Interflug Ilyushin Il-62 in Stölln

February 8, 2026 CarloRLeave a comment

When exploring the tranquil country around Berlin, it is not unusual to find some relics from WWII and the Cold War era, like the Soviet war monuments, memorials (see for example here), and even former Soviet airbases and bunkers (see for example here). These sites are often not much publicized though, nor that much visible to a little-attentive eye of a modern tourist. Some exceptions exist however, like the case of the massive Ilyushin Il-62, a quintessential Cold War liner designed in the Soviet Union, that you can find by the foot of a low-rising hill, in the super-small town of Stölln, itself part of the small town of Göllenberg, about 50 miles northwest of Berlin.

The reason for having this very aircraft in this exact position is definitely not mere chance. The history of Gollenberg and of its small hillis inextricably bound to the name of one of the most influential pioneers of human flight, Otto Lilienthal. Well before the flight of the Wright brothers’ self-propelled Flyer, which took place in Kitty Hawk, NC, in 1903, this German gentleman experimented with single-seat gliders, understanding the basics of aerodynamic properties and construction of fixed-wings, as well as the stabilizing effect of tail empennages placed to the back of the aircraft. Actually, compared to the forward-placed horizontal control surfaces proposed by the Wright brothers, Lilienthal’s concept turned out better performing, and soon became the standard of aircraft design to these days.

Lilienthal’s experimental flights took place mostly in the 1890s, employing the small hill as a launch point for his own un-propelled machines. Actually, it was in Stölln that he flew for the last time, when he fatally crashed in 1896.

About 90 years later, in Spring 1988, the national carrier of the German Democratic Republic (GDR, or DDR), Interflug, was entering a new phase in its life cycle – eventually, this would turn to be the last phase. A transition to the the Airbus A310, from a fleet historically dominated by Soviet designs, meant that in particular the Ilyushin Il-18 and Il-62, the mainstay of the company’s long-range segment, was scheduled for withdrawal.

It was by the action of the then-mayor of the small town of Stölln, Mrs. Sybille Heling, that the idea first surfaced of celebrating Lilienthal’s legacy with a monument, in the form of a big aircraft put on display. Contacts with the management of Interflug turned out very productive, and a deal was reached where an Il-62 would be donated by the state-owned Interflug to the local municipality, provided the latter could prepare a location for its landing! An embryonic location existed, in the form of a local grassy airfield – nothing to do with a 100+ tonnes, four-jet liner. However, the chief Il-62 pilot of Interflug, Heinz-Dieter Kallbach, professionally started to draft a mission plan. The Il-62, marked DDR-SEG, was stripped of the interior, the APU, the tail-cone safety wheel, and the water ballast it usually flew with in the front belly. This reduced the minimum weight by a few tonnes, down to about 75 tons. The aircraft would take-off for one last time from Berlin Schönefeld (then the commercial airport of the eastern sector of Berlin, now the only airport of Berlin, titled to former chancellor Willy Brandt). A very short hop to its final resting place, the flight required minimum fuel weight. Even so, the 900 m long runway remained quite a challenge.

On October 23^rd, 1989, coincidentally just days prior to the collapse of the Wall in Berlin, the aircraft embarked on this one-of-a-kind mission. After two low-level passes, the machine finally approached the runway, reportedly engaging thrust-reverser on two of the four engines seconds before actual touch-down, so as to have inverted thrust available immediately after landing. The aircraft approached the threshold almost at stall speed, to reduce the ground run, which turned out to be 800 m, just short of the declared runway length. Despite the thick cloud of dust engulfing it, the aircraft had landed safely, and even managed to reach its final parking spot by taxing on its own engines!

Christened Lady Agnes in honor of Lilienthal’s wife, the Il-62 makes for an easy to spot, hard to forget icon in the middle of Brandenburg’s countryside. It is the centerpiece of a museum dedicated to Interflug, managed by a local society also preserving the legacy of Otto Lilienthal’s experiments in the area. Actually, the museum is also a trailhead for a nice walk to the top of the hill where Lilienthal used to start on his own flights.

The photographs in this post are from a visit to the site in the Summer of 2024.

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The aircraft and Interflug museum can be approached from a parking nearby, along a grassy path. The site is visibly cared for with a good deal of effort, and the aircraft is now surrounded by a nice garden. Actually, the small airfield which allowed the historical flight of DDR-SEG to take place is still there – a local touristic airfield with very little traffic – and the location makes for a gathering place for those flying in.

