the premises of the Tupolev main building in Moscow at 17, Academician Tupolev Embankment.

Exhibits

One gets a glimpse of the museum exhibits while passing through the main lobby of the company building. There are the marble bust monument to Andrey N. Tupolev, large-scale models of Tu-204CM, Tu-154 and Tu-134 aircraft as well as a display of motor sleighs and motor torpedo boats developed by the Tupolev Experimental Design Bureau. Temporary theme-based exhibitions associated with the important dates/events in the company’s history are placed in the main lobby as well. Visitors proceed through the lobby to the first hall of the museum.

The exhibition in the first museum hall is dedicated to the Experimental Design Bureau’s history.

The hall accommodates more than 100 models of flying vehicles of various types that have been designed and developed since the 1920s till present. One can also see some elements of weapons and equipment that were installed on the Tupolev airplanes.

• The first area covers the time period from the company foundation to the end of the Second World War.
  
  

  There are models of the first aircraft designed by the Experimental Design Bureau in the early 1920s – a line of heavy monoplanes with corrugated skin such as ANT-1, ANT-2, ANT-4, ANT-6, and ANT-20. The Experimental Design Bureau developments in the 1930s are presented by models of ANT-25 “RD” long-range record-breaking aircraft, ANT-21, ANT-40, ANT-41, and ANT-42 high-speed aircraft with retractable landing gear and smooth skin as well as ANT-22 and ANT-44 seaplanes – flying boats. The first demonstration area concludes with a display dedicated to the construction and evolution of Tu-2, one of the best frontline bombers of the Second World War.

• The second exhibition area covers the time period from the end of the Second World War to the 1980s.
  
  

  There are models of prototype and production aircraft of the Tu-4, Tu-95, and Tu-142 families. Following the models history, one can trace the development of Tu-16, a post-war masterpiece in the field of jet bomber aircraft. Visitors can inspect a model of Tu-91 prototype, a one-of-a-kind tactical aircraft. The exhibition presents on a broad scale the development history of Tu-128, Tu-22, Tu-22M, and Tu-160 supersonic combat aircraft designed by the Experimental Design Bureau. A special section is dedicated to unmanned vehicles designed by the Experimental Design Bureau starting from the second half of the 1950s.

• The third exhibition area introduces Tupolev projects in the field of passenger jet aviation creation.
  
  

  There are Tu-104, Tu-110, Tu-114, Tu-124, Tu-134, and Tu-154 models. Supersonic passenger airplanes are presented by Tu-144D prototype and production aircraft models and a model of Tu-444 business class supersonic passenger aircraft design. Modern Tu-204/214 mainline aircraft family is widely displayed.

• The fourth exhibition area is dedicated to some breakthrough projects of Tupolev Experimental Design Bureau
  
  

  Including aircraft with air nuclear power plants, versatile hypersonic flying vehicles, developments of aircraft on liquefied natural gas and liquid hydrogen.

The exhibition in the second museum hall is dedicated to the company founder’s memory.

The hall accommodates authentic furniture and memorabilia from Andrey Tupolev’s office, lounge and conference room. There are personal items belonged to the outstanding aircraft designer: uniforms of Lieutenant General and Colonel General, a jacket with replicas of Hero of Socialist Labor Stars and laureate badges. There is a radio phonograph, which was brought by Andrey N. Tupolev in the 1930s from his working trip to the U.S., with a video set mounted on its shell. The set is used to demonstrate videos about the designer and Experimental Design Bureau history.