旧ソ連時代の航空機集めた私設博物館、閉鎖の危機回避　ラトビア

【リガＡＦＰ＝時事】過去５０年間にわたって旧ソ連製航空機数十機を収集・所蔵している私設博物館が、ラトビアで閉鎖の危機にひんしていたが、首都の空港のオファーによってこのほど存続が決まった。（写真はラトビア・リガにある航空博物館で取材に応じるビクトルス・タルパシュ氏）
　博物館を運営する元航空機関士のビクトルス・タルパシュ氏（８２）は３月、ＡＦＰに対し、リガ国際空港拡張のために月末までに移転を余儀なくされていると語っていた。
　旧ソ連の軍用機や民間機のさびた機体を見渡しながら、収集を始めたのは「社会のためであって、自分のためではなかった」と言うタルパシュ氏。「他にどこにも行くところはない」
　タルパシュ氏はウクライナ出身で、ソ連時代は黒海艦隊に所属。その後、アエロフロート・ロシア航空に長年勤め、退職後に寄付や買い付け、交換などによってコレクションを拡大してきた。
　大半は冷戦時代にさかのぼるもので、ミグ２１戦闘機やミル６武装ヘリコプター、ツポレフ設計局のＴｕ２２Ｍ１訓練機などがある。
　リガ国際空港と博物館は長きにわたる交渉の末、このほど解決策を見つけたと発表した。
　空港側は「歴史的な航空機のコレクションは滑走路を挟んだ反対側に移され、空港は新エリアの長期の賃借権を付与する。また、博物館の移転に際し、財政面を含む支援を行う」と述べた。
　ラトビア通信（ＬＥＴＡ）によると、タルパシュ氏は「みんなにとって１００％完璧な解決策はないが、これで航空史を学びたい人々のために博物館を移転し再開することができる。コロナ禍の制限の中でも、毎月６０００人が訪れている」と語っている。【翻訳編集ＡＦＰＢＢＮｅｗｓ】

〔ＡＦＰ＝時事〕（2021/04/20-13:37）

A private museum in Latvia holding dozens of Soviet aircraft collected over half a century by a retired flight engineer is facing closure.
Viktors Talpas told AFP that his museum, which attracts several thousand visitors a month in non-pandemic times, is being forced to move before the end of the month to make way for an expansion of Riga airport.
I have to relocate my museum or face its destruction, said Talpas, who was born in Ukraine and served in the Black Sea fleet in Soviet times before moving to Latvia.
Looking out at the rusty hulks from the USSR's military and civilian fleet, the 82-year-old said he began collecting for society's benefit, not for myself.
I have nowhere to go, Talpas said.
Talpas, who also worked for many years for the airline Aeroflot, expanded his collection after retiring through donations, purchases and trades.
Most of the planes date from the Cold War era and include a MiG-21 fighter, an Mi-6 helicopter gunship and a Tupolev Tu-22M1 training plane.
- Pricey relocation -
The collection also has deactivated Russian anti-aircraft missiles and Polish, Czech and Ukrainian civil aircraft, as well as remnants of World War II planes such as German Messerschmitt fighters.
There is also the blade of a propeller plane from 1927 -- an example of Latvia's own aviation construction industry, which did not survive World War II.
The planes are on a plot of land owned by the airport that will be house a new hangar and control tower, with only a fence separating the museum from the contemporary planes of Latvian carrier airBaltic.
The museum saw a drop in visitors because of the pandemic but Talpas said they were returning as the restrictions allow visits to open-air facilities.
Airport spokeswoman Laura Kulakova told Latvijas Radio 1 that the airport was offering to transport the collection to a different part of the airport.
But Talpas said he had refused so far because the location proposed would only be accessible from the runway, not from public roads, and tourists would not be able to visit.
Talpas said he had received offers to host the museum but, since none of the aircraft are airworthy, transport would cost at least 200,000 euros ($238,000) and that amount of money we simply do not have.