MUSEUM OF GLIDERISM AND PARACHUTISM is the only one in the USSR and the second in the world after the National Museum of Gliding in Harris Hill, New York, USA. The idea to create the museum belongs to the veterans of the Soviet gliding sport. It was organized by a former military meteorologist, participant of the Great Patriotic War V.L. Shcherbakov. The first exposition was located in a twenty-meter room in the administrative building of the Primorye tourist resort.
The second birth of the museum took place in August 1983, when the 60th anniversary of gliding sport was celebrated. Shortly before that the museum became a branch of the Frunze Central House of Aviation and Cosmonautics. M.V. Frunze. The new museum exposition was combined with the permanent exhibition of the Central House of Aviation and Cosmonautics «Parachuting in the USSR».
The museum has about 10 thousand exhibits. Relics of the gliding history hall tell about the first flights over the Klementyev Mountain in the 20s; about the participants of the first gliding meetings — S. Korolev, S. Ilyushin, O. Antonov, A. Yakovlev; about the work of the Higher Gliding School that trained hundreds of outstanding pilots in the 30s. A significant part of the exposition is devoted to the exploits of glider pilots during the Great Patriotic War; post-war achievements of Soviet glider pilots. A special section introduces the development of hang gliding.
In the hall of the history of parachuting you can learn about the inventor of the first domestic parachute G. E. Kotelnikov, see the unique, the only surviving parachute of his system. The exhibits familiarize you with the history of the Airborne Troops, records of the strongest athletes-parachutists.
The Museum together with the Glider Sport Federation and Hang Gliding Sport Federation of the Central Committee of DOSAAF of the USSR established annual special cups of the Museum «For the farthest flight in the championship of the USSR». They are awarded to the strongest soaring pilots of the country.