Lady Agnes Interflug Ilyushin Il-62 Stölln – Otto Lilienthal Memorial – Near Berlin, Germany

The design of the Il-62, with a seldom-seen all-back four jet configuration (notable similar designs are the Vickers VC-10, which shared a similar long-range mission with the Il-62, and the much smaller Lockheed JetStar early executive jet), is pure 1960 vintage. The engines are four Soviet-designed Soloviev D30 low-bypass turbofans, more efficient than other pure turbojet options, yet dramatically fuel-thirsty for the oil price of the 1980s – this was a major contribution to the demise of this configuration, where more efficient but much larger high-bypass turbofan engines could not be fitted in the rear-mounted nacelles.

Lady Agnes Interflug Ilyushin Il-62 Stölln – Otto Lilienthal Memorial – Near Berlin, Germany

The emblems of Interflug and of the GDR are still proudly in place, similar to the original marks. The writing ‘Lady Agnes’ is apocryphal, yet surely justified by the devotion the adoptive family of this very aircraft is pouring in its maintenance.

Lady Agnes Interflug Ilyushin Il-62 Stölln – Otto Lilienthal Memorial – Near Berlin, Germany

The inside has been partly preserved. In particular, the galleys, the cockpit and a section of the passenger’s cabin are preserved in their original appearance.

Lady Agnes Interflug Ilyushin Il-62 Stölln – Otto Lilienthal Memorial – Near Berlin, Germany

Ilyushin aircraft were made in Kazan, today’s Russia, and all labels are basically only in Russian language.

Lady Agnes Interflug Ilyushin Il-62 Stölln – Otto Lilienthal Memorial – Near Berlin, Germany

A section of the passenger’s cabin has been converted into a very interesting exhibition, a real mecca for hunters of airline memorabilia. Among the items on display are original branded convenience kits and trays and dishes for onboard meal service.

Lady Agnes Interflug Ilyushin Il-62 Stölln – Otto Lilienthal Memorial – Near Berlin, Germany

Advertisement from the days of operations is also on display. Traveling within the USSR-led communist bloc by air was an affordable experience for middle-level workers, especially towards highly touristic locations like Slovakia in the winter and Bulgaria or Hungary in the summer.

Lady Agnes Interflug Ilyushin Il-62 Stölln – Otto Lilienthal Memorial – Near Berlin, Germany

However, even farther communist destinations like Cuba, Vietnam, China and Congo were part of the network of Interflug. Additional memorabilia items include ornamental vases, on-board safety instructions, photographs from the days of operation, and a very nice technical drawing of the aircraft.

Lady Agnes Interflug Ilyushin Il-62 Stölln – Otto Lilienthal Memorial – Near Berlin, Germany

Upon leaving the cabin, you are offered a convenient view of the cockpit, with a dashboard in the typical lurid Soviet green. A completely analog panel imposed a significant work-load to the pilot. This aircraft type was originally piloted by nothing less than five crew. By reviewing the operational procedures, this was later reduced to four.

Lady Agnes Interflug Ilyushin Il-62 Stölln – Otto Lilienthal Memorial – Near Berlin, Germany

Back on the ground, it is possible to spot a specially-painted original Trabant. A walk-around the aircraft reveals several labels in Russian, and generally a very good state of preservation, considering the aircraft is parked outside.

Lady Agnes Interflug Ilyushin Il-62 Stölln – Otto Lilienthal Memorial – Near Berlin, Germany

The museum of Interflug is dominated on one side by the uniforms of pilots, onboard crew and technicians of this airline.

Lady Agnes Interflug Ilyushin Il-62 Stölln – Otto Lilienthal Memorial – Near Berlin, Germany

Then a display of artifacts and memorabilia retraces the history of this airline. Interestingly, some Deutsche Lufthansa tickets and old-fashioned likewise branded ads can be spotted. To a careful eye, these reveal an apparently incoherent belonging of Deutsche Lufthansa – with the same symbol of today’s major German carrier, a heron – to the German Democratic Republic. Actually, soon after the post-war liquidation of the original pre-WWII Deutsche Lufthansa in 1951, the name and trademark were registered again by the then-established Federal Republic of Germany, just prior to the company’s resumed flight operations in the 1950s. At the same time, on the communist side of the Iron Curtain, the newly-founded national carrier of the German Democratic Republic also started operations, with exactly the same name as its West-German counterpart. This explains the apparent mismatch of the name Deutsche Lufthansa on GDR tickets and flight networks.

