Airplane boneyard near Osh airport

[AreWeThereYet?]

Hi all,

bit of a random question. In the occasion of precedent visits to Osh, I glimpsed (behind the usual, omnipresent poplars) a number of parked Il-76s just off Osh airport, on the road leading to town.

Yesterday, during a bit of post-Christmas-lunch planning, I happened to check the area on Google Maps and here's the view:



Now, if you're a plane geek, this is gold. I was wondering: if one was to *casually* wander there, walking down the road leading there from the main avenue (bottom right hand corner of the photo), would it be an issue? From experience in the former USSR it's usually either not a problem or a major problem, hence I'd like to know if anyone of you guys had a peep around there.

Thanks in advance!

[steven]

I had a look in Russian, but could not find anything related to it.

[AreWeThereYet?]

Thanks Steven, I'll give it a go!

[Cove]

I don't know anything about planes but I found it interesting, did a bit of sleuthing and found something about this boneyard online! The link to the thread is below, if you scroll down a bit you'll see a couple pics and the author didn't seem to have problems with security:

"Of more interest to airline nerds is the graveyard behind Osh airport (to the left of the airport management building, around a couple of farms, and to the left) containing about a dozen Yak-40s and a similar number of AN-2s. Security obviously wasn't tight, but then again what would you be protecting? A broke down piece of junk?"

https://www.airliners.net/forum/viewtopic.php?t=969211

Hope that helps!

[AreWeThereYet?]

Thanks Cove. What is a bit odd, though, is that that Airliners thread shows indeed Yaks and An-2s - one is a small regional plane, the other a biplane - whilst the satellite image and what I've seen on my journeys was a bunch of Il-76s which are rather massive 4-engine transport planes. We'll see!

[steven]

That's an interesting report! I am sad to see the old golden moldings have disappeared in the new airport. They were quite a popular design element in Central Asia back in the day. I am a big fan. Luckily, still some of that left in Almaty where I pass often.

golden moldings at Osh airport

old-osh-airport.jpg (27.12 KiB) Viewed 4050 times

[dessenior]

Having worked for a year on Almaty airport, I'd advise caution going into parked aircraft areas. The locals have a habit of retaining some godawful wrecks as a source of spares and even refurbishing them back to "flightworthy" if they can sell them. Someone owns these aircraft and may consider tourists wandering round them as an aviation security issue or a theft risk.

[AreWeThereYet?]

Having worked for a year on Almaty airport, I'd advise caution going into parked aircraft areas. The locals have a habit of retaining some godawful wrecks as a source of spares and even refurbishing them back to "flightworthy" if they can sell them. Someone owns these aircraft and may consider tourists wandering round them as an aviation security issue or a theft risk.

Hi Dessenior!

We might be potentially colleagues, massive jealousy at your previous experience in Almaty. You make a good point though. What I found puzzling about the Osh boneyard is how far it is from the airport area itself; if you see on the picture I posted (or, even better, on Google maps) they are quite a way from the apron (I'm actually wondering how they got there! Must've been through that very small taxiway on top) and it almost seems that they are close to a small village with an airport hotel of sorts...

[Granite2018]

Slightly off topic, but if you're into Soviet aircraft, there's a fantastic collection at the open air aviation museum right beside IEV airport in Kiev. Well worth a visit.

[AreWeThereYet?]

...in case anyone is interested, the boneyard is visible up close and personal:



https://awtytravels.com/2019/08/01/a-hu ... e-of-mind/

And it's quite a sight! Simply walk down the avenue from the airport, turn right at the first occasion, then right again into the football field.