Aircraft museum to be major tourist attraction in Vizag: govt

The Andhra Pradesh government is hopeful that the 'TU-142 aircraft museum' will become a major tourist attraction in the port city of Visakhapatnam.

Chief Minister N Chandrababu Naidu last evening unveiled a plaque to mark the assembling works related to TU-142, the decommissioned naval aircraft that is being converted into a museum on the beach road here.

The TU-142, nicknamed the Bear, was a naval maritime reconnaissance and anti-submarine warfare (ASW) aircraft that served the nation for 29 years before it was decommissioned in May this year.

Flag Officer Commanding-in-Chief of Eastern Naval Command H C S Bisht, who took part in the programme, said the TU-142, with four engines and eight propellers, was the "most formidable" in the world.

On the occasion, the chief minister said President Ram Nath Kovind would formally inaugurate the aircraft museum in December this year.

Designed by the Soviet Union, the aircraft had an accident-free record and served in various operations, including the Kargil war.

The TU-142 aircraft museum is coming up right across the road where the INS Kursura submarine museum now stands on the Vizag Beach Road.

"The TU-142 is being converted into a museum at a cost of Rs five crore and it will be yet another major tourist attraction in Vizag," state tourism secretary Mukesh Kumar Meena said.

AP's deputy chief minister (Home) N China Rajappa, tourism minister Bhuma Akhila Priya, HRD minister Ganta Srinivasa Rao and several other elected representatives attended the event.