Lady Agnes Interflug Ilyushin Il-62 Stölln – Otto Lilienthal Memorial – Near Berlin, Germany

Clearly, a legal claim was started over this point by the West-German Lufthansa, which had registered the brand and trademark at a fee. Interflug was the result of the fight. Founded as a ghost company by the GDR government, just in case they lost the right to fly under the name ‘Deutsche Lufthansa’, when this actually happened, Interflug immediately absorbed the assets of the East-German Deutsche Lufthansa, and flight operations became now entitled to Interflug. By the early 1960s, Interflug and Lufthansa were the national carriers of the GDR and FRG respectively, and this was to be until the demise of the GDR, when German reunification played havoc within the Interflug management. State-owned Interflug ceased operations and was liquidated in 1991, the three A310 it owned at that time going to the German government as state aircraft.

The maps of international destinations reached by Interflug is clearly polarized towards friend locations within Soviet influence.

Lady Agnes Interflug Ilyushin Il-62 Stölln – Otto Lilienthal Memorial – Near Berlin, Germany

The historical photographs witness the various types of aircraft employed by Interflug, which included agricultural aircraft and small models for air surveillance and photographing operations, or even some helicopters.

Lady Agnes Interflug Ilyushin Il-62 Stölln – Otto Lilienthal Memorial – Near Berlin, Germany

The portraits of aircraft and airports from the Cold War years will appeal to everybody with an interest or fascination for that age.

Lady Agnes Interflug Ilyushin Il-62 Stölln – Otto Lilienthal Memorial – Near Berlin, Germany

Upon leaving the museum, you may take a trail to the top of the hill where Otto Lilienthal experimented with his own gliders. The trail is scattered with memorials and tables retracing the history of the pioneer.

Lady Agnes Interflug Ilyushin Il-62 Stölln – Otto Lilienthal Memorial – Near Berlin, Germany

The point of his fatal crash in 1896 is marked with a commemorative stone.

Lady Agnes Interflug Ilyushin Il-62 Stölln – Otto Lilienthal Memorial – Near Berlin, Germany

By the opposite head of the trail, on the other side of the low-rising hill (10 minutes by walk from the main parking and Interflug museum, if not climbing uphill) you can find an interesting work of art from the GDR era (1986). This is called Ikarus, and was crafted by the artist Erhard Grüttner.

Lady Agnes Interflug Ilyushin Il-62 Stölln – Otto Lilienthal Memorial – Near Berlin, Germany

Getting there and visiting

The location is not much advertised, yet it is very convenient to reach by car. The exact address is Am Gollenberg 10, 14728 Gollenberg. It is located 50 miles northwest of Berlin, and can be neared from Friesack, on the route B5 from the capital. A large parking can be found on site, as well as a children’s playground. The location is managed by the Otto-Lilienthal-Verein (which translates into ‘Otto Lilienthal Society’). Their professional website (in German only) can be found here. It provides full information on the opening times. Notably, an indoor exhibition dedicated to Lilienthal is managed by the same society, and is located in the nearby village of Gollenberg.

A visit to the aircraft and museum, where all descriptions are in German only, yet rather self-explaining, may take 45 minutes to 1 hour. An additional round tour along the trail to the top of the hill, and back at base level, may take 45 minutes more.

Access to the aircraft and exhibition is at a fee (cash only, as typical to many locations in Germany), whereas walking the trail is free of charge.

Berlin Airlift 70th Anniversary Celebrations in Schleswig-Jagel

July 14, 2019July 14, 2019 CarloRLeave a comment

The blockade imposed by Stalin on the jointly administrated city of Berlin in the spring of 1948 dissipated any doubts on the post-WWII attitude of the Soviet Union towards their former allies in the west. The ensuing joint effort to support the trapped population of Berlin resulted in one of the major airlift operations in history – the Berlin Airlift, or Luftbrücke in German language. In June 2019, 70 years after the end of the blockade, Germany hosted a great celebration for the anniversary of this vital operation.

History – in Brief

The blockade started slowly, with trains crossing the Soviet occupied territory – soon to become administrated as a new state, the communist German Democratic Republic – between Berlin and western Germany forced to stop and go back, truck routes closed, increased controls at border checkpoints. In early summer, the city was completely isolated from the west.

The Soviets tried to motivate the move with treaty violations by the western forces, but this did not receive much credit by the administration of President Truman in the US, nor in Britain, France, or the occupied territories of western Germany. To mitigate the lack of coal, food, drugs and other goods of primary use for the local population, the joint forces of the United States, Britain, France, South Africa, Australia and New Zealand set up a massive airlift under the coordination of the US military.

