Issue Number 33

November 2012

JOURNEYS TO TRANSPORT MUSEUMS AND AVIATION COLLECTIONS
IN EUROPE Part 5.

By James Strachan.Airframes.


April 2010 saw us again heading for a holiday on the Continent. During our holiday in 2008 we saw the Russian space shuttle 'Buran' passing the 'Loreley' in the Rhine Gorge, on its way to the Technik Museum at Speyer. On this holiday we were to see 'Buran' on display in the museum. After disembarking at Ijmuiden we stayed for a few days at the very nice farm hotel Bladelin in Flanders. During our stay there we visited the cycling museum at Roeslare where there are examples of bikes from the very beginning of cycling and bikes which had belonged to some of the famous Belgian road racers including Eddy Merckz, five times winner of the Tour de France. They had not been restored and were as they had been when their racing days were over. Later, on the way back to Bladelin we stopped at Reninge and revisited the 'Old Timer' museum which consists of a collection of ninety five cars from 1899 up to around 1970 and about twenty five old motorcycles.

Reaching Durbuy we found that the hotel we had booked had closed but the multi starred hotel next door was taking their booked guests at the same price. This was very comfortable but the rarefied atmosphere in the restaurant was not to my liking, waiters watching to see if you used the correct irons, the rest of the clientele quaffing champagne from ice buckets while we sipped our half pints of Pils. They had a private car park however so we didn't have to leave our car with the proletariat in the main square.

While there we paid a visit to the Steam Railway Museum at Treignes where there are very interesting locomotives and workshop equipment displays. Glass cabinets around the museum house a collection of hats worn by railwaymen from around the world. The day we checked out of the hotel there were no boiled eggs for breakfast due to a failure of the egg boiler. This must be the most unreliable piece of catering equipment ever, followed closely by the bread toasters which have a conveyor belt taking the slices past the glowing elements. I have encountered these egg boilers several times and they never seem to be working properly. The toasters have a number of adjusting knobs and instructions which would be difficult to get your head round at the best of times never mind first thing in the morning! I suspect that the waiters don't understand them either because when you are using the things they give you a wide berth and always manage to be looking the other way when you are trying to attract their attention.

Arriving in Speyer we found the Altstadhotel 1735 in the old part of the town. Their private car park is a short walk away. The hotel was very pleasant and appeared to be run by young ladies who did everything from being the receptionist to waiting! At breakfast the boiled eggs were also coloured because it was Easter. We drove the short distance to the Technik Museum where there is plenty of parking space. Here is a huge collection of vehicles of all kinds and the aircraft are often suspended from the ceiling. The 'Buran' is in a separate building and had walkways around it so that you could see inside the cargo bay. Videos showed aspects of its development. This particular example was not intended to fly in space but had three jet engines allowing it to take off and land like a normal aircraft, presumably for low speed handling tests. Nearby, a scale model was streaked and burned in the trailing edge areas as a result of re-entry from sub- orbital flights. There is a collection of spacesuits which would have been worn by the crew. However there were no manned space flights, only those under remote control. I bought a booklet about the craft by putting three Euros into a slot machine in the side of a large glass case whereupon a robot arm picked up the booklet and delivered it to a drawer from where I collected it. Outside, aircraft and helicopters are mounted on stands as if in flight and you can go inside many of them. We walked through a submarine but saw no sign of where the submariners slept, then viewed a maritime exhibition which included many superb model ships.

The other part of the Technik Museum is at Sinsheim, a short drive away. Here is another huge collection, including American cars from the 1960s, trucks, motorcycles, bicycles, racing cars, military equipment, mostly 2nd ww, German, American and British. Steam locomotives are arranged so that you can see the wheels and cranks operating to the accompaniment of realistic sounds. Outside, mounted on large stands are aircraft including the Russian SST and Concorde which we walked through, automatic turnstiles limit the number of people in the aircraft at any time.

At the Hockenheim Ring racetrack museum there is an excellent collection of both road and racing motorcycles and racing sidecar outfits, some F1 cars and racing saloons. Shortly after our visit they were to hold a race to commemorate Jim Clark.

