Berlin Tegel airport - 1st June 2008

Berlin Tegel Airport

At the end of May 2008 I went to Berlin to visit the ILA aviation tradeshow at Schonefeld. My hotel was near Zoo station and gave a direct S Bahn link to Schonefeld. Zoo station also has a direct "express" bus service to Tegel airport so I went there on Sunday 1st June.

Tegel is located in the NW suburbs of Berlin -the airport is due to close in a few years, once the major re-development of Schonefeld is complete. Tegel is a good airport for aviatino enthusiasts and photographers as it has a good roof top viewing area that allows you a good view with no obstructing fence or glass. Note that there are no facilities or weather protection up on this roof so bring a drink with you. You are allowed to bring small bags up here but not suitcases. The rooftop viewing area closes at 6pm even in summer.

Tegel is home to Air Berlin with its fleet of FK100 and 737 airliners. All the photos were taken mid to late afternoon.

D-AGPB Fokker 100 of Air Berlin in the old c/s


D-ABAS Boeing 737-800 of Air Berlin in the old c/s

D-AGEL Boeing 737-700 shows the interim Air Berlin c/s without the new tail logo

Air Berlin also operate helicopters - these were busy running shuttle flights to and from the ILA trade show at Schonefeld

D-HCOR AS 355 Twin Squrrel of Air Berlin


A big surprise for me was the arrival of the two JASDF Boeing 747 aircraft bringing the Prime Minister of Japan to Berlin on a state visit


20-1101 Boeing 747-400 of the Japanese Self Defence Force - JASDF

I only saw one Germania aircraft D-AGET - I'd seen this aircraft in 2005 wearing Hapag Lloyd Express c/s


D-AGET Boeing 737-700 of Germania


A good visitor for me was Carpatair FK100 YR-FKB from Romania


Italian airline Air One stretched CRJ-900 EI-DVT

With SAS withdrawing their Dash 8 fleet they now operate this old Bae 146 D-AMGL c/n 2055 - back in 2005 this was operating in Iberia c/s as D-AMGL

SAS BAe 146-200 D-AMGL

This Hapag Fly 737-800 arrived wearing a yellow engine intake cowling that looks like it has been borrowed from a TUIFly aircraft

D-AHFV Boeing 737-800 of Hapag

D-AHXC Boeing 737-700 of TUIFly with winglets

Other aircraft seen included one LTU Airbus A330 D-ALPA operating a flight to Bangkok plus airliners from Meridiana, BA, Air France, Thy, Transavia, Air Europa, Transaero, Air Ukraine and many Lufthansa.

Seen but to far away to photograph were a pair of LGW Dornier Do 228.

Deutsches Technik-Museum - Berlin Germany - June 2008

General view of the Aviation section

A trip to Berlin to attend the bi-annual ILA airshow gave me the opportunity to visit this excellent museum.

The Deutsches Technik-Museum is located close to the U-Bahn station at Mockernbrucke on Line U1 and the aviation section was opened in 2005.

Suspended from the roof over a balcony is C-47 45-0951 in a silver USAAF c/s.

The exhibits in the museum are in excellent condition, some are hanging from the ceiling - the aviation section is tightly packed with aircraft and artefacts - take your time and enjoy the visit.


The rare Arado 96 B-1 was an advanced tandem trainer with retractable gear - this example is a composite rebuild of three airframes recovered from Sweden and is coded "U + CF".



The Etrich Taube was a widely used monoplane by the Luftwaffe in World War 1 - this aircraft was part of the original Technik-Museum collection of airframes pre WW2 - many of these exhibits were destroyed during - others were dispersed to storage in Poland during the War. Today many of those original exhibits can be seen at the excellent aviation museum in Krakow, Poland. This Taube is displayed as serial A-180 / 14 but is thought to be really serial A-118 /13.




The Bucker Bu 181 G2 Bestmann basic trainer with side by side seating was used by the Luftwaffe during WW2. This example is shown carrying Panzerfaust anti tank weapons, a last ditch attempt to halt the advancing Soviet armies in Spring 1945 by adding unguided weapons to this slow basic trainer. This example is serialled 501659 coded "RM + HE"



Swedish Air Force Fieseler Fi 156 Trop Storch serial 3810 code "20" of unit F3. This airframe is an ex Luftwaffe example. The Storch had an exceptional short take off and landing roll and was used for observation, artillery spotting and ad-hoc transport into remote locations.



The Polish Air Force Lim-2 is a Polish licenced built Mig-15 fighter jet from the 1950s and was widely used by Warsaw Pact nations during the Cold War. This example serial 1323 has c/n 1B-01323.



The F-86 Sabre was a direct adversary to the above Mig 15. The F-86 served with many NATO countries in the 1950s and 1960s. The type underwent a lot of development resulting in the F-86K . This example is an F-86K licenced built by Fiat in Italy and originally delivered to the Dutch Air Force as serial Q-256. In 1963 the aircraft was passed onto the the Italian Air Force, serialed 41256 and is preserved today coded "51-50".



Perhaps one of the most striking exhibits is this wrecked Junkers Ju-87 R2. This aircraft serial 5856 crashed into a fjord in Norway in July 1942. The deep dark cold water held onto this Stuka until it was recovered in 1995. The R2 version was used for anti shipping missions and had internal wing fuel tanks to increase range, but this reduced the weapon load to just one bomb. There are very few Ju-87s in existence today and this wonderful example is a very welcome addition.


Another exhibit recovered in recent years is this Messerschmitt BF 110 F-2 - serial 5052 this aircraft landed on a frozen lake in Northern Russia in January 1943 - it was abandoned and sank. The F-2 version was a long range hunter often used against allied bomber aircraft armed with 4 machine guns in the nose plus two cannons below. It was recovered from the lake in 1991 and underwent a long re-build with the Technik Museum into this fantastic condition. This aircraft is coded "LN + NR "


Take a look at the Technik Museums own aviation web pages here