Deutsches Museum Flugwerft Schleissheim (lots of pics)

[dr_gn]

Last Friday, I paid a very brief (45 minutes) visit this museum near Munich.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Deutsches_Museum_Flug...

It's well off the beaten track, but it's a fantastic place full of intereting aircraft. It's very open compared with many UK aircraft museums, you can get really close to the exhibits, and some you are allowed to go inside. There's a cockpit section of a Fiat G.91 that you (or your kids) can sit in, and everything appears to be there - switches, ejector seat handles, control column, wiring, rudder pedal, the lot - not like the rather lame Hawk mock-up that was at Duxford recently, with all the instruments and switches either covered with a sheet of perspex or missing completely. There were 'round the pole' model aircraft demos (great) and several very well thought out children's rides which illustrated the principles of flight. I was fascinated by the Dornier DO31, the Boeing/EADS X-31, and the Starfighter: there was a section through the blown wing which really illustrated how small they are on that thing.

I've not captioned all the pictures (there is more than enough info on each aircraft in the above link if anyones interested).
















VFW VAK 191B






Refreshingly "H&S free" practical exhibits


Hindustan Aeronautics HF-24 Marut




Love the Luftwaffe schemes on these two classics.




Boeing/EADS X-31 early thrust vectoring prototype.








Someone recently asked about the validity of pre-shading panel lines on aircraft models - here it is for real on a Ka-26




Salvaged bits of He177 - a rare bird.






Some of the best moels I've ever seen in a museum - no amateur efforts here.


WW2 Luftwaffe idetification models

Loads more stuff to see and do, but we ran out of time and got kicked out by the cleaners. At least they didn't charge us to go in!

Cheers.

Edited by dr_gn on Sunday 9th October 23:04

[Total loss]

Great pics and good to see that some the exhibits haven't been restored/repainted before display.
Nothing wrong with amateur built models ( that diorama could be, plenty of amateurs could do as good ), its just the level of quality that is accepted by the museums.

[Simpo Two]

Wild shot but does that He-111 have Merlins?

[The Hypno-Toad]

Wow, thats an awful lot of really interesting stuff crammed into what looks like a couple of very small hangers. I'm betting the He-111 is one of the Spanish built copies that used Merlins.

Some nice pictures, thanks for posting.

Just one question though...

dr_gn said:

Do they employ all the Smurfs or just the one?
Bottom left

[dr_gn]

Simpo Two said:

Wild shot but does that He-111 have Merlins?

Hypno Toad's right, it's one of these:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/CASA_2.111

[dr_gn]

Total loss said:

Great pics and good to see that some the exhibits haven't been restored/repainted before display.
Nothing wrong with amateur built models ( that diorama could be, plenty of amateurs could do as good ), its just the level of quality that is accepted by the museums.

Yeah, the exhibits are really nice as they are.

Sorry - "amateur" was the wrong word. I meant that all the models I saw were beautifully built - sometimes in these places there are one or two dogs that really look out of place, but not here.

[dr_gn]

The Hypno-Toad said:

Wow, thats an awful lot of really interesting stuff crammed into what looks like a couple of very small hangers. I'm betting the He-111 is one of the Spanish built copies that used Merlins.

Some nice pictures, thanks for posting.

Just one question though...

dr_gn said:

Do they employ all the Smurfs or just the one?
Bottom left

I'd describe it as a mini Duxford:

"The airfield and its historic buildings were constructed between 1912 and 1919 by the Königlich-Bayerische Fliegertruppen (Royal Bavarian Flying Corps)."

http://www.deutsches-museum.de/en/flugwerft/

The smurfs were there asking people to leave at closing time. I thought they were pointing to other exhibits I'd missed, but it turned out they were showing me the exit.

[AshVX220]

That's really cool, the Dornier Do31 was interesting, so I went to wiki to read about it and it highlighted another very cool aircraft the the VTOL Fighter 101c. Where has that amazing vision in engineering gone?

And it was free you say? Brilliant.

[croyde]

Nice!

There's a Harrier jump jet at Brooklands that you can sit in and play with all the switches. You have to frighten all the kids away first.

[dr_gn]

AshVX220 said:

That's really cool, the Dornier Do31 was interesting, so I went to wiki to read about it and it highlighted another very cool aircraft the the VTOL Fighter 101c. Where has that amazing vision in engineering gone?

And it was free you say? Brilliant.

Yeah, loads of amazing prototypes around.

BTW I think it was only free becasue we arrived 45 minutes before closing time!

[perdu]

I'm a bit disappointed G

You might have wasted ten minutes of your forty five taking millions of the H-34 for me

Inside, underneath and a few in the cockpit...




No

I jest, truly

Great pictures, hell of a museum. Those VTOL types were smashing back in the day.

As has been said, what a shame the innovation seems to have leached away these days.

[Eric Mc]

They didn't progreess with those VTOL designes because they didn't work that well.

