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German Epic

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Terry
Posts: 378
Joined: Tue Feb 02, 2010 5:38 pm

German Epic

Post by Terry » Sun Sep 22, 2013 8:47 pm

No not Wagner's 'Ring cycle', but a spotting extravaganza.
I agonised for a couple of weeks as to if I had the stamina/ 'arsed' to start this, so if it peters out part way through, tough.
THE INTENTION
Like the road to hell this started out with the best intentions, plot was, Leave Monday 20th August go to Luxembourg, Hermeskiel , Stuttgart then Tannheim , leave Monday head north doing a few airfields on the way to Warstein for the 'Mongolfiade' the following weekend, then back to Stuttgart for 'Hahnweide the 3rd weekend ,then home, all by Transit van with caravan crawling along behind :o .
At disgusting o'clock (my favourite time of the day, well night NOT.) we toddled off to catch a Chunnel train to Calais, then up into Belgium, across to Namur, down to Luxembourg, (for cheap fuel), a quick visit to Findel secured 3 CX 747 800s, and N221YY.

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Then on to Hahn (to be my first visit), via Trier Fohren, my 2nd visit & another washout.

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D EIIB, D MNKT, D EFVQ, D GHEA, D IESK

Hahn former U.S. base is bigger than Yorkshire it's absolutely HUGE & EMPTY.
D ACGA, D ACGB, N419MC, RA73010.

Thence to Hermeskiel, some say there are 100 aircraft on show, some say 110. Me I have no idea, only 1 of interest..........

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Despite the best German attempts to jam up the autobahns we made Stuttgart, so overnighted there.
Next day, logged about 150, mostly mundane stuff, with a few notables.
TC IZE, OE LGJ , EI LIS , SP LDA , LY MCA , S5 AAL , HB KEF , ER FZA , HB LUJ , LZ LDU.
Overnighted here again then went shopping for 4 days beer I mean supplies (leaving your 'pitch' at a German camping area is a NO NO.)
EI SLF , YR BAK , N3965T , N120 GA, watched our departure about 10.00.
Arrived Tannkosh, about midday , and set up for the duration. It was Thursday so technically not show day till Friday but I logged about 250 on an afternoon stroll.

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Retired to the caravan for a bite and another beer before dark in preperation for Friday's onslaught.
Please note, I was using a new camera (without a viewfinder...most odd, so some of the pics are not up to par :lol: , none are really :lol: )

END OF PART 1
I got a little black book with me poems in

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Mike
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Re: German Epic

Post by Mike » Mon Sep 23, 2013 8:39 am

Great stuff Terry, I'm looking forward to part 2. :thumb:
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Terry
Posts: 378
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Re: German Epic

Post by Terry » Mon Sep 23, 2013 12:10 pm

Friday dawned bright and sunny, so I sauntered off to the 'mid point' of the runway with the intention of taking a pic of each landing aircraft

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Obviously took a few pics as I sauntered.

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Safely seated I began taking pics only for the batteries to run out, when I went to change them they were red hot, so
that put the mockers on pics for a while.Got some a bit later though.

Saturday started off warm and dry then about midday they announced rubbish weather was on the way, so many aircraft started queuing to get away, that was when the Flamingo crashed.....

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qKBKKhM3 ... e=youtu.be

That stopped flying for about 3 hours, then the weather had deteriorated, so not so many tried to get away.

Sunday was just wet & miserable, sauntered round to a bar for a couple of hours but not a lot was happening.
So a few more beers & bed.

Bear with me Photophucket is playing up again.

END OF PART 2
I got a little black book with me poems in

Terry
Posts: 378
Joined: Tue Feb 02, 2010 5:38 pm

Re: German Epic

Post by Terry » Thu Sep 26, 2013 2:14 pm

Hi
Here are a few Friday afternoon pics, trying with Tinypics, have to see how it goes (apart from very s l o w).

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We waited till Monday morning then packed up & peed off. First port of call was Grob's factory field at Mindleheim, just the 1 out.

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D CDLR, a high altitude test machine I believe.
Then it was off to Augsburg, quite active,

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Thence to Genderkingen, all very quiet just 4 outside.
then Bubenheim, a deserted glider field all locked up, and so to Nurnburg, biz jet central :cool:

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All in about 15 German biz jets , half a dozen others, includin 4O SEV, YL KSD, 3BRGT and LZ VTS
plus N214AX and N215AX, L29's

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Last call of the day Herzoganaurac, about a dozen out (18.00 ish) including N4578W and N592WA,
Then off to truck stop for the night.
I am really struggling with this Tinypics it's SO DAMN SLOW.