Over roughly a year more than 275’000 flights were carried out, mainly between three airfields in the territory of western Germany – Jagel, Fassberg and Wiesbaden – occupied by the western Allies, to Berlin Tempelhof downtown airport (see this post), as well as other land and water bases in the cut-off urban area. These were operated with a variety of transport aircraft, including Douglas C-47 and C-54 twin and four-propeller cargo planes manufactured in the US, as well as several British models, including some Shorts seaplanes.

Stalin opted to avoid an escalation. The blockade was finally lifted by the Soviets on May 12, 1949. The situation was stabilized with the birth of the Federal Republic of Germany in the west, and of the opposing German Democratic Republic in the east, later the same year. The western sectors of Berlin were to remain an enclave of the free world deep in the communist bloc for slightly more than another 40 years, when the GDR – aka DDR in German language – finally ceased to exist, and the re-unification started.

A great museum tracing the history of the presence of the western Allies in Berlin, telling the history of the Airlift in great detail, is the Allied Museum (website here) in the former US sector of Berlin-Zehlendorf.

70th Anniversary Celebrations in Germany

In 2019 the 70th year since the end of the blockade, lifted as a result of the airlift effectively sustaining the population of Berlin for an entire year, was celebrated with the patronage of the German government with a series of unique aircraft-related events. The most prominent were a few formation flights of an incredible group of historical aircraft, between the airfields formerly used as supply bases for the airlift.

One of these, the still-active military airfield of Jagel, in Schleswig-Holstein some 60 miles north of Hamburg, hosted a ‘spotter day’ on June 13th, 2019, when a few hundreds photographers were admitted for the whole day on the premises of the airbase, to assist to the landing, departure and flypast of a fleet of nine Douglas C-47, a major workhorse in the days of the airlift.

This marked possibly the largest grouping of such historic aircraft in Europe since many years. But what made the event even more unique – besides the weather, incredibly mild for the region… – was the origin of the aircraft, which except for one are all based in the US. They crossed the Atlantic once more to parade in the celebration of the 75th anniversary of the D-Day in Normandy, attended also by President Trump and Charles, Prince of Wales. A few days after, they toured Germany for the 70th anniversary of the Berlin Airlift.

Besides the commemoration flight, normal flying activity was carried out during the spotter day around the airbase, so this was a good chance to assist to flight operations by Tornados and Typhoons of the German Air Force, as well as other military aircraft.

Historical Flight – Fly-in

A single C-47 arrived earlier than all others, anticipating the massive fly-in of the full wing of Douglas C-47 twin-prop liners. Later on, a flypast all Skytrains to take part in the event started from the east of the field. The aircraft then landed one by one, taxied ahead of the photographers and after a stop of a few hours, took off in a row for another location in Germany.

Jagel Spotterday 2019 70th Anniversary Berlin Airlift Douglas C-47 DC-3

Jagel Spotterday 2019 70th Anniversary Berlin Airlift Douglas DC-3 C-47

Jagel Spotterday 2019 70th Anniversary Berlin Airlift Douglas C-47 DC-3

US Air Force C-47A/DC-3C ‘Miss Virginia’

The first aircraft to come was ex-USAAF 43-30655, built in 1943 as a military C-47A. The aircraft fell in private hands in the 1970s, after yeast stored in Arizona, when it was converted into an DC-3C, an energized version of the original 1930s design. It spent the 1980s in Colombia, then returned to the US as a utility aircraft. It was finally acquired for restoration and given the nice US Air Mobility Command colors it bears today. It flies with the civilian registration N47E.

Jagel Spotterday 2019 70th Anniversary Berlin Airlift Douglas C-47A US Air Force 0-30665

Golden Age Tours C-41A

This incredible aircraft, now in civilian hands since long, is a unique example of an executive version of the original 1935 DC-3. Built in 1938, it entered military service soon after as a private flight for Maj. General Henry ‘Hap’ Arnold – an instrumental figure in the reorganization of the US military forces upon the early 1940s. It went on keeping its original executive configuration, and today it is lent out for special flights and for filming purposes from its base near San Francisco, CA. It bears the civilian registration N341A.

