Letecké muzeum Kbely in Prague

Updated: October 2026 – If you only think of Václav Havel Airport when you think of Prague, you miss perhaps the most exciting aviation site in the city. In the northeast, in the Kbely district, lies the oldest airfield in Czechoslovakia – and on it one of the largest aviation collections in Central Europe: the Letecké muzeum Kbely, in English simply the Kbely Aviation Museum.

Here a MiG-15 and a MiG-29 stand only a few halls apart, a Tupolev Tu-104 is parked in the open-air area, and in the hangars the museum tells the story of an aviation nation that built its own aircraft for decades with Avia, Aero, Letov, Let and Zlín. Admission is free. This page shows you what to expect, how to get there and how to photograph the exhibits well.

An airfield with over a hundred years of history

Kbely is not just any military airfield. The field went into operation on December 1, 1918, only a few weeks after the founding of Czechoslovakia, and is thus considered the first airfield of the young state. Some of the early hangars were moved here from Cheb and partly still stand today. In October 1923 the first scheduled flight of the state airline ČSA to Bratislava took off from Kbely – the germ cell of the later Czech Airlines. Only with the opening of Ruzyně Airport in 1937 did civil traffic move away.

Today Kbely is an active military airfield with the ICAO code LKKB and an asphalt runway 06/24 of about 2,080 meters in length. The Czech Air Force’s transport base is at home here, operating government flights, transport aircraft and helicopters, among other things. Types flown there include the Airbus A319 in VIP configuration, the CASA C-295 and the Let L-410 Turbolet. How the fleet is composed in detail changes with acquisitions and retirements, so take this list as a guide.

The museum itself has an eventful founding history. After an improvised first show in September 1967, the actual exhibition with 62 aircraft in Hangar 40 opened on October 11, 1968. A few weeks earlier, the invasion by Warsaw Pact troops had thrown the preparations into disarray, and a planned air show was canceled. From 1969 the show ran as a seasonal permanent exhibition of the Military Museum – nothing has changed about this rhythm to this day.

In the decades that followed the collection grew, but not always in a straight line. In 1988, for the 20th anniversary, the historic Hangars 17 and 18 were restored and open areas laid out. In the early 1990s heavy military equipment also accumulated in Kbely; in 1995 it moved, together with air defense equipment, to the new Military Technical Museum Lešany. From the 2000s, more hangars were renovated and given new exhibits, and in 2016 the two halls in Stará Aerovka in Letňany were added.

The collection: Eastern Bloc, Czechoslovakia and a bit of the West

According to the Military History Institute, the inventory comprises about 275 aircraft. About 100 stand under cover, around 25 in the open-air area, the rest is in storage, and ten aircraft are airworthy. In its chronicle, however, the institute lists 278 recorded aircraft, of which 124 are on display, though not only in Kbely – so the exact number varies depending on how you count and on location. For you as a spotter one thing matters most: the density of Eastern Bloc types is hard to beat in Central Europe.

The focal points are clearly distributed. On one side the Czechoslovak aviation industry, ranging from biplanes of the 1920s through license-builds to its own jet trainers. On the other the Soviet fighters and transport aircraft that the Czechoslovak Air Force flew during the Cold War. This is complemented by Western comparison types and aircraft of the Czechoslovak pilots who fought in the Royal Air Force in World War II.

Area	Typical exhibits	Interesting for spotters because …
Hangars up to 1938	Letov Š-2, SPAD VII, Avia B-534, Aero A-10, Aero A-18C	early types of domestic manufacture you see nowhere else
World War II	Il-2m3, La-7, Tiger Moth, Harvard Mk.II, Me 262B	East and West in the same hangar
First jet generation	Avia S-92 (Me 262A), Gloster Meteor F.8, Vampire FB.6, Yak-17, Lockheed T-33	rare early jets from both camps
Jet trainers	TS-11 Iskra, L-29 Delfín, MiG-15UTI, L-39 Albatros	the Warsaw Pact’s training fleet
Postwar hall	Avia S-199, MiG-15 to MiG-23, Yak-23, Ae-45, L-200 Morava, Zlín types	almost 60 aircraft at a glance
Open-air area	Tu-104, Il-14, MiG and Sukhoi jets, Il-28 nose sections	large-format full-aircraft shots under open sky
Stará Aerovka	Su-7, Su-22, Aero C-3A, Pe-2 nose, prototypes of the L-29, L-39 and L-159	industrial history of Aero and postwar fighter-bombers

The list is based on the museum’s exhibition description. Individual aircraft move between hall, open-air area, storage and restoration workshop – so take it as a guide, not a guarantee.

Soviet jets: the MiG series in one place

The reason many spotters travel to Kbely specifically is the Soviet fighter jet line. In the large postwar hall stand the MiG-15, the MiG-17, the MiG-19, the MiG-21 and the MiG-23 in direct neighborhood. So within a few meters you see how Soviet fighter development changed from the swept-wing subsonic aircraft to the variable-sweep type. The MiG-29, which the Czech Air Force still flew after the fall of communism, rounds off the series.

At Sukhoi the span ranges from the Su-7 and the Su-22 with its swing wings – both in Stará Aerovka – to the ground-attack aircraft Su-25. Also here are nose sections of the Il-28 bomber and the early Yakovlev jets Yak-17 and Yak-23. If you can’t yet tell the differences between these types with confidence, look at the air intake, wing sweep and vertical stabilizer – the classic identification features. You can read more in the article Recognizing vintage aircraft in the sky.

