Just returned from a family holiday to Sri Lanka. We stayed in Colombo for the first two days to get used to the weather and time zone and took the opportunity to visit the Sri Lanka Air Force museum in Colombo. The museum is located at Ratmalana airbase, not too far from the Mount Lavinia hotel. The entrance fees is US$ 15 for foreigners (not the $10 mentioned on their website) and about $0,50 for Sri Lankan people. When we arrived their was a school holiday and huge numbers of Sri Lankan people with children crowded the entrance. Our driver took us through the queues, as his reasoning was that when we paid so much more, we shouldn't have to wait in line. A bit embarrassed, we got in quickly. The museum is nice and spacious and has lots of planes, mainly from the era between WW2 and about 2009 when the civil war ended. Besides planes there are also several hangars with interesting items. But it is hot inside!
At the airbase where the museum is located, photography is prohibited but nobody really cares. Still you have to be careful as you wouldn't want to end up in a Sri Lankan jail. The base is home to some helicopters and light aircraft. The only still operational fighters (1 Kfir and 2 upgraded J-7/F-7 which hardly ever fly) are located at the main international airport (Bandaranaike) where you can also see 4 stored non-operational Mig-27 jets (visible on Google Earth).
Here are some first pictures. More will come as I have the time to go through all my holiday pictures.
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Keep 'm coming, even if only "blurry pix" of Sri Lankan military planes and helicopters taken from far away 