Jagel Spotterday 2019 70th Anniversary Berlin Airlift Douglas DC-3 N341A

Jagel Spotterday 2019 70th Anniversary Berlin Airlift Douglas C-47 DC-3

Jagel Spotterday 2019 70th Anniversary Berlin Airlift Douglas DC-3 N341A

Jagel Spotterday 2019 70th Anniversary Berlin Airlift Douglas C-47 DC-3

Jagel Spotterday 2019 70th Anniversary Berlin Airlift Douglas DC-3 N341A

USAAF C-47A 43-30647 ‘Virginia Ann’

This aircraft was in service with the USAAF since 1943. It took part to the D-Day operations with the name ‘Virginia Ann’, but was put on storage soon after WWII. It later went to private owners and was based in many domestic locations, including being part of the famous Planes of Fame collection in Chino, CA (see this post). Today it is still based on the West Coast, with the registration N62CC.

Jagel Spotterday 2019 70th Anniversary Berlin Airlift Douglas C-47A USAAF 330647 N62CC

Jagel Spotterday 2019 70th Anniversary Berlin Airlift Douglas C-47 DC-3

Jagel Spotterday 2019 70th Anniversary Berlin Airlift Douglas C-47A USAAF 330647 N62CC

Chalair C-47B

This C-47B was built among the latest in May 1945. It was surplus for the USAAF soon after WWII, so it joined the Royal Air Force inventory, and from there it left for Canada, where it enjoyed many years of service as a VIP transport in the Royal Canadian Air Force until the 1970s. It reportedly served as a Royal Flight for the Queen of England during a visit to Canada. After withdrawal from active service and changing hands several times in Canada, it was finally acquired in France and totally restored in the late 2000s. It flies with the registration F-AZOX.

Jagel Spotterday 2019 70th Anniversary Berlin Airlift Douglas C-47B ChalAir F-AZOX

Jagel Spotterday 2019 70th Anniversary Berlin Airlift Douglas C-47 DC-3

Jagel Spotterday 2019 70th Anniversary Berlin Airlift Douglas C-47B ChalAir F-AZOX

Johnson Flying Service, Inc. C-47 ‘Miss Montana’

This incredible aircraft was built soon after the WWII, and as many other surplus C-47, it moved to the civilian market. This aircraft was used in firefighting operations over the Northern Rockies, and was even involved in a tragic accident, crashing in the water causing fatalities. It was drawn back to a second life through the effort of the Museum of Mountain Flying in Missoula, Montana, where it is based now, with the registration N24320.

Jagel Spotterday 2019 70th Anniversary Berlin Airlift Douglas DC-3A NC24320 Johnson Flying Service Inc.

Legend Airways C-47D/DC-3C ‘Liberty’

A true combat veteran of WWII, this aircraft was pressed into service with the USAAF in mid-1943, and took part in operations in Algeria and the Mediterranean, as well as the D-Day in Normandy, where it sustained direct hits from German anti-aircraft guns. Soon after the turbulent war years, after returning to the US it fell into private hands in the south as a corporate transport. It kept the role, undergoing several upgrades, until it was finally acquired for a lavish restoration and cabin refurbishment, which gave it its current appearance. It is based in Colorado, where it is being operated for pleasure flights and filming, with the registration N25641.

Jagel Spotterday 2019 70th Anniversary Berlin Airlift Douglas DC-3C N25641 Legend Airways

Jagel Spotterday 2019 70th Anniversary Berlin Airlift Douglas C-47 DC-3

Jagel Spotterday 2019 70th Anniversary Berlin Airlift Douglas DC-3C N25641 Legend Airways

Pan American Airways System C-47B/DC-3

This aircraft had an adventurous history between its entry into service in 1944 and the early 1950s. It was originally allocated to the Chinese National Aviation Corporation, which in the war years carried out covert flights over a route known as the ‘hump’. These allowed resupply of Chinese forces from the British Empire in India, through resupply flights over the high peaks of western Tibet. This aircraft flew on that very dangerous route, until the breakdown of the Japanese forces and the end of WWII. As the Chinese National Aviation Corporation reverted back to normal operations, this aircraft was turned into a commuter between Hong-Kong and Canton. In the meanwhile, Mao Tse-Tung communist revolution subjugated China overturning the government. The new dictatorship tried to grab as many aircraft as possible, which in the meanwhile tried to escape from the country, assisted by western powers. This very aircraft, after some years on ground in China, was finally allowed to leave for the US, where it arrived in 1953. Since then it was refurbished as a corporate aircraft, and enjoyed a long career, being finally restored with a VIP internal layout and carefully reconstructed 1953 on-board systems. It is registered as N877MG.

