Since my dad and I had almost a full day in Johannesburg before continuing to Kruger on our trip to Africa, we visited the South African Airways Museum at Rand Airport on the way back to the airport from our tour of Soweto.
Continue reading this article to learn more about the museum that is best known for its pair of Boeing 747s but has many other interesting exhibits to see too.
Access, Opening Hours & Entrance Fees
The South African Airways Museum is located on the edge of Rand Airport in Germiston. As with many other places in South Africa, the best way to get there is by car. While in our case, we had our guide take us there, you could also take an Uber or a taxi.
The museum is about a 25-minute drive from Johannesburg Airport.
It’s open between 9 a.m. and 3:30 p.m. (last entry at 2:30 p.m.) every day except for Mondays that are not public holidays, December 25 and 26, and January 1.
The entrance fee is just 50 rands (approximately 3 dollars) for adults and 30 rands for children. In addition to cash, credit cards can be used too.
Exhibits
By far the most interesting exhibits were in “Aircraft Park,” a large outdoor area of the museum. That said, there were also some aircraft to be seen in a small hangar in the outdoor area and some memorabilia items in the building where tickets were sold.
Aircraft Park
The main reason of my visit was to see the two Boeing 747s that are displayed in the museum and, in particular, the Boeing 747SP named “Maluti.”
The aircraft was delivered to South African Airways in 1976 and served with the airline until 2003. It was then ferried from Johannesburg to Rand in 2006, celebrating its last flight with an amazing landing on Rand Airport’s 15-meter wide (one fourth of the 747s 60-meter wingspan) runway.
The other Boeing 747 was a 747-200 that flew under the registration ZS-SAN.
It was delivered brand new to South African Airways in 1971 and ferried to the museum in 2004 making it the first 747 to succeed with landing on the airport’s small runway before the SP followed.
While it was great admiring the Jumbo Jet from the outside, it was even better to be able to step onboard and see the interior that was, in many ways, intact from the time when the aircraft used to be in service. In addition to still sporting the original seats, there were also crew uniforms and some other memorabilia on display in the nose of the aircraft.
Perhaps most interestingly, though, there was a third engine hanging under the aircraft’s port side wing showing what it looked like when the 747 was used to transport a spare engine using its extra pylon.
The third and last jet aircraft on display in the museum was a Boeing 737-200. According to the museum’s website, “She was the first Boeing 737 to land at Rand Airport.”
While the aircraft registered ZS-SMD used to wear a couple of different liveries during its nearly 30-year career, unfortunately, it was on display in an all white livery with a couple of small SAA Museum Society decals.
Aside from the three jets, there were also some propeller aircraft on display in the outdoor exhibit.
The largest of those was a Lockheed L-1649 Starliner. There were also a South African Airways Douglas DC-4, a Protea Airways Vickers VC.1 Viking, and a Piper PA-23.
Hangar
Actual aircraft could, in addition to the outdoor area, also be found inside a small hangar.
In particular, I enjoyed seeing a South African Airways de Havilland DH.104 Dove there. The aircraft was beautifully preserved/restored and reminded me slightly of older generation Japanese bullet trains, both shape- and livery-wise.
There were also some smaller items like models on display in the hangar.
Simulator & Radio Room
One more small building located in the outdoor exhibit area, the “Simulator & Radio Room,” contained, as its name suggests, a variety of communication, navigation, and simulation equipment.
Separately, there were also two full-scale cockpit simulators on display outside. Those were used for training Airbus A300 and Boeing 747 Classic crews, respectively.
Display Hall
Located in the same building as the ticket office, the display hall that housed hundreds of memorabilia related to South African aviation was, in fact, the first part of the museum that my dad and I looked around.
Items on display included everything from magazines and safety cards through tableware and aircraft models all the way to instruments.
Museum Shop & Other Facilities
The ticket office also served as a small museum shop with a selection of items related to South African aviation specifically, as well as other aviation items, available.
I got myself a sticker of the Boeing 747SP that is on display in the museum and a South African Airways magnet.
Summary
Being home to not one but two Boeing 747 Classics, visiting the South African Airways Museum Society aviation museum at Rand Airport near Johannesburg was on my wishlist for quite a long time. As such, I was very excited to have been able to squeeze it into the itinerary of a trip to South Africa that was not specifically about aviation.
The museum did not disappoint. It was great seeing the Jumbos, but also the other aircraft, up close and being able to “board” the 747-200 and enjoy a bit of a bygone era.
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