European air museums

[GrubbyFingers]

Hi Guys,

I'm about to travel in Europe and I may get a chance to visit a few museums, Love-of-my-life permitting!

Can anyone point out museums worth visiting in any of the main cities we're staying?

Rapallo Italy
Lugarno Switzerland
St Moritz
grindelwald
Lucerne
Montreux
Basel
Mannheim
Koblenz
Nijmegen
Amsterdam Holland
Rotterdam
Bruges Brussels
Brussels Le Louise
Luxenbourg
Liege
Netherlands tour

I've serched on the web and Google Maps, but without the languages, it is hard to work out what is what. They dorn't tend to turn up when you search for 'museums' or 'air museums'

Any help appreciated!

Grubby.

[Pakka]

The aviation museum in Brussels is certainly worth a visit - it's housed along with military & auto museums; readily accessed on the east-west metro line...

The comic strip/book museum (centre du bande dessinee) is also a must (for some),
[check out Buck Danny comics]..

Belgian Beer Weekend (Grand Place, & other venues) happens first week of Sept, (3rd-4th, I think..) a great happening..! Kline Brogle Airshow mid-Sept.

[GrubbyFingers]

Thanks, Pakka! That's just the sort of info I'm after.

[Pakka]

The Brussels Metro system is quite straightforward. The Pre- Metro lines are strictly north-south, interconnected with the Metro lines at several points.
The Annessens stop on P-M and the Gare Centrale stop on M will get you within 10-15 mins. walking distance from Gran'Place - a must see area.

[GrubbyFingers]

Thanks, Pakka! Ive put it on my list.

Graeme.

[BHuber]

Hello Grubby Fingers,

if you are visiting Mannheim, try to contact Helischmidt, he lives there. There is a little airport in Mannheim with an aviation cub that owns and runs a Polikarpow I-16. Furthermore you could visit the Auto & Technik Museum in Sinsheim and Speyer. They belong together and both Speyer and Sinsheim are around 45 min. on the Autobahn from Mannheim:

http://speyer.technik-museum.de/en/

http://sinsheim.technik-museum.de/en/

Both Museums are not specialised on aircraft, but Speyer e.g. shows a very nice Messerschmitt Bf 109 G-4 and an Antonov An-80 which can also be inspected inside. The stars of the museum are a submarine of the german Bundesmarine (which can be inspected inside too), a Jumbo Jet and the russian Space Shuttle Buran.

In Sinsheim there are both a Concorde and a Tupolew Tu 144 which can be inspected inside and a very interesting and large collection of tanks (Panther, Jagdpanther, Panzer IV, Hetzer, Sherman, T-34 etc. etc.).

By the way: I work in Heidelberg (only 15 Km from Mannheim) and live in Heilbronn, which is only 30 Km from Sinsheim. If you like, we could meet and visit the Museums together.

[BHuber]

Here is a list with air museums in switzerland; unfortunately it's in German, but there are links to all the museums:

http://www.lw.admin.ch/internet/luft...museen_ch.html

If you visit the netherlands, there are at least two interesting Museums for you:

https://www.nmm.nl/en/

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Aviodrome

In Koblenz there is the "Wehrtechnische Studiensammlung". Unfortunately the link is only available in German, but if you are interested, just contact me, I will translate the most important Information:

http://www.vffwts.de/index.php

Unfortunately other interesting Museums in Germany like the Luftwaffenmuseum in Hannover-Laatzen, the air Museum in Villingen Schwenningen, the aircraft collection Hermeskeil and the Technikmuseum Berlin or the Tankmuseum in Munster are too far away.

Greetings:

Björn

[Serval]

Nederlands Militair Museum (military aviation and since about a year also general military) in Soesterberg https://www.nmm.nl/en/
The aviation part did suffer from joining the military museums into one. But I know you like military stuff as well, so... I still didn't find time to visit the new version to give a real opinion. I loved to hop in at the old one when I had some time (and lived a bit closer there). Also because it was free of charge back then.
Aviodrome (general aviation) www.aviodrome.nl at Lelystad airport (not very far from Soesterberg, if you travel by car)

My guess is still that Soesterberg is the best choice when you have to choose between te two. But both are outside the cities in Holland where you are staying. I guess it is best to go there when you stay in Amsterdam. Both will take about an hour by bus and train.

From Nijmegen: The airborne museum about Operation Market Garden. In Oosterbeek there is also a walking route which takes you to many places where the paratroopers were fighting. http://en.airbornemuseum.nl/
From Nijmegen you can also visit the War museum in Overloon (originally about ww2, but now with a lot more in their collection) The area around Overloon is the only region on Dutch soil where a tank battle was fought. Also one of the major tank battles in Western Europe. The museum was built around tanks left there after the battle. http://www.oorlogsmuseum.nl/nl/site

If you have additional questions, just ask.

[pkassak]

U R missing Berlin Gatow in Germany and Kosice museum. in Slovakia ..first one is great review of aviation of Germany, second one has some nice collection of planes used by presidents...

[GrubbyFingers]

Hi Guys,

Thanks for all the tips. I got to several museums while I was away including:

National Militair Museum, Netherlands
National Airforce Museum, Switzerland
National Military Museum, Belgium
Operation Market Garden Museum, Arnhem
Auto Coloseum, Basel
Atlantic Wall museum, Ostend

I saw plenty of things I have not seen before, too, which is always a thrill, including a Ju-52 flying!

I took around 5,000 photos at the museums, so I guess I'll have some new walkarounds on site in due course!

Grubby.