Jagel Spotterday 2019 70th Anniversary Berlin Airlift Douglas DC-3 N877MG Pan American Airways System

Jagel Spotterday 2019 70th Anniversary Berlin Airlift Douglas C-47 DC-3

Jagel Spotterday 2019 70th Anniversary Berlin Airlift Douglas DC-3 N877MG Pan American Airways System

USAAF C-47DL 43-15087

The aircraft you see flying is indeed a WWII veteran, but not with the colors you see today. The number 43-15087 on the tail refers to a C-47 which actually took part to the operations over Normandy on June 6th, 1944. But the airframe you actually see entered service with the USAAF as a personnel transport in North Africa and the Middle East in 1943. It then went to the Armee de l’Air in France, then to civilian operators in France and back in the US after the 1960s. There it was later restored and changed livery several times for special occasions, like the 75th anniversary of the D-Day – the ‘9X-P’ designation you see now. It is based in Texas, with the US registration N150D.

Jagel Spotterday 2019 70th Anniversary Berlin Airlift Douglas C-47A USAAF 315087 N150D

USAAF C-47 42-26044 ‘Placid Lassie’

Pressed into service in the summer of 1943, this aircraft is a true combat veteran, having flown on June 6th, 1944 over Normandy, and in September 1944 for several times over Flanders during the ill-fated operation ‘Market Garden’. It then went on as a civilian transport in the continental US. After years spent in disrepair, it was drawn back to life in the 2000s, and is now flown by a foundation dedicated to the crew of ‘1D-N’ during WWII.

Jagel Spotterday 2019 70th Anniversary Berlin Airlift Douglas C-47A USAAF 224064 N74589

German Air Force Aircraft

As the historical flight performed basically a fly-in and fly-out, in the few hours between them the aircraft of the German Air Force – the Luftwaffe – and of the Navy – the Marine – based at Jagel flew for the public. There were also German aircraft taken there in preparation for the day of the Armed Forces – Tag des Bundeswehr – to be celebrated the following week-end with an open day of the base.

Jagel is the home base for the Taktisches Luftwaffengeschwader 51 ‘Immelmann’, which currently operates the Panavia Tornado. These massive swing-wing aircraft flew in several time slots during the spotter day.

Jagel Spotterday 2019 Tornado ECR 46+49 Luftwaffe

Jagel Spotterday 2019 Tornado ECR 46+44 Luftwaffe

Jagel Spotterday 2019 Tornado ECR 46+32 Luftwaffe

Jagel Spotterday 2019 Tornado ECR 46+49 Luftwaffe

Jagel Spotterday 2019 Tornado ECR 46+35 Luftwaffe

Jagel Spotterday 2019 Tornado ECR 46+49 Luftwaffe

Jagel Spotterday 2019 Tornado ECR 46+44 Luftwaffe

Jagel Spotterday 2019 Tornado Luftwaffe

Jagel Spotterday 2019 Tornado ECR 46+35 Luftwaffe

Jagel Spotterday 2019 Tornado Luftwaffe

Jagel Spotterday 2019 Tornado IDS 43+25 Luftwaffe Immelmann

Jagel Spotterday 2019 Tornado ECR 46+32 Luftwaffe

Small formations demonstrated refueling abilities.

Jagel Spotterday 2019 Tornado ECR Luftwaffe

Jagel Spotterday 2019 Tornado Refuelling Luftwaffe

Jagel Spotterday 2019 Tornado Luftwaffe

Some passages were performed at high speed, with maximum sweep.

Jagel Spotterday 2019 Tornado IDS 43+25 Luftwaffe Immelmann

One of the aircraft has been painted in a flamboyant celebration livery, with the portrait of Max Immelman, a German WWI ace, on the vertical tail.

Jagel Spotterday 2019 Tornado IDS 43+25 Luftwaffe Immelmann

Another impressive performance was given by a Eurofighter Typhoon, a massive delta-winged twin-jet with a tail-less, all-moving canard configuration. This compares well in size with the Super Hornet – a pretty massive attack aircraft.

Jagel Spotterday 2019 Eurofighter Typhoon Luftwaffe 31+08

This very aircraft is from the Taktisches Luftwaffengeschwader 31 ‘Boelcke’, based in Nörvenich.

At some point in the day, there was a flypast of a single Lockheed P-3 Orion, on strength to the German Navy – Marine. On its double passage it was possible to see the large racks for sonobuoys under the belly of this four-propeller aircraft.

