Exhibition

The U-2 aircraft was originally designed to be a trainer aircraft. Over the years it was increasingly used for different purposes due to its flexibility. The maiden flights of the prototypes started on 7th January 1928. The ease of its operation and maintenance as well as its tremendous flight autonomy led to its serial production beginning in 1930. About 44,000 aircraft of the Po-2 type were built worldwide which means that it is one of the mostly built aircraft at all. The aircraft on display in Hangar 10 was built after World War II as a licensed aircraft in Poland (factory serial number 430).

Our Bücker aircraft, Bü Jungmann 131 B, its factory serial number is 49, was built as a licensed aircraft in the Dornier-Werke Altenrhein GmbH in Switzerland in 1939.  It was in service for the Swiss Air Force until 1971 as a trainer aircraft and an aerobatic trainer aircraft.  In 1976 a private owner took it to Germany where – after a partial revision in Southern Germany – it became part of the collection of Hangar 10 in Zirchow in 2011.

Our Bücker 133 C, factory serial number 051, was built as a licensed aircraft in the Dornier-Werke Altenrhein GmbH in Switzerland. It is an aircraft of the type which had been fit with a 7–cylinder radial aero engine beginning in 1937. The engine Sh14A achieves 158 hp and provides the aircraft with enough power for flying aerobatic figures adding to its very good flight qualities.

This is an aircraft featuring particularly good STOL qualities and an outstanding capacity for extremely slow flights. The type in the collection of Hangar 10 is an original built in Kassel in the 1937ies (factory serial number 2299), version D-2, as an air ambulance aircraft for the transportation of two stretchers and the seat for the paramedic (behind the pilot’s seat).

In the beginning the Bf-108 aircraft had been designed and built as a competition aerobatic aircraft. Later the Bf-108 aircraft was advanced to become a luxurious airplane travelling really fast at that time. The German pilot Elly Beinhorn had already won the Round Europe Flight in 1934, i.e. the year of the maiden flight of this type. In addition to further technical refinement of details of the features of the type  the Bf-108 also served as an experimental carrier for some technical innovation transferred to the fighter aircraft Bf-109.

As a travel aircraft the Bf-108 was fairly in advance of its time. The Bf-108 aircraft of Hangar 10 was built in the year of 1942 (factory serial number 146) and its colors  are the historic ones of an aircraft manufactured by Willy Messerschmitt.

This Bf-109 G-6 aircraft (factory serial number 440738) had originally been built in the Neustädter Flugzeugwerke in Vienna in 1944. However, the aircraft already crashed near Matzleinsdorf close to Melk (Austria) on 29th May 1944. Along with the wreck of the aircraft its original aircraft data plate was retrieved and used for its rebuilding which Michael Rinner started and completed to a large extent in Austria in 2007. The Air Fighter Academy  assumed the responsibility for this project in 2013. In the summer of 2018 the airworthiness of the aircraft could finally be re-established.

This two-seated Bf 109 G-12 (factory serial number 15208) was built by the company of MeierMotors in 2016 on the basis of the fuselage of a Spanish licensed aircraft (identical with the G-6) which had been built in 1954 using numerous original components of the Bf 109 G-6/G-12 aircraft. It is now fit with a Rolls Royce Merlin engine. In the period of time between 1943 and 1945 they only built 117 aircraft of the original Bf 109 G-12  by means of retrofitting existing G-4 and G-6 aircraft.

The aircraft is now owned by the Messerschmitt Foundation and is operated and maintained in Hangar 10 for the pilots’ training of the foundation.

A typical feature of the G-14 aircraft is the so-called “Erla hood” with the “Galland-Panzer”, i.e. a bullet-proof glass pane behind the pilot’s head. Our Bf 109 G-14 aircraft was manufactured by the Erla company in Leipzig in 1944 (factory serial number 462707). On 21st November 1944 it was downed by a B-17 bomber near Hanover/Wülferode. After its recovery in 1997 the aircraft was rebuilt and tested in the period of time between 2016 and 2018.

Our Fw 190 A-8 (factory serial number 170389) had originally been built by the Focke-Wulf Flugzeugwerke in Cottbus and rolled out to the German Air Force (Luftwaffe) in 1944. It flew in the  Fighter Squadron 1  “Oesau” in East Prussia. The A-8 was the first Fw 190 fit with a new propeller with paddle blades made of wood. The aircraft A-8 was also fit with some of the blown hoods for the cockpit developed for the fighter bomber F-2 type of the FW 190 aircraft. Moreover, the new hood featured improved bullet-proof glass panes and a reinforced support of the pilot’s head armor. In addition to  many original components of the Fw 190  the original aircraft data plate of our aircraft was used for its rebuild. The aviation authority has authorized this project as a rebuild due to the sound documentation. After substantial rebuilding works the aircraft has been considered to be airworthy again since August 2019.