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Located right on the edge of Taoyuan International Airport – where modern flights constantly take off and land – the Taoyuan Aerotropolis Museum stands out as a unique haven amidst one of Taiwan's largest aviation hubs.
This structure was directly transformed from a former air base that played a crucial role in the defense and reconnaissance system during the Cold War, and which for decades was considered a "forbidden zone" in Taiwan's military history.
As military operations gradually withdrew, the entire vast area, including hangars, maintenance facilities, and concrete runways, remained vacant for many years. Instead of demolishing and rebuilding, the Taoyuan city government undertook a large-scale project: transforming the old airport heritage into a cultural and historical space, as part of the overall "Aerotropolis" master plan – Taiwan's most modern airport city model.
From the outside, the Taoyuan Aerotropolis Aviation Museum looks like a forgotten base, with grass growing all over the roof of the bunker.
Former military base transformed into a storytelling space.
Spaces that once served military purposes have now become the "skeleton" for an open-air museum, where history is not displayed in glass cases, but is present right within the original architecture.
According to documents from the Taoyuan government, many areas within the base have been designated as heritage sites and restored to conservation standards, before being partially opened to the public starting in 2025.
In early 2026, the new museum will open a documentary exhibition area and an artifact exhibition area.
The museum today has preserved almost entirely the original structure of the old air base. The steel-framed aircraft hangars, maintenance parking area, large concrete foundation, "05" warning area, and the system of functional facilities serving the air base have been preserved almost completely.
The remaining traces of the base.
In the outdoor area, an F-104 Starfighter – a type of aircraft once used by the Taiwanese air force during the Cold War – is positioned in the middle of the old base's spacious courtyard as a visual anchor for the entire area.
The aircraft's sharp, angular fuselage, reminiscent of a tense era of military aviation, sits still amidst a complete lack of flight activity.
The F-104 Starfighter, often called a "man-driven missile" due to its long fuselage and extremely pointed nose, was widely used by the Taiwanese Air Force during the Cold War.
Surrounding it are the old concrete slabs of the aircraft parking apron, where preparations for military flight missions once took place. The surface of the floor still bears the marks of time, with cracks, stains, and the natural erosion of the environment. The aircraft, therefore, does not stand "in" a museum, but "in the middle" of a space that once actually operated as an air base.
Memories reside in the hangar.
If the outside is the vast expanse of the sky, then the inside of the hangar is the quiet recesses of memory. These massive hangars retain their original structure, with high ceilings, exposed steel frames, and natural light filtering through the old architectural gaps, creating an atmosphere that is both industrial and archival.
The interior space retains its original structure, with metal accents and cool lighting creating an industrial feel.
The exhibits inside focus on the history of Taiwan's air force, preserving fragmented but impactful pieces of memory: military documents, photographic records, training files, and artifacts related to Taiwan's air force history. These include figures who played key roles in the formation of the modern air force.
The exhibition approach doesn't focus on showcasing technology or creating strong visual effects, but rather on preserving and arranging materials in a space with minimal staging.
Notably, the architecture of the hangar itself plays a role just as important as the artifacts themselves. The roughness of the metal, the height of the space, and the resonance of the sound create a distinctly sensory experience, where history is not only seen but also felt.
The Black Cats - traces of secret flights
Within the entire structure of the Taoyuan Aviation Museum's memory, the Black Cat Squadron holds the deepest significance. This unit operated Taiwan's U-2 reconnaissance aircraft from 1961 to 1974, carrying out high-altitude reconnaissance missions during the Cold War.
The Black Cat Squadron was a reconnaissance aircraft unit that conducted surveillance missions at altitudes exceeding 20,000 meters over Taiwan during the Cold War.
The pilots of this unit were specially selected, underwent training in the United States, and operated the U-2 aircraft, which was capable of flying at altitudes exceeding 20,000 meters, far beyond the range of most air defense systems at the time.
Their flights took off from the Taoyuan area itself, making it part of a strategic global airborne intelligence network. Black Cat Squadron's operations were kept highly secret for decades, and only became widely publicized after the unit disbanded.
The Black Cat Squadron is therefore not just an air force unit, but a symbol of an era in which the skies became the space of information, strategy, and secrecy.
Information about Black Cat Squardon will only be made public after all units have been disbanded.
In the museum, the image of the "black cat" appears as a remnant of that history, a symbolic memory recalling a period when humans flew at altitudes beyond conventional limits and each flight carried an almost absolute degree of risk.
The Taoyuan Aviation Museum is therefore not just a place to preserve aircraft or aviation documents, but also a structure of memory preserved within the very form of the old base and continuing to exist in its material: in the steel, in the concrete, in the empty spaces of the hangars, and in the story of the Black Cat Squadron - those who once flew across the skies in absolute silence.
Statues representing Black Cat Squardon are lined up outside the museum.
There, the Taoyuan sky is not just a backdrop, but also a part of a story that continues to unfold, even though flights no longer take off from this place.
