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The dominant feature of the exhibition is
a Junkers Ju 52 transport in a pre-war livery of
the domestic carrier Lufthansa. An interesting
collection of sports aircraft, such as the Bücker
131 or the Klemm 35, also originates from this
period. One of the more remarkable exhibits is
the Ho II L monoplane of the Horten brothers
from 1937, with which the designers tested the
flight characteristics of an unusually configured
single pusher engined aircraft. An era that saw
the use of catapult ships as a stopover for mail
planes heading across the Atlantic is depicted in
model form. Germany had a total of three such
vessels and deployed the Dornier Do 18 and
Blohm-Voss Ha 139 types with them.
The development of aviation during the Third
Reich also has its place within the walls of
the museum, however controversial it may
be, having served the expansion of the Hitler
regime as effectively as it did. The backbone of
the fighter air force at that time were types from
the Messerschmitt design bureau, notably the
Bf 109E and Bf 110F, which are also in the
museum’s collection. A rarely seen piece in
museums is one of the first jets to see service,
the Heinkel He 162A, and it is only when you are
close to it that you realize how small a machine
it really was. The desperation of the last months
of the war is conveyed by the Bü 181, originally
a training and liaison aircraft, with improvised
placement of panzerfaust on the wing spars that
were intended to turn it into an anti-tank platform.
The destructive power of war is indicated by the
wreckage of a Junkers Ju 87R dive bomber, which
was used in northern Norway. After its loss and
later recovery, it was preserved and placed on
display at the museum.
Air launched missiles, such as the Henschel
Hs 293, Hs 117 Schmetterling and the X-4 air-
to-air weapon, as well as the Rheintochter and
Enzian ground-based anti-aircraft missiles are
on display as well. This section even boasts the
Fiesler Fi 103 early cruise missile, better known
as the V1 retaliatory weapon. The V2 ballistic
missile is on exhibit, though not complete, with
only the engine section on display. The collection
also includes a separate section where the slave
labor of prisoners at the Dora concentration
camp in Nordhausen, who were forced to
produce these rockets under difficult conditions
in the underground complex, is paid tribute to.
Another unique item among the museum
objects is the training and liason type, the Arado
Ar 96B-1, production of which was originally in
Germany, but later, was switched to the then
Protectorate of Bohemia and Moravia at Letov
and Avia. The currently exhibited aircraft with
production number 425462 was produced by Avia
and was abandoned in 1944. In Czechoslovakia,
its production continued after the war and for
a long time, this type, designated the C-2, was
used for the training of military pilots and was
REPORT
Cutaway of a Jumo 205 diesel engine with counter-rotating pistons. [Photo: Petr Uzsák]
Arado Ar 96B-1 from Protectorate production. [Photo: Petr Uzsák]
Junkers Ju 52/3m with civil registration D
-
AZAW. [Photo: Petr Uzsák]
INFO Eduard18
November 2024