Jagel Spotterday 2019 Lockheed P3 Orion 60+07 Marine

There were also exhibitions by some rotorcrafts, including a huge Sikorsky CH-53G, an Airbus H145 and a larger NH-90, the most modern of the three. The very dark camo livery made them pretty difficult to photograph, despite a rather wide zoom lens I was using for the task.

Jagel Spotterday 2019 H145 76+02 Luftwaffe

Jagel Spotterday 2019 Sikorsky CH-53G 84+38 Luftwaffe

Jagel Spotterday 2019 NH90 78+36 Heer

Jagel Spotterday 2019 Sikorsky CH-53G 84+38 Luftwaffe

Finally, a pretty rare aircraft, albeit possibly not so eye-catching, a single Dornier Do-28 military light transport landed in the evening.

Jagel Spotterday 2019 Dornier Do-28 59+11 Marine

Visiting Aircraft from Other Countries

Other aircraft landed and departed from the base, some possibly in preparation for the Tag des Bundeswehr to be held a couple of days later. These aircraft were not from Germany.

First, two more Tornadoes of the Italian Air Force landed at some point, and posed for photographers. They belong to the 6° Stormo ‘Diavoli Rossi’, based at Ghedi. A small devil’s face is painted on the vertical tail of these aircraft.

Jagel Spotterday 2019 Tornado 6 13 Italian Air Force

Jagel Spotterday 2019 Tornado Luftwaffe

Jagel Spotterday 2019 Tornado 6 41 Italian Air Force

Jagel Spotterday 2019 Tornado Italian Air Force

Jagel Spotterday 2019 Tornado 6 13 Italian Air Force

Jagel Spotterday 2019 Tornado Luftwaffe

A SAAB JAS-39 Gripen of the Hungarian Air Force, in a twin-seat configuration, landed soon after.

Jagel Spotterday 2019 SAAB JAS-39D Gripen 43 Hungarian Air Force

A single Aero L-159 Alca of the Czech Air Force appeared at some point.

Jagel Spotterday 2019 Aero L-159A Alca 6051 Czech Air Force

An Antonov An-26 of the Hungarian Air Force landed and later departed. An iconic Soviet-made transport, this sturdy workhorse is still flying in many Countries, both for the Armed Forces and for civilian operators as well.

Jagel Spotterday 2019 Antonov An-26 406 Hungarian Air Force

A single Pilatus PC-9 of the private company Qinetiq made an appearance.

Jagel Spotterday 2019 Pilatus PC-9 D-FGMT Qinetiq

Finally, two pretty rare Douglas A4 belonging to the Canadian private training company Jet Aces landed and taxied for the photographers, one of them in a rather eye-catching NATO anniversary commemoration livery.

Jagel Spotterday 2019 Douglas A-4 Top Aces Canada

Final Note

The Marine base of Schleswig-Jagel where this event took place was originally a Luftwaffe airfield, operated by the British military during the Berlin Airlift and until the early Sixties, and later handed over to the Federal Republic of Germany. It is still today an active airbase. There is no public access except on special occasions.

Two Great Flying Aircraft Collections of the Northeast

December 9, 2016December 24, 2018 CarloRLeave a comment

Aeronautics has a great tradition in the US, as witnessed by the many air museums and collections pointing the territory of the Country from coast to coast, with a density unrivalled in any other place of the world.

Some of these, like the museum of the USAF in Dayton, OH, the Udvar-Hazy branch of the Smithsonian Institution in Washington, D.C. or the museum of the Naval Aviation in Pensacola, FL, stand out for their size and the completeness of their collections, as well as for rare or unique items they preserve – not just prototypes or experimental aircraft, but also ‘last exemplars’ of once widespread species.

Among less extensive collections, all with something interesting to showcase, there are some featuring not only a static exhibition, but also shops for carrying out restoration work, and capable of maintaining a group of flying aircraft. The following photographs are from two such places I visited in Pennsylvania and upper New York state.

National Warplane Museum – Geneseo, NY

Also known as ‘1941 Historical Aircraft Group Museum’, this museum is located at the end of Big Tree Lane, to the west of the little town of Geneseo, home of a campus of the State University of New York – actually the museum can be spotted from the campus. The collection there is hosted mainly in a single large hangar, located to the south of a field with a fairly long grass runway.

The collection is made up of flying aircraft and aircraft awaiting restoration to a flying condition. This makes the place unique, in the sense it is basically an active airbase for historic aircraft more than a museum.