Heading for Ijmuiden on our way home we stopped at VW Classics at Soberon in Holland. There were many nice Beetles and Karmann Ghias for sale including Cabriolets, a Trekker and Camper vans, all left hand drive, some having been imported from the United States. We were made very welcome and invited to help ourselves to coffee while Philip bought some spares for his Beetle. Apparently they are often visited by British enthusiasts buying spare parts.

The next stop was Oosterbeek where we checked into the Hotel Dreyeroord on the Graaf van Rechternweg, standing in a lovely spot surrounded by trees. In the entrance, a plaque presented by KOSB veterans commemorates the battle which took place around the hotel which they were occupying in1944. Inside the hotel is a small room filled with memorabilia presented by veterans of both British and American Airborne Units.

The Airborne Museum at Hartenstein is very interesting and has continuously running films. One film showed a paratrooper from my home town of Forfar whose photo I had seen in the local newspaper. This clip often appears in TV documentaries and shows him operating a mortar. We also paid our respects at the British and Commonwealth War Cemetery at Arnhem.

Around this time most of the European and UK airspace was closed due to volcanic ash coming from the Icelandic volcano and a larger number of freezer trucks than usual were going on to the ferry, probably carrying perishables otherwise stuck at the airports. There were also a large number of foot passengers most likely unable to fly from the airports.

We decided to go to the Harz Mountains and Berlin for our holiday in April 2011. We stayed in the lovely timber framed hotel Altora in Wernigerode. The hotel is full of railway memorabilia and would be a great place for steam enthusiasts. The restaurant overlooks the railway yard and you can see the loco men attending to the steam locomotives, loading coal and water and cleaning out soot from the front. At dinner after ordering your drinks they are brought to your table on a model railway. We took the steam train to the summit of Broken at 3,700 ft. The train was quite full, stopping at settlements along the way. The door at the front of the carriage was open and we enjoyed the aroma of steam, smoke and pine trees. The train stayed long enough for us to enjoy some ice cream and apple strudel before returning.

There is an aviation museum in Wernigerode and in there are aircraft which I had not seen in other museums including a Mig 23 and Mig 21, Antonov AN 2 biplane, helicopters, Venom, Hunter, Sabre, Fiat G91, F104 Starfighter, a display of ejector seats, flying suits, anti g suits and helmets.

The highlight of our stay in Berlin was a one-hour flight over the city in a Cessna 172 from Strausberg airfield, east of Berlin. The flight was bumpy but very exciting. Philip sat next to the pilot, had a headset and could hear the conversations with the air traffic controllers. An autogyro passed by not far from us. There are a surprisingly large number of lakes in the Berlin area, some being used by sailing boats and some forming part of canals. We recognised lots of places as the pilot flew along the edge of the restricted zone.

Busses and trains took us to the other side of the city to visit the Airlift Museum. A Hastings which was used during the airlift is mounted on stands outside the museum and is in very good condition considering it has been outside for many years. It had a walkway up to the door but it was not open for visitors. There is memorabilia from the days of the Four Power occupation and a section which shows how the West spied on the Eastern part including part of a tunnel which was built from a radar station in the West then under the border where Eastern bloc telephone lines were tapped. The Soviets eventually found the tunnel and dug it up.

After checking out of the hotel we took the car to the Netto supermarket car park at the S Bahn station where you can park for two hours with a blue card. Philip and I took our Brompton folding bikes to the station platform using the lift. We travelled in the section set aside for bikes which have flip up seats to create more space if required. We bought the bikes through e bay and refurbished them so that they look quite nice. They fold up and can be carried comfortably in the boot of the car.

At the Brandenburg Gate station we unfolded the bikes and cycled past large numbers of pedestrians and through the gate. There was a large police presence on account of a meeting of NATO ministers in the Hotel Adlon . We cycled along the Strasse des 17 Juni to the Russian war memorial, along to the Victory column and through the Tiergarden to the Reichstag. Then it was back to the Brandenburg gate for some photos and the train back to Karow. The Bromptons attracted a fair bit of attention being quite different to the normal bikes being used in the city. We used them several times on our holidays, making use of the excellent cycle tracks on the Continent.

Perhaps by writing these articles some of our colleagues might be encouraged to visit these very interesting museums or perhaps be able to visit them should they be on holiday and happen to be near them.