Belgrade Aviation Museum

Founded in 1957, the museum is next to Nikola Tesla Airport. The present building – like a glass doughnut raised in the air – was designed in the 1970s by Ivan Štraus of Sarajevo and opened in 1989. The museum owns over 200 aircraft. The earliest was built in 1909 by aviation pioneer Ivan Sarić. Fighter planes and bombers include a Messerschmitt ME-109, a Spitfire, a Yakovlev Yak-3 and a B-47. The museum’s Fiat G-50 fighter plane is the only remaining example in the world. The museum also displays wreckage of NATO planes shot down in 1999. The central section shows the Galeb, Jastreb and Orao jets designed at the Aviation and Technical Institute in Žarkovo and manufactured in Soko and Utva. In addition, the collection has aeronautical equipment, some 130 engines and 200,000 photographs. A professional simulator of the Boeing 737-800 airliner can be used by visitors to fly the 60-ton aeroplane and learn about instruments, procedures and aeronautics.