BroomstickPilot
11th Jul 2008, 11:23
A couple of weeks ago, I was in Dessau a town situated roughly half way between Berlin and Leipzig.
While I was there, I had the opportunity of visiting the 'Hugo Junkers Musee'. This is a small museum situated on part of the site of the old Junkers aerodrome, close to where their research buildings would once have stood.
I certainly would not recommend that anybody but a confirmed geek should make a special visit to Germany, just to see the museum. But if you happen to be visiting the area for some other purpose, and you happen to speak German (as the exhibits are as yet labelled only in German,) then it is worth a visit, specially to see 'Tante Ju' the gorgeous restored Ju52.
The beautifully restored Ju 52 is in a modern, purpose-built building, which also contains a large number of exhibits dealing with the development of Junkers from a company that manufactured domestic gas heaters to a company at the cutting edge of German airframe and engine development.
Of particular interest to me was the display of piston engines for use in boats or to drive generators with two, pistons per cylinder, one at either end of the cylinder, and moving in opposition to one another, but both turning the same crankshaft. Also, there was a jet engine of the sort I suppose must have been used in the Me262. This had an axial flow compressor and looked like a much more modern engine.
Outside, there is also the ruined remains of the wind tunnel in which Junkers used to test their aerodynamic concepts.
Apart from that, they have little more than a collection of soviet airframes dating back to the days of the DDR gently corroding in the open.
Broomstick.
While I was there, I had the opportunity of visiting the 'Hugo Junkers Musee'. This is a small museum situated on part of the site of the old Junkers aerodrome, close to where their research buildings would once have stood.
I certainly would not recommend that anybody but a confirmed geek should make a special visit to Germany, just to see the museum. But if you happen to be visiting the area for some other purpose, and you happen to speak German (as the exhibits are as yet labelled only in German,) then it is worth a visit, specially to see 'Tante Ju' the gorgeous restored Ju52.
The beautifully restored Ju 52 is in a modern, purpose-built building, which also contains a large number of exhibits dealing with the development of Junkers from a company that manufactured domestic gas heaters to a company at the cutting edge of German airframe and engine development.
Of particular interest to me was the display of piston engines for use in boats or to drive generators with two, pistons per cylinder, one at either end of the cylinder, and moving in opposition to one another, but both turning the same crankshaft. Also, there was a jet engine of the sort I suppose must have been used in the Me262. This had an axial flow compressor and looked like a much more modern engine.
Outside, there is also the ruined remains of the wind tunnel in which Junkers used to test their aerodynamic concepts.
Apart from that, they have little more than a collection of soviet airframes dating back to the days of the DDR gently corroding in the open.
Broomstick.