Page 40 - Jahresrückblick_2021_web_engl

40 Year in review

40

and the Wilhelmsbau Museum, all located
on the same grounds. At the end of the 20th
century, we welcomed the world‘s largest
propeller-driven aircraft, an Antonov An-22,
to Speyer. The transport and installation of this
huge exhibit marked the beginning of the era
of sensational large-scale transports for us.

In the first decade of the 2000s, one transport
sensation followed the next. The final event was
the transfer of the Soviet space glider Buran and
the subsequent opening of the Space Hall in
Speyer. In 2000, the supersonic passenger plane,
Tupolev Tu-144, arrived in Sinsheim. We waited a
long time for an answer, until the bid was finally
accepted. With the acquisition of the Antonov,
it was understood that we would stick to
agreements.
As you probably know, we actually wanted to have
a Concorde. But since it seemed unpossible, we
kept an eye out for Concorde-like aircraft. That‘s
how the Soviet counterpart came to be on the
roof, just in time for the 20th birthday of Sinsheim
Museum.

Only three years later, our dream finally came true:
Air France donated a Concorde to the association
after the Concorde fleet was decommissioned.
Even today, our museum in Sinsheim is the only
facility in the world where the two supersonic
passenger aircraft ever used in passenger service
can be viewed side by side - even from the inside.
And along the way, we had to exercise patience:
for years, we presented our concerns in France,
maintaining contact also through our honorary
member Jean-Michel Bloch, who worked at Air
France. Then came the crash of the Concorde
and thus its beginning of the end. After the
decommissioning, some specimens were to
be exhibited in museums; also in Germany,
since many Germans were among the crash
victims. We continued to have planes and large
transports that we had managed. The French
saw we could do it. And so, on May 27, 2003, we
were awarded the contract for only a single Euro.
One month later, surely some of you can still
remember it, thousands of people came to
Karlsruhe/Baden-Baden Airport to experience a
unique spectacle: the last landing of the Air
France „Concorde“ F-BVFB. This was followed
by a nerve-wracking transport to Sinsheim.
Within the opening year 2004, with Concorde and
Tupolev Tu-144 at the museum, the number of one
million visitors was reached.

In the meantime, we placed another enormous
exhibit in Speyer: the Boeing 747. The jumbo found
its way onto the museum grounds back in 2002.
Transporting the giant was one of the biggest
challenges for us until then. The operation took
place in the air, on water and on land because the
aircraft could not be brought to Speyer in one
piece due to its size.