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A trip back to December 2016

Having a little reunion with my university friends in Middle East a few years ago, I was invited to spend new years eve 2016-2017 in my very close friend’s place in Dubai. Arriving in Dubai, he informed me about an exciting surprise waiting for us. Together with some friends from Germany and Doha, we started a road trip out of the busy city of Dubai towards the east. After passing the Emirates of Sharjah and Adjman, we reached the second smallest Emirate of UAE, Umm Al Quwain. Driving down the E11 highway towards direction of Ras Al Kaimah, suddenly the silhouette of an old Soviet airplane appeared just next to the road.

The old Soviet Ilyushin IL-76 freighter

First built in 1971 as a strategical and tactical airlifter, the Ilyushin IL-76 rapidly became an iconic freighter of the Soviets. With almost 1,000 exemplars built until today it is still the backbone of the Russian and some other nations’ military cargo fleet. With its almost 47 m length, a wingspan of more than 50 m and a maximum take off weight of 190,000 kg, the IL-76 belongs the largest cargo airplane ever built. Nowadays, only few IL-76s are remaining in service, mainly operated by former Soviet states’ airforces or some few civil cargo airlines.

The infamous mystery of RA-86715

It was still visible that the abandoned IL-76 was once registered as RA-86715 (RA = Russian Airforce registration). It was built in 1975 and served many years for the Soviet airforce as military freighter aircraft, until it was, after the collapse of the Soviet Union, most probably sold to an arms dealer from former Soviet Union, also called the “Merchant of death”. It is assumed that the IL-76, in the meanwhile registered as EL-RDT and flying for Sharjah based carrier Air Cess, was regularly connecting former Soviet states and Africa, delivering most probably old Soviet weapons to African rebels and guerilla warriors. In 1998 the aircraft was transfered to Air Pass, and in 2000 to Cetrafrican Airlines, all owned by the same former Soviet arms dealer.

But how did it get to Umm Al Quwain airport? According to some rumors, the IL-76 was enroute flying towards its homebase in the UAE, when the illegal trading activities of its owner were discovered and the the airline lost its landing rights in UAE, some day in year 2000. Due to a lack of fuel, it had to land at the way too small airport of Umm Al Quwain (a tiny former airfield mainly used for skydiving), were it was stranded afterwards. Other rumors say it was purposely flown to Umm Al Qwain to be used as a restaurand or to scrap it there. In the following years, some local companies used the airplane as advertising space.

The second deserted airplane at Umm Al Quwain – The Antonov AN-2

Just behind the hangars of the old airport, an old Antonow AN-2 was resting in the sand. The AN-2 is the largest single engine double decker and first built in 1947 in former Soviet Union. Whereas there can be found a lot of information about the old IL-76, there is almost nothing known about the old Antonov. It was most probably registered as EX-70306 and served as carrier aircraft for local skydive activties, before the airfield was closed down in the mid 2000s. Since then, the 13 m long double decker was grounded and decaying under the heat of the Middle East.

How things recently have changed…

While access towards the abandoned planes was still easy in 2016, reports during the last years showed the installation of fences and getting close to the planes was not possible anymore. With the latest infrastructural developments, the IL-76 and the AN-2 were dismantled and removed completely in 2022.

The graphic below shows a comparison of the satellite images of 2022, before the airplanes were scapped and 2024. It is clearly visible how the new road construction site continues, the remains of the old airport getting demolished and the airplanes are no more recognizable. Unfortunately with this urban development, another piece of aviation history and an iconic landmark is gone.