The Royal Thai Air Force Museum has a small but interesting plane collection slightly hidden away near Don Muang Airport. Even though it doesn’t compare to the big and famous air museums that you can find in Paris, London or USA, and since it’s often a forgotten landmark, it can actually be a good surprise.
Covering the entire history of Thai aviation since the very first double-winged planes, about 30 aeroplanes are displayed partly outdoors and partly indoors inside a couple of large hangars that were converted into the museum.
The museum was established in 1952 to collect, preserve and restore different airplanes and other aviation equipment used by the Royal Thai Air Force. In addition to one F11C and other rare aircraft, the museum’s collection also includes one of only 2 surviving Japanese Tachikawa Ki-36 trainers, the last surviving Vought O2U Corsair, one of 3 surviving Curtiss BF2C Goshawks, a Spitfire and several Nieuports and Breguets.
The museum provides details of Thailand’s role in World War II. Imperial Japanese forces landed at various points in Thailand on 8 December 1941, and after resisting for one day, the Thai forces were ordered to cease fire and allow Japanese forces to pass through the kingdom.
The Thai government of Field Marshal Pibun Songkram would also declare war on both Britain and the United States in January 1942 (though the declaration was never delivered to the US by the Thai ambassador), and Thailand remained technically a Japanese ally until the Japanese surrender in August 1945, despite the existence of a large anti-Japanese underground. The museum contains several paintings of Thai fighter aircraft intercepting attacking US
Royal Thai Air Force Museum highlights and features
Of course, if you’re a plane specialist you might find the collection of planes rather modest. But anyone fascinated by those old flying machines will appreciate the models on display. Some are very rare or even the last of their kind, yet restored to a perfect condition: the Curtiss Hawk III is the very last one in existence and shares top billing with an old, bulky Vought Corsair V-93s.
Worth noticing is the 2-seater bomber standing outside the museum: the Paribatra (pronounced, ‘Boripat’) was the first plane designed and built in Thailand back in April 1927.
All these massive machines are loaded with history, still proudly standing on their red carpets next to fighters from the Vietnam War era, each of them having a story to tell. It’s always a surprise to realize how big a single-propeller warplane is when compared to the tiny leisure planes that usually take you around for a weekend ride.
Parked neatly outside like an eclectic, jumbled-together fleet ready to take to the skies, is a collection of 1st-generation jet fighters: a North American F 86L, Republic F 84 Thunder-Jets and a Lockheed T33A are still impressive despite being a bit neglected.
Further on are the training and rescue planes: the Percival Prince IIIA and a Beechcraft model 18… and even a Fairchild C-123b with a garland of yellow flowers hanging in the cockpit, just like the garlands you find hanging on longtail boats or even taxis.
Since 2012, the Royal Thai Air Force Museum has received basic repair.[3] In 2020 Royal Thai Air Force Museum has renovated the museum to renovation of the Air Force Museum building area to prepare for the Royal Thai Air Force Academic Seminar 2020.
The objectives of the renovation is for create an understanding of the RTAF Strategic Direction / Position, which recognizes the national defense industry in accordance with government policy which will lead to concrete Thailand 4.0 and raise awareness in the development of Sustainable and Smart Air Force with transparency and also enhance knowledge in every dimension (All Domains) in the development of the Air Force and listen to opinions from relevant parties to be a guideline for mobilization of national forces For the development of the Air Force
The Thai Air Force Museum might not be on the top 10 most popular attractions lists, but because it’s still quite large for such an underrated museum, it definitely goes to our list of top offbeat things to do in Bangkok!
Location: 171 Paholyothin Road, Don Mueang, Bangkok 10210, Thailand
Open: Tuesday–Sunday from 8am to 4pm (closed on Mondays)
Phone: +66 (0)2 534 1853