Eine Fläche spotter' s-Wochenende in Deutschland

It is to be expected that when I ask babelfish to translate "plane spotter" I am given the word for plane in German followed by spotter auf Englisch.

Not to worry, we took the opportunity of a journey to Stuttgart to drop in at the Auto & Technik Museum Sinsheim, located in the state of Baden-Württemberg.

This museum ticks all the boxes for me as it has several tea rooms, extensive gift shops and a football stadium next door where all the morons that normally clog up the exhibits can stay out of harms way.

First things first, the Urimat automatic urinator at Lorsch-West services - baffling as instructions only in German. Fortuitous that there was a Greek bathroom style drain entry on the floor nearby.

Quick snack of bangers and potato salad - instant indigestion followed.

This collection is unique in aircraft terms as it has both a TU144 Conkordski and a Super Caravelle, sorry, a Concorde on display.

this general view of the first of two main halls features the Belfast built DMC car

Out of over 6,000 Ju87 Stukas built betwen 1936 and 1944  this is one of 7 remaining, recovered from under the sea at St Tropez

  Part of the joy of writing this blog is the retrospective research that I do, and reading about the Stuka reveals what an amazing aircraft this was and why there was a window below the pilot's feet (faithfully reproduced in the excellent Revell 1/32 scale model that I built in 1972). Read about it here but I quote from Eric Winkle:

"I had a high opinion of the Stuka because I had flown a lot of dive-bombers and it’s the only one that you can dive truly vertically. Sometimes with the dive-bombers, pilots claim that they did a vertical dive. What a load of rubbish. The maximum dive is usually in the order of 60 degrees. In a dive when flying the Stuka, because it’s all automatic, you are really flying vertically. You feel that you are over the top and feel you are going that a way! The Vengeance and Dauntless were both very good but could dive no more than 60 or 70 degrees. The Stuka was in a class of its own"

A BMW combination probably captured at Falaise

Boarding the Tu 144 Concordski one sees the inefficient Kuznetsov NK-144 turbofan engines that required afterburners to maintain supersonic flight.

Both supersonic airliners are displayed on the roof of the second exhibition hall in tandem.

 

The corrigated aluminium construction of the Ju 52 provides longitudinal stiffness with light weight.

The AMO ZIL ZIS 150 of Josef Stalin

Albin Liebnisch's 1938 creation the 4 seater Bohmerland 608cc twin gearbox motorcycle was never ordered by the German military.

Joy on two wheels

Back on the roof again to see the Canadair water bomber.

The "bomb" doors of the Canadair from where scooped up water is dropped on forest fires.

I point out the swastika to Mrs Nikos shortly before being arrested.  I am confused whether this is allowed in Germany these days.

Heinkel 111

A well deserved Kuchen

More photos ---->here.

The next day I am subjected to a joy flight in a helicopter at the Reinsdorf airshow.  I had preferred to try Helmut Kolditz's somewhat more sedate Antonov 12 biplane but was overruled by Senior Management.

There is nothing  quite as joyous as hanging 3000 ft over the beautiful Baden-Württemberg countryside suspended exclusively by a jesus nut.

Advice:  Eat this stuff if you must after a helicopter flight over the Baden-Württemberg countryside suspended exclusively by a jesus nut.