END OF PART 3 (was it ?)
I got a little black book with me poems in

Terry
Posts: 378
Joined: Tue Feb 02, 2010 5:38 pm

Re: German Epic

Post by Terry » Fri Sep 27, 2013 7:07 pm

Part 4
Not a great kip, lotsa trucks starting stopping, going e.t.c, but free.
First port of call Schenkenturm near Wurzburg I had been once before but some serious road works tried the sat nav to the extreme but we eventually got there,
hardly worth the effort as it was all locked up with just 4 outside, N5486S,D EDPV, D EUTA and D GFLY.
Lager Hammelburg was next on the northward trail, Lager means lower which the village is, but the airfield is on a mountain (alright BIG hill) top,
slow with a caravan (ask the guys following us :P )
Here we found another unusual sight, a circular hangar. I have seen the hangars at Holm (near Hanover) and Grimbergen (near Brussels), but this one was different, one door at the front & a turntable inside, (they usually have doors all around !) a wheelbarrow wheel/tyre driving it froma 3 phase electric motor.

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Room for 6 inside, tthere were 3 in t'other hangar, with an east German winch truck resplendent with 427 inch (American) Ford V8 straight out of a T'bird.

D EARO, D MUKJ, D EHLJ, D ELOS, D EIMY, D KECM, in 2nd hangar D MGTS, D 1757, D2377. Really friendly helpful, guy on site.

Next call was Bad Kissingen,completely empty glider field very picturesque, reminded me of Braunschweig,
huge building no airplanes :lol:

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Talking of mountains, our next port of call was also atop a long & tedious climb, Wasserkuppe, 15 on the field but a further 60 (gliders)in the Deutches Segelflug Museum. No I am not going to list them , but you can get an idea from.......http://www.segelflugmuseum.de/, 'segelflug' gives a list of residents.

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Several hours later we headed off to our next destination, but halfway down the mountain we thought sod it we are all lightplaned out so we went to Frankfurt instead, needless to say as we were passing Egelsbach we had to visit. Two non Germans in, SP MRB and SE XZR , and a further 16 out, thence to a campsite at Morfelden & beer kip.

END OF PART 4 ( told you it was going to be an epic :lol: )
I got a little black book with me poems in

Terry
Posts: 378
Joined: Tue Feb 02, 2010 5:38 pm

Re: German Epic

Post by Terry » Fri Sep 27, 2013 10:27 pm

Frankfurt
What can I say, we stayed 4 days, we both live near Heathrow so have 90% of Lufthansa'a fleet, so LH wise it was just gap fillers
but there's plenty of other activity, so not great for quantity but O.K. for quality. We spotted from the lay-by's at the western end of the 2 main runways ,
this had the advantage of being able to see stuff departing on the south facing runway, but there are lots of obstacles obscuring clear views, so a bit hit & miss. 7T VHL, the Air Algerie Hercules was best for me.
We had seen Aschaffenburg airport signposted (on our way into Frankfurt) so decided to give it a try . Wish we hadn't security gates every few yards (sorry metres) 9, one of which is iffy .
Then on to another waste of time Mainbullain, top of another bl**dy mountain & deserted, Michelstadt next, pain to find all for 3.
We tried unsuccessfully to find a couple of other glider strips on our meandering journey south toward Stuttgart (all will be revealed later).
Next morning off to find 'Schwabbish Hall' a funny airfield- both of them :o , one either side of the same road.
Adolph Wurth Airport one side (They make car body repair stuff, filler, primer that sort of stuff)and Weckrieden t'other.

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They use the access road as a taxi way.........., quite a fruitful visit 28 between the 2 airfields
I tried for a pic from in the van, being an 'auto' camera it focussed on the heated screen elements, I was trying for the red traffic light with the a/c crossing.

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Thought you would like it :lol:
Huebach next, I had 'adjusted' the sat nav to avoid autobahns and it did, some of the roads we used were not dirt tracks well not quite !
Huebach D ESMR, D EMHD, D EKOL and G SPAT, theres no justice.
Last field for the day Elchingen, at last one worthy of a couple of pics. Really well laid out, spectators enclosure one end of the runway overlooking the refuelling point.

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16 out and about, the hangars all in a line & nothing else to be seen.Nice airfield.
That was it for the day, went off refuelled & found another truck stop.