National Warplane Museum Geneseo 1941 Historical Group

At the time of my visit there were two examples of great Douglas designs, a C-47 Skytrain and an A-20 Havoc. The former is a surviving WWII veteran, more recently flown back to Normandy – where it had dropped paratroopers during the operations of the D-Day – for the 70th anniversary of the disembarkment. Both are in flying or almost-flying conditions.

National Warplane Museum Geneseo 1941 Historical Group

Other Douglas aircraft here are an A-26 Invader and a more rare B-23 Dragon, a twin-engined bomber of the pre-war years awaiting restoration. The A-26 suffered a nose gear collapse in summer 2016.

National Warplane Museum Geneseo 1941 Historical Group

An interesting sight is an exemplar of North American B-25 Mitchell, in the attack – possibly ‘G’ – version with a monster 74 mm cannon in the nose compartment.

National Warplane Museum Geneseo 1941 Historical Group

A more unusual sight in this part of the world, an Antonov An-2, which at the time of my visit was having the engine refurbished.

Most notably, the place is the home base of a Boeing B-17, but I couldn’t see it on my visit for it was away for taking part in an airshow.

National Warplane Museum Geneseo 1941 Historical Group

I am not totally sure all aircraft actually belong to the local collection, as due to the quality of the shop I guess they bring in some aircraft from other places for restoration or specific maintenance.

National Warplane Museum Geneseo 1941 Historical Group

On the outside there are a handful of statically preserved aircraft. These include another C-47 used during WWII for the perilous flights between India across the Himalaya to continental China and the British colonies occupied by Japan, and a Fairchild C-119 Boxcar, having served in many continents in the years following WWII, and presented here in the colours of the RCAF.

National Warplane Museum Geneseo 1941 Historical Group

The site is busy with historical rides and airshows, you can find news and further info on their website.

Mid-Atlantic Air Museum – Reading, PA

This museum is located on the northern side of Reading Regional Airport, an intermediate size infrastructure with two asphalt runways for general aviation and regional commercial flights.

In the museum it is possible to find many aircraft in flying or nearly flying conditions, together with an extensive collection of planes on static display.

Among the highlights of my visit, I could see a beautiful North American B-25 Mitchell in perfect flight condition. Another interesting aircraft is a Douglas R4D, a naval version of the C-47. I came to the museum looking for this exemplar in particular, since I had seen a photo of it in my childhood on the great book by Arthur Pearcy ‘Sixty Glorious Years’, and also flew in the virtual version of it on many trips in the good old MS Flight Simulator 98… Plus I always liked the bare metal colors with minimal trim adopted by the NATS.

Mid Atlantic Air Museum

A truly unique sight of the museum is the Northrop P-61 Black Widow. As of late 2016, this aircraft is still undergoing a lengthy restoration notably to a flyable condition, which would make it the only flying P-61 in the world – of the only four surviving today.

Mid Atlantic Air Museum

Another very uncommon sight is one of the two surviving prototypes of the Custer “Channel Wing” from the early Sixties. This design was based on the idea to exploit the acceleration of the flow nearby the propellers to generate extra lift on purpose-designed, circular shaped wing sections. Unfortunately the aircraft failed to enter the market, but the idea was not just fancy, for blown flaps and accelerated aerodynamic flows are solutions not seldom used on aircraft today. A wind tunnel model of the same aircraft can be found in the entrance hall.

Mid Atlantic Air Museum

A rare aircraft in the US, you can spot a Vickers Viscount turboprop formerly of Capital Airlines, a company with its roots in the Northeast and Pennsylvania, later to merge into United. Another liner on display, a 1952 Martin 4-0-4 in the colors of Eastern.

Mid Atlantic Air Museum

A Fairchild C-119 Boxcar formerly of the Marine Corps and many other aircraft can be admired in or around the main hangar of the museum. Some very knowledgeable volunteers help with the tour and are available for questions. At the time of my visit, I could not see all the aircraft in the collection for some of them were away to take part in airshows.

Mid Atlantic Air Museum

They operate a very informative interesting website.

Appendix: Local Airshow in the Amish Country

As I was visiting the area of the Amish tradition in southern Pennsylvania, about 35 miles southwest of Reading I came across a curious airshow at the Smoketown Airport S-37.

Smoketown Airport Airshow

For sure the strangest thing flying that day – and for many days before and after – is a kind of paragliding, propelled flying-jeep. Unfortunately, I don’t know much about this curious project, but as you can see from some pictures below it really can fly.