This private aviation museum is a little out of the way for your average tourist in Germany, but it…read moreis well worth the drive off the beaten path. It is located in former East Germany. You will need to part with a few Euros to enter. I was so surprised to see a replica of the Ryan Aircraft "Spirit of Saint Louis" . It seems as accurate and detailed as the one shown in San Diego's Air & Space Museum. It was suspended over a nice presentation of a Junkers aircraft with corrugated metal skin, an exhibit I certainly would expect here. Farther into the museum is an absolutely breathtaking diorama with the star being an immaculately restored WW2 Focke-Wulf fighter, and its attendant ground crew and ordnance load. Next to it is a Messerschmitt Me109 ('G' variant, as I recall), with the engine bay door propped open revealing it's splendid and meticulously restored V-12. Surprisingly, there is a gorgeous Supermarine Spitfire (British, of course!), displayed with a five-bladed propeller, used toward the end of hostilities, and afterward. As a seeming counterpoint to the Spitfire, a vintage searchlight and a menacing 88 mm German antiaircraft cannon are well displayed, including its crew and cannon shells. A dull-finished MiG-15 looms nearby, red stars and all, but one's attention is immediately drawn to a Luftwaffe F-104G, in period-correct European camo. Its ejection seat and cockpit have been restored, and the aircraft, while in the Euro dark green and grey camouflage, is festooned with small, but bright red maintenance and warning stencils, many of which are in German and English. Such attention to detail is simply remarkable, and so very German. There are numerous other aircraft displays, both inside and outside this fascinating museum, including helicopters and civilian aircraft. It's out of the way, but . . . It's out of this world. Visit this museum.

This is a very cool aviation museum, just outside of Eberswalde. Being in East Germany, this…read moremuseum has lots of Soviet-era relics, including the mummified remains of an American fighter shot down over Germany! Evidently it landed in the nearby lake and was found on the bottom of the lake bed while dredging the lake a few years ago. The guides here are very knowledgeable, though they speak very little English. We survived thanks to helpful locals who translated for us. Be sure to keep a look out for the model spaceship.