END OF PART FIVE (is it, only a couple or 3 more :lol: )
I got a little black book with me poems in

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Mike
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Re: German Epic

Post by Mike » Sat Sep 28, 2013 10:10 am

I'm loving this, reminds me of some of the mad Euro trips that we used to do. :) :thumb:
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Terry
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Re: German Epic

Post by Terry » Sun Sep 29, 2013 8:20 pm

Found a truckstop and lo and behold first thing in the morning a HUGE rigid wierd looking truck pulls up and the customs guy asked us to move, then they slowly set up a scanner frame attached to the truck, obviously checking the 40 footers I guess for illegals.
So up and away, because this was an unplanned excursion , I didn't have post codes for the airfields we were trying (unsuccessfully) to find.
Early afternoon atop yet another mountainous climb we found Donzdorf. We approached a guy walking across the apron, asked if he spoke English and he did so we asked if we could look round, 'Spotters ?, well then certainly, you know the drill' and off he walked 'Photo's are no problem'. We were taken aback.
one largish hangar inside were I guess 20 aircraft, we were just looking over the Beagle, when he returned 'Sorry guys boss says no, not covered by insurance'
So after profuse thanks and a chat off we went. Logged 8.

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After a couple more dismal failiures we decided to go directly to Stuttgart, via Laichingen which was miles off the road and locked up.
As we were passing we went into Nabern the overflow field for OTT Hahnweide, 2, G MOGI and DEBIH.
Hahnweide or correctly Kircheim unter Teck (Hahnweide is the name of the road the airfield is in) was but a minor detour and they were busy
preparing for the weekend, very little flying.D EEJQ , D EACE, D EEKN , D EIUW , D KOCC , D MWFI , D MUFI.
Disenchanted we went off to STR to the layby opposite the GA hangars, logged about 70 till it got dark, then off to a truck stop again.
This hippy-mobile pulled in behind us and I thought the reg no was most appropriate. :cool:

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Next morning off to the lay-by again, logged about 60 then went to our chosen hostelry. Hotel Alena , Filderstadt.
A little explanation, about 2 years back a couple of spotter friends had expressed a desire to do the Museums at Sinsheim & Speyer, so we organised a trip.
Fly in FRA Friday morning , hire a car, drive down to Speyer, then to STR we booked the Hotel Alena on spec. Next day a couple of hours at STR then Sinsheim, Egelsbach & Saturday night at the 'good spotting hotel' on FRA. Hotel Alena was great we had an 'apartment' the (whole) top floor and could see the end of the runway & logged with an SBS. Ground floor is a Greek restaurant, with good food & beer. Vera the owner was really friendly & helpful, with good English.
(Dean one of the guys did a write up in a spotters mag & she has had several requests for the top floor from spotters from Holland & France as well as Germany.) I visited in March when I did a Munich run & she was well pleased.
Technically the hotel didn't open till September 1st, but she opened up for us, top floor again. Very highly recommended :D .
So we overnighted there.
Next day STR again logged about 50, among which was SP AVP ,but mostly mundanery.

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Mundane I know but the first time I managed to get a moving plane somewhere near in focus :unsure:

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Next day Thursday, the morning at STR then away to Hahnweide (25 miles down the autobahn), we arrived and set up very near the entrance
(I know how crowded/busy it can be !). A saunter round produced about 40.

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Needless to say the 'old bill' had to put in an appearance

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They took about half hour to get this started,but once it was running satisfactorily, he took off and promptly looped it.!

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That's end of part 6 ? Have fun
I got a little black book with me poems in

dewint
Posts: 2
Joined: Mon Feb 20, 2012 10:28 pm

Re: German Epic

Post by dewint » Mon Sep 30, 2013 7:12 am

Hi Terry, great read, very impressed with Tannheim first visit for me.
Would be very grateful for a copy of your log for Stuttgart as we flew through their overhead on 23/8 in G-GUMS & trying to ID the aircraft from photo's.
Thanks for your interesting report.
Cheers
Adrian Clark

Terry
Posts: 378
Joined: Tue Feb 02, 2010 5:38 pm

Re: German Epic

Post by Terry » Mon Sep 30, 2013 11:04 am

Hi Adrian,
Sorry I don't have a log for STR on 23rd. We arrived at Tannheim on 22nd at about lunchtime & once settled you dare not leave your spot in the camping area.
There is a spotters group at STR, I may be able to get you a contact/website, I'll get back to you. I have a log of about 30 for the morning of 22nd, I can post it here or email it.
Glad you enjoyed Tannkosh, it's a bit like Oshkosh in as much as you can't believe what you are seeing, till you go.
The crash on Saturday & the weather did screw things up a bit.
Meanwhile have fun
Terry
I got a little black book with me poems in

Terry
Posts: 378
Joined: Tue Feb 02, 2010 5:38 pm

Re: German Epic

Post by Terry » Mon Sep 30, 2013 11:16 am

Hi Adrian
Here's the website for them http://www.strforum.de/, obviously it's in German.
5 of us went late last year and met a couple of the guys at the 'supermarket lay-by' and one gave us his card,
Which we are trying to find, he speaks good English.
Meanwhile H.T.H.
Terry
I got a little black book with me poems in

Terry
Posts: 378
Joined: Tue Feb 02, 2010 5:38 pm

Re: German Epic

Post by Terry » Mon Sep 30, 2013 12:23 pm

The Fokker replica was SE XVO,I don't propose to type a full log, you can go to the website at http://www.oldtimer-hahnweide.de/teilnehmer.php
It has been updated. So it's a pics only episode .

