For me, anything even remotely related to Indian army is a subject of great attention. When I read during my pre-Goa homework about Naval Aviation Museum, it promptly went into the bucket list of my upcoming trip. What made me more excited was the fact that- India has only two naval aviation museums and one of them is located Bogmalo beach Goa.
Our resort manager informed us that – though the Naval Aviation Museum remains open every day from 10.00 am- 5.00 pm (except Mondays); the transpiration options towards Bogmalo beach are fewer. So we decided to hire a cab. We went there on a Wednesday morning. The entry fee of this museum was only Rs.20. The museum had both outdoor and in-door display items. When we went to see the outside exhibitory, there were mainly 13 air craft’s on display with names like ‘de Havilland Vampire’ and ‘Lockheed L1049G Super Constellation’. But what caught my eyes was the – Fairey Firefly, the anti-submarine aircraft and carrier-fighter used in WWII by India.
Naval Aviation Museum Goa | Image Resource : en.wikipedia.org
The indoor exhibits were comprised of different sections. While one section displayed vintage photographs related to Indian navy, another section showed weapons used by navy including those that were parts of ships and submarines. But what made me brimming into national pride were the giant replicas of INS Vikrant and INS Viraat respectively. The history of Indian navy also was depicted in the museum and it made for interesting read.
Every Wednesday observes the presence of real life pilots in this venue to talk to the visitors. As we visited the place on Wednesday luckily, it made for a pleasant surprise when we saw the flesh-and-blood pilots were present in the museum to answer any question from any visitor. As I am an avid movie buff of bollywood, I always have had a secret crush on army pilots. Now seeing so many of our national heroes in front, my heart somersaulted in joy many times.
INS Viraat model at the Museum | Image Resource : flickr.com
We spent nearly 3-4 hours in the museum and had to miss the 4D show ‘Angles in the air’- as our time was limited. But given the magnitude and diversity of Naval Aviation Museum, I think I could have spent the whole day there without feeling bored.
Afreen Travel Bug 