For helicopters, the museum shows types from Soviet and Czechoslovak use. In photos from the museum, an Mi-24D can be seen, among others; which rotorcraft exactly are currently on display is best checked on site. You can find background on the attack helicopter on the type page for the Mil Mi-24.

Czechoslovak types: Aero, Avia, Let and Zlín

The second great strength of the collection is the domestic industry. Especially worth seeing is the Avia S-199: after the war Avia kept building the Bf 109, but for lack of Daimler-Benz engines with the Jumo engine from the Heinkel He 111. The result was an aircraft that was hard to fly and has cult status. Just as exciting is the Avia S-92, the Czechoslovak version of the Messerschmitt Me 262. The museum shows two Me 262s and highlights this as a special feature.

For jet trainers, Kbely tells the story of Aero Vodochody almost completely: from the L-29 Delfín through the worldwide L-39 Albatros to the prototype of the L-159 ALCA, which still flies in the Czech Air Force today. An L-39 in camouflage stands out in the trainer hall. Next to it stand sport and touring aircraft like the Aero Ae-45, the Let L-200 Morava and several Zlín types.

A special piece lies apart from the aircraft: the return capsule of Soyuz 28 and the spacesuit of Vladimír Remek. In 1978 Remek flew into space as the first spacefarer who came neither from the Soviet Union nor from the USA – and later also headed the museum.

Airliners: ČSA’s Tu-104

Out in the open-air area waits the largest exhibit: the Tupolev Tu-104. With this type ČSA entered jet service, and it was the only foreign customer of the early Soviet jet airliner. The collection also includes an Il-14 as a representative of the piston-engine era. How Soviet airliner construction developed overall is explained in the article Soviet airliners.

At the 2026 season opening the museum also presented a restored Ilyushin Il-18, together with the freshly restored biplane Aero Ab-11, which in 1926 achieved a long-distance record flight across three continents. Where these new arrivals stand during your visit, you find out on site.

Light and photography

Kbely sets you two very different tasks. In the halls the aircraft stand close together, sometimes wing to wing. Clear full-aircraft shots rarely work, and tripods are not allowed. A fast wide-angle or standard zoom and a higher ISO matter more here than any focal length. Work with diagonal perspectives, take cockpits, noses and insignia as details and accept that the next fuselage stands in the background. What to keep in mind with short focal lengths is covered in the guide Wide-angle and normal lenses for spotting.

In the open-air area it looks different. Here you get the Tu-104, Il-14 and fighter jets with sky in the background. Because the aircraft point in different directions, there is no time window in which everything is perfectly lit. A bright, lightly overcast day softens shadows under the wings. On clear days you walk the exhibits in the order in which the sun hits them from the front or side, and use the midday hours for the halls.

According to the museum, photography is allowed for private purposes only. For publications with a commercial background, clarify the conditions in advance with the Military History Institute. For your own archive, your collection and sharing in the community, a normal visit is enough.

Getting there: Metro, bus, car

Kbely lies in Prague’s Praha 9 district in the northeast of the city. Getting there by public transport is easy.

By Metro C you ride to the terminus Letňany. From there buses 159, 182, 185, 209, 302, 376 and 378 stop at the “Letecké muzeum” stop, only a few steps from the gate. Important: the stop is a request stop, so you have to signal the driver that you want to get off. From Metro line B, bus 375 runs from Českomoravská or Vysočanská. Lines and frequencies can change – check the connection with the Prague transit authority’s journey planner.

By car there is parking at the main entrance and at the Stará Aerovka site. The museum warns, however, that spaces are limited and fill up quickly, especially on weekends and event days. Between the main site and Stará Aerovka it is about 900 meters, which you can easily walk.

How a good museum day at Kbely goes

What else belongs in the camera bag is listed in the Plane spotting gear checklist.

Rules at the military airfield

The museum lies directly at the active airfield of the Czech Air Force. Stick to the permitted areas, respect barriers and signs and don’t point your camera deliberately at military facilities beyond the museum grounds.

The exhibitions are partly accessible, and wheelchairs and strollers are allowed. Dogs may enter the open-air area but not run free, and only service dogs may enter the halls. The museum doesn’t mention a café in its visitor information – so for a long photo day, better bring your own provisions.

Combining Kbely with other destinations

Because little ever takes off at the military airfield, the museum complements the Prague commercial airport perfectly. At Prague Airport, the elevated spotter platform at Kněževes offers the best view of the main runway. There you see, among others, the fleet of Smartwings today. Which other locations there are around the airport is covered in the article Plane spotting in Prague.

If you want to see more Eastern Bloc aviation on a tour through Central Europe, the Muzeum Lotnictwa Polskiego in Kraków offers another large collection on a historic airfield. In Germany the Luftwaffe Museum Berlin-Gatow with its East German NVA aircraft and the Flugplatzmuseum Cottbus are worthwhile. Heading south, the Aviaticum in Wiener Neustadt is an option. You can find background on the institution itself in the profile of the Prague-Kbely Aviation Museum.

Conclusion

The Letecké muzeum Kbely is a place for type collectors, not for movement hunters. At the oldest airfield in Czechoslovakia you find an almost seamless MiG series, Sukhoi jets, a Tu-104 and the history of the Czechoslovak aviation industry from Letov to the L-159 – and all of it with free admission.

The limits are clear: the museum is open only from spring to fall, it is tight in the halls, and you only experience flight operations by chance. As a complement to a spotting day at Prague Airport or as a destination for a gray day, Kbely is hard to beat.