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Bleriot replica is SE AMZ

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This is the best of several of the Noratlas.

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at's all and as you have had so many pics the LAST episode will be short on them.
END OF PART 7 ?
Have fun
Terry
I got a little black book with me poems in

dewint
Posts: 2
Joined: Mon Feb 20, 2012 10:28 pm

Re: German Epic

Post by dewint » Tue Oct 08, 2013 7:19 am

Many thanks Terry.

Adrian

Terry
Posts: 378
Joined: Tue Feb 02, 2010 5:38 pm

Re: German Epic

Post by Terry » Thu Oct 10, 2013 7:46 pm

Last part, you will be glad to hear.
Photo's apparently I didn't take any after Hahnweide, so you get none instead of a few :huh:
From Hahnweide we drove north with the intention of a full day at Frankfurt again, but I couldn't resist a diversion to Egelsbach yet AGAIN, 10 OUT.
A full day at the layby saw 22, go into the log !
Another truckstop
Then Hangelar, just south of Cologne, CGN is not worth a visit it's surrounded by woodland & military camps.
56, all told,this is where they maintain the ADAC 'rescue' helicopters, 5 out, of which we could get 2.
Next port of call towards the Dutch border was Merzebruck 18 and their ADAC BK 117 flew off as we arrived, so we missed it.
Maastricht in Holland was next plenty of stored Fokker 50's & 100's, but awkward to get.
JY AGQ was a surprise, but the rest were , (we think :o )PH MUJ, PH JXM, PH GER, PH JQM, SX BRT, EC IJE, PH CXF, PH CXK, PH KPB, PH GHK
plus a couple of iffy's and several just plain unreadable from the opposite side of the airfield.
Last call of the day was Liege, the idea was stay & get some T.N.T night traffic, but we got moved on so didn't do well.
TF BBD, OO TNB, OO TSB, ET APU, OO TNO, OO HBR,OO PRF,OO HRD, Z BAM, TC MCA, TS IOK, OO JAX and mispole OO GOM.
Also missed an AN26 (I think, just as it got too dark to see,)
Another truck stop for our last night 'sur la continent'
Next morning Namur Suarlees, one (amusing) Robinson landed OO PMT
Charleroi, I hadn't been to for 12 maybe 15 years, it was always difficult to spot at,
even moreso when they removed the road past the chapel at the runways end, but LO a whole new terminal e.t.c.
OO JAR, OO JAY, EI DLF, EI DAG, and an SR 22 N ??6PY
Last drome of the trip was Wevelgem again I hadn't been (in this case) for 30 + years, didn't remember it at all.
OO DDA, OO PRN, OOJDK, OO GEE, OO AMR, G BSZD, OO IDE, OO CKD, OO JBM, F GBPL, N415GF, N231BD, and OO VKB.
Need I tell you it was off the Pidou, for the standing order of 12 cases of wine for an alcoholic friend (just 1 for me)
Thence to the Chunnel, a little early & we got an earlier xing, so we were home for 9.30, Tuesday 10th September.
I reckon we saw 3000 + aeroplanes, I made about 1200.
Have fun, sorry about the lack of pics, we were getting a little disenchanted with spotting after 3 weeks solid.
Have fun
Terry
I got a little black book with me poems in

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Bobbybefc
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Location: Beechwood, Runcorn, Cheshire

Re: German Epic

Post by Bobbybefc » Tue Feb 25, 2014 2:05 pm

:D

Terry,

Great report- looks like it was a good but very tiring trip- I am hoping to go the Tannheim myself next year but just fly to Munich and make my way down from there. Your report has given me a few additional ideas possible add ons to my proposed trip.

Thanks for taking the time and effort to post this report. :thumb:

Happy days

Bob :cool:
Bobby B EFC :cool:

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blackdog
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Re: German Epic

Post by blackdog » Sun Mar 08, 2015 9:53 am

Great write up Terry, made for an interesting read.
You can find my helicopter shots here: https://www.flickr.com/photos/pete_brown/

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Bobbybefc
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Location: Beechwood, Runcorn, Cheshire

Re: German Epic

Post by Bobbybefc » Wed Mar 11, 2015 2:45 pm

:D


Terry- It is a pity Tannheim has been cancelled this year- hopefully the LAA may benefit from the cancellation and we may get a few more foreign GA unlike the last few years.

Happy Days

Bob :cool:
Bobby B EFC :cool:

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