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Germany's fleet of vintage aircraft is growing
By Volker K. Thomalla
The fleet of historic aircraft in Germany, Austria and Switzerland has been growing for years. Among them one finds not only small veteran aircraft, but distinctly big, former military aircraft, known as “warbirds”. Who would have thought ten years ago that today reproduction Messerschmitt Me 262's or Focke-Wulf Fw 190's would be back in the skies again? It is also surprising that F-4 Corsairs, B-25 Mitchells and other high-performance aircraft from the Thirties and Forties regularly appear at flying days in Central Europe.
Compared with the active flying warbird scene in England or the United States, the vintage aircraft scene in Germany is relatively small, but nevertheless it has grown considerably over the last 10 or 15 years. As well as the Messerschmitt Foundation in Manching, which amongst other things has done invaluable service in the restoration of Messerschmitt aircraft, and the Flying Bulls from Salzburg, which brought several large American veteran aircraft to Europe, individuals such as Uli Bronner, who built a reproduction Fw 190 in wood, and groups of enthusiasts such as the group which built the Bf 109 in Albstadt-Degerferld, are also prominent on the scene.
Major restoration projects are rarely possible without support from industry. For example, the restoration of the Fw 200 Condor for the German Technikmuseum Berlin is supported by Airbus und Rolls-Royce Deutschland, whereas as long ago as the 1980s Lufthansa Technik proved generous over the restoration of Lufthansa's Ju 52.
Historical technology continues to exercise a fascination today, and historic aircraft evoke a lot of sympathy. And with reason. The achievements of the designers who solved complex problems with very simple resources by today's standards are quite staggering, especially in propulsion technology: the big piston engines as found on a Ju 52, a Bf 109 or a P-51 Mustang, are small marvels of technology. However, some of this is lost when they simply appear as static exhibits in a museum. The sound of such a powerplant on starting up or the sound of a warbird powered by such an engine as it flies overhead bears an obvious testimony to the power that is being generated. It is therefore important to keep historic aircraft in an airworthy condition and regularly take them up into the air before an audience.
The history of aerospace technology has always been bittersweet. As we marvel over the technology we should not forget the purpose for which these flying machines were invented and developed. But they are a part of history. The fact that today people are investing even in Germany in the conservation, reconstruction or reproduction of aircraft from the Second World War shows that we are a lot more relaxed today over our past than only some years ago. This is a reasonable and proper process. For he who forgets his own history will only have to experience it all over again.
From FLUG REVUE 8/2007
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