@ Budapest, Hungary
March 2022
On my fourth trip to Budapest I was finally able to visit the Aeropark museum located adjacent to Budapest Ferenc Liszt International Airport. This is a very cool collection of Soviet-era airliners used by MALÉV Hungarian Airlines, the former flag carrier of Hungary (1946-2012). The Tupolev Tu-134 is certainly unique in sporting nose glazing for the navigator station, a design carryover from the Tupolev Tu-16 strategic bomber. The Tu-134 was the first Soviet airliner to receive an international certificate of airworthiness from ICAO. Malév took delivery of their first one on December 22, 1968 and entered the jet age. The exhibited aircraft was Malév’s fourth Tu-134 to enter service and the first to retire from the fleet in December 1987. After that, she eventually joined the Aeropark collection in October 1991. It is unfortunate that the first three Malév Tu-134s were all lost in accidents or crashes, making this one the HA-LBE aircraft on display at the Aeropark the oldest surviving Hungarian Tu-134.
