FLIGHT MUSEUM ALTENRHEIN-ST GALLEN
Antique Aircraft and Flights at Lake Constance
The Fliegermuseum Altenrhein is rather unique among aircraft museums; in that many of its aircraft are flight worthy and taken into the air over the stunning views of Lake Constance and the pre Alpine mountains of the Vorarlberg Austria (see Vorarlberg Four Corners). The museum is located in a former hanger and repair shop of the Swiss Air Force, taken on by the Antique Airplane Association when the military closed the space in 1984. The museum acquired left over military jets and related equipment, with the museum operating as its own flight worthiness maintenance shop. So, not only are the aircraft on display for the casual visitor to the museum, but also intended to offer tourist flights, from a Stearman biplane to a Hawker Hunter jet fighter.
Airport History
The St-Gallen-Altenrhein airport is a private airfield at the border next to Lake Constance where Switzerland, Germany and Austria which serves St Gallen and Rohrsach as a public airfield with some scheduled commercial flights. The airport was originally the home of the Dornier aircraft works, building the DO-X jumbo aircraft in 1929, at the time, the largest aircraft in the world with a wingspan of 48 meters and fuselage length of 42 meters, wider than it was long. The original grass runway from the 1920s was expanded during the Cold War when the field served as the maintenance facility for the Swiss Airforce, with a massive concrete runway of 1,200 meters for large jet aircraft operations.
Museum Collection
The aircraft collection in the museum hangar includes a number of jet aircraft from the Swiss military. The Hawker Hunter Mk.58 and a Trainer version, the defensive fighter workhorse of the Swiss Military in the 1970s until the collapse of the Soviet Union. Many of them found their way into museums, but only a few still fly and there are three at the Fliegermuseum. Perhaps the most visually curious and historic jet fighter is the DeHavilland DH-100 Vampire, unique for its twin tail boom design inspired by the Lockheed P-38. The Vampire was a first generation of allied European built jet fighter flown in WWII. The Swiss Air Force ordered 180 of them in 1946 and they flew from military flight lines, up until 1990, in later years as a basic trainer. The Vampire was replaced by the French built Dassault-Breguet Mirage III in the 1960s. Also French built craft at the museum are the Alloutte II and III helicopters. Also in the collection are Pilatus mountain planes, the Stearman, an Aeronco Champion and the rather ungainly Seebee amphibious seaplane, built for commercial service by American Republic aircraft between 1945 and 1948.
Flights
A wide variety of tourist flights are offered at the Fliegermuseum Altenrhein, but not on a general schedule. Times and prices should be arranged in advance. But if you have a hankering for the feeling of a military jet fight, a half-hour to 40 minute flight in the Hawker Jet Fighter will cost from 4,000 to 8,000 Swiss Francs. The other aircraft flights are considerably less. Flying in any of the planes requires an annual membership of 80 CHF. If you don’t have the time or finances to fly, you can watch the repair work in the maintenance hangar.
Visiting the Fliegermuseum Altenrhein
Opening times are Saturday and Sunday from March 1 to October 31. Entrance prices 10CHF adults, 5CHF Youth and Children under 7 are free. The museum is located in a hangar on the grounds of the Altenrhein Airport near Rohrsach, after entering the airport, drive beyond the flight operations to the back side of the field. To get there by train, go to Rohrsach or St Gallen and then bus to the Altenrhein-St Gallen airport. © Bargain Travel Europe
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