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 little museum is a great visit for aviation enthusiasts interested in the Cold War and Eastern…read moreBloc airplanes. They have a good collection of aircraft, albeit weather worn. They also have a MiG-21 simulator available to "fly". They also house the Aviation Archaeology Society who studies aircraft wreckage and tells their story. Very compelling! Worth a visit and trouble to get out there.

Here are some tips as this museum is surprisingly massive/overwhelming…read more 1. They offer student discounts even without ID. 2. For additional 5€ they have audio guides. You can do the museum without an audio guide I guess if you want to stand around and read endlessly or if you're already very familiar with this particular history. But the guides offer quick 1-3min explanations of select physical pieces. 3. If you really have time to kill, they have an additional exhibit on more current events on the floor leading to the bathrooms. 4. Chairs are all around for you to rest and you'll need it lol. 5. You need to exist threw the gift shop, of course. But you'll need to return the audio guides at the entrance so leaving and going back where you came from outside. Seems like an oversight that should be corrected.

I drove my rental car through Checkpoint Charlie several times in the early 1980's passing to the…read moreother side to hang out with friends I'd made on my first visit to East Berlin. The lines were sometimes long, and always slow...the East German guards searched the car on the way in for contraband they didn't want entering and then later that day when leaving passing mirrors underneath the car to make sure you weren't smuggling out a friend. The guards were always somber, stern and strict so it was always fun to try to get them to smile, typically without success. It's interesting now to see the area all opened up as it used to be a zig-zag maze of road blocks to keep the cars from moving too fast and busting through. The Galerie does a great job of showing what it was like back in the day!