Great museum and one I will visit some day.

[perdu]

Eric Mc said:

They didn't progreess with those VTOL designes because they didn't work that well.

Great museum and one I will visit some day.

Yes Eric I knew that but they stem from a time when innovation was accepted as "usual" and even if they failed they/we all learnt why. I remember thinking way back then that if it didn't look right it was not likely to be right

I know there is less chance of governmental backing these days, so less chance of suck it and see, but I think we are intellectually poorer as well as financially

[Eric Mc]

Don't get too depressed. There is more science and engineering going on now than at any time in history - but perhaps in areas you and I are not enthusiasts of - such as IT or even medecine.

I think most of the weird and wonderful aeronautical oddballs have all been attempted by now (we've had 108 years of powered flight after all). Those weird and wonderful ideas that worked (either aeronautically or - probebly more importantly - practically) have been incorporated into mainstream aviation design and we just don't notice them any more. Those that didn't work fantastically well have been filed in the "nice idea - but not much cop" file for future aeronautical engineers to peruse and prevent them from re-inventing bad ideas.

[anonymous-user]

The difference these days is that stuff that "doesn't work" never gets produced in the metal so to speak. Computer aided design and simulation rule the roost now. If you can't demo it in VR, there's no way you can get funding to progess it any further! Back in the 50/60's and even the 70's to some extent, it was still a "build it, see if it flys" kinda deal ;-)

[dr_gn]

I'm always amazed by the sheer complexity of these prototypes, and the skill (and money) that went into designing and building them.

I wonder how many of the 'failures' would work in the current age of digital control systems and higher power:weight of modern engines?

[dr_gn]

perdu said:

I'm a bit disappointed G

You might have wasted ten minutes of your forty five taking millions of the H-34 for me

Inside, underneath and a few in the cockpit...




No

I jest, truly

Great pictures, hell of a museum. Those VTOL types were smashing back in the day.

As has been said, what a shame the innovation seems to have leached away these days.

Sorry Perdu - I thought you'd finished your model???

[perdu]

dr_gn said:

perdu said:

I'm a bit disappointed G

You might have wasted ten minutes of your forty five taking millions of the H-34 for me

Inside, underneath and a few in the cockpit...




No

I jest, truly

Great pictures, hell of a museum. Those VTOL types were smashing back in the day.

As has been said, what a shame the innovation seems to have leached away these days.

Sorry Perdu - I thought you'd finished your model???

Ah yes, well...

I do have a quartet to make

This (sorry thread drift for a few seconds) Novo fuselage sat unloved in a drawer in my garage for nigh on thirty years. Whilst I was in the mood it would have been a shame not to.




It will be a SAR2 as shown by the waterproofed interior and the air portable stretcher that will hang from the roof inside the cargo section



I'll bugger off out of your thread, not doing a WIP on this.

And if I ever get back to Germany this museum is on my "allow far more than 45 minutes" list

Thanks for the pictures, it always amazes me that the Starfighter has such a tiny lifting surface. The tip tanks must have added a few pounds of lift themselves, you'd think

[dr_gn]

perdu said:

dr_gn said:

perdu said:

I'm a bit disappointed G

You might have wasted ten minutes of your forty five taking millions of the H-34 for me

Inside, underneath and a few in the cockpit...




No

I jest, truly

Great pictures, hell of a museum. Those VTOL types were smashing back in the day.

As has been said, what a shame the innovation seems to have leached away these days.

Sorry Perdu - I thought you'd finished your model???

Ah yes, well...

I do have a quartet to make

This (sorry thread drift for a few seconds) Novo fuselage sat unloved in a drawer in my garage for nigh on thirty years. Whilst I was in the mood it would have been a shame not to.




It will be a SAR2 as shown by the waterproofed interior and the air portable stretcher that will hang from the roof inside the cargo section



I'll bugger off out of your thread, not doing a WIP on this.

And if I ever get back to Germany this museum is on my "allow far more than 45 minutes" list

Thanks for the pictures, it always amazes me that the Starfighter has such a tiny lifting surface. The tip tanks must have added a few pounds of lift themselves, you'd think

Thread-drift away Perdu...

If I'd have known I'd have taken a load of pics for you.

I'd say allow a day to take it all in. Apparently there is a pretty amazing technical museum in Munich that has the rest of the aircraft collection. One day we'll go back, maybe when my son is a bit older.

Course then there's the Mercedes and Porsche museums in Stuttgart, and Audi in Igolstadt...be rude not to visit. Then there's the Wasserkruppe:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wasserkuppe

One day I'll fly a (full size) glider there...

I wonder if I have enough years left to do everything I want to do?

[perdu]

Whatever you do.

Do what you want to as soon as you can

I have left my wish list for far too blimmin' long and doubt if I will get a tenth of it in now.

I was only kidding about the pictures, from what I have seen there is less commonality than you might expect.