Aviation Tour - Maps on www.bankleft.com

German rocket development and testing took place on an eerie island, Uesedom, in the north sea. The V2s that bombarded the UK were constructed here by concentration camp labour and a huge power plant was constructed in the 40s to power hydrolysis to produce Oxygen to fuel the weapons. It is a desolate and fairly spooky area. The photo below shows the former control room turned into a museum.

As a generally interested person, I'm never happier than when I meet another enthusiast.

While looking at folding bikes in the window of a Bonn cycle shop, luckily H and I decided to go inside and ask some questions of Franz who, it turned out, is a composite technology bike specialist with a background in fabrication of our favorite German canard aeroplane type! A classic character completely full of life, he has just finished writing a chapter of a German training text book about Carbon Fibre race frames and met us for lunch up at the airport to talk more about flying and cycling. On our last night in town, Franz and his lovely girlfriend Katrin invited us for dinner at their place on the river in Bonn. It was such a nice evening, they are such good company. I'm working on some good options to encourage them to come south later in the year to meet up again :)

This photo is Franz's, of the 'Speedy' factory, where a Desert Storm military training version can be seen amongst many standard white planes. 

Yesterday we made a nostalgic tour of the street in Berlin where Helen used to live. In the late 17th C, the architect brother of the flight pioneer Otto Lilienthal designed and constructed many stunning villas in the area. Some have moats and most have internal heating system chimneys exhausting out through the ivy covered castellated turrets.

Gustav Lilienthal - Architect;

Otto Lilienthal - Glider King

Happening upon an excellent roaster in Berlin, we were interested to note that despite the recent coffee price escalation clearly delineated in the window, we were charged less than half the going Melbourne rate for top notch coffees. I think we'll make our way past again tomorrow :)

The REAL symbol of the city - MAXI DONER

Amazing who you bump into on the street in a 3 hour visit to a city of one million people.

Herr Cristian Dietrich, of Lugus Engineering London fame at large in person!

We played a round of golf at Bonn which was totally hilarious - golf has some fairly heavy pretension associated with it in Germany so we, without German golf licences (seriously) or handicap certificates, had to bluff our way onto the course then spend the afternoon trying to keep out of the way of a tournament involving respectable grey haired golfers attired in the most outlandishly pastel colored clammy twee clothing I've ever seen. Great view back to the Rhein from the greens up on top of the hill though, and being right under the circuit of Hangalar airport where our plane was parked, we were entertained all afternoon by planes overhead.

We even had a whole ball each remaining in our possession by the time we'd shot 18 holes. Go Team Lugus of Yore!

The Rhine from Cologne cathedral.

The hills on the horizon are the Eifel mountains where we were last weekend on the river Ahr.

Cologne was the center of northern Europe.

Maybe it still is.

The second largest GA (General Aviation - non commercial transport or military aviation) airport in Germany, Bonn Hangelar is a picture of a modern, busy but efficient operation. The federal police helicopters and ADAC (German RACV/AA) rescue helicopters are based here along with 12 flying clubs, so there is a constant flurry of turbine helicopers, piston training helicopters, gliders, gyrocopters, the odd small jet, many modern German mcrolights, two home built Lancairs and hanger upon hanger of other interesting aircraft. Oh yes, also one Jabiru with a yellow tent under the wing ;)

We were met and welcomed by many wonderful characters who enrich the brotherhood of aviation. Thank you Juergen, Cristian, Dirk, Norbert, Heiko, Franz and Kathrin for making our visit to your part of the world so special and memorable.

Hanglar's runway can be seen in front of our wing below. To minimise disruption to surrounding houses, we all fly over the golf course on the climb out;

I'll always fondly remember what I was doing during the royal wedding - fleeing the UK through thick soupy haze and a pummeling 30 kt headwind for two hours to Bonn, Germany where our friends Kersten and Gerd now live. We kidnapped them for the weekend and flew south half an hour up the Rhein to Germany's red wine region on the river Ahr to hike between the villages and drink some sharp minerally pinots.