B52 Museum and Vietnam Military History Museum in Hanoi

The B-52 Victory Museum contains displays on the history of the Vietnamese revolution, the First Indochina War, the Vietnam War, and the air defense of Hanoi.  The outdoor displays include the wreckage of a B-52 aircraft shot down in 1972 and various air defense equipment, including ground radar and artillery.

B-52

57MM antiaircraft weapon, SAM 2 missile

Missile control station, MIG-21

The several-block walk (past a large statue of Lenin) from the B-52 Museum to the Vietnam Military History Museum takes us past several patriotic billboards

Displays on the street

The Vietnam Military History Museum opened in 1956 and includes displays of decommissioned, captured, or destroyed military equipment used by French, Viet Minh, North Vietnam, South Vietnam, and the United States during the First and Second Indochina Wars.  The flag tower on the grounds of the museum is open on the first two tiers and offers great panoramic views of the museum and the city.

Lenin, flag tower

MIG-21s

MIG-17, other aircraft

Chinook helicopter, F-5E

Tanks and artillery

Missile and torpedo launcher

Inside the buildings are displays of vehicles and other items of the wars.

Vehicles

Leaving the museum, I pass the collected wreckage of an aircraft with a picture of a Vietnamese fighter pulling aircraft scraps with a rope.

Final display

The two museums offer an interesting perspective on the wars in Vietnam and the views and thoughts of the Vietnamese people on these conflicts.