Switzerland Tour,  22-27 February 2004

After a huge preparation Angèl and I finally left for Switzerland. Sunday morning we left around six o’clock towards Fulda in Germany where we planned our first stop. Angèl is not only an aviation enthusiast but she also likes fire engines and fire trucks. In Fulda one of the biggest fire truck museums is located.

After visiting the museum we headed to the airfield of Rhein-Main. In the late afternoon we drove towards Colmar where we stayed in a Formula 1 hotel. The next day we spent some time at the airfield of Colmar-Meyenheim, but unfortunately nothing much was going on. So we left and drove to the aircraft museum at Villingen-Schwenningen. We did take some pictures here, but because of the heavy snowfall they were of very bad quality. More pictures of the museum can be found here.

Around one o’clock in the afternoon we arrived at Dübendorf. The runway was clear of snow, but it was very quiet. Later that day a few Tigers and PC-9s flew but due to the bad weather conditions the pictures were not good.

The next day, we started with a visit at the Zürich Zoo. After that we went back to Dübendorf. This time the weather was a bit better, so we were able to take some nice shots. During the afternoon break we visited the Flieger Flab Museum at Dübendorf and after that we went back to the landing area. When the last F-5 landed we drove towards Luzern where we stayed for the night.

 

The next day, was a very busy day. It all started with the airfield of Emmen, which is located near Luzern. When we arrived here, we saw around eight Pilatus’ parked on the flightline. Most of them departed but unfortunately we were on the wrong site of the airfield at that time. We didn’t stay long at Emmen because of the tight planning, so we left after an hour and drove back to Luzern. Here we visited the Verkehrshaus Luzern. This is a sort of museum with trains, cars, bikes and of course some aircraft.

 

From Luzern it’s only 16 kms to Stans-Buochs. So only half an hour later we arrived at Stans. The main goal was actually the stored Mirage III’s, but for some reason they were all parked inside hangars and shelters. The only Mirage we saw here was the one mounted on a pole. Suddenly a grey coloured PC-9 flew overhead and after landing it taxied towards the Pilatus factory. This was the PC-9 of the Irish Air Corps. After taking some pictures at the Pilatus factory at Stans-Buochs we drove to Alpnach. When we arrived at the zuschauerplatz only a few helicopters were parked on the platform. It was also possible to read some Alouette’s parked inside the hangar.

 

The route from Alpnach to Meiringen goes directly through the mountains, which sometimes was a tremendous view. The airfield of Meiringen is located in a valley so normally it’s possible to take some very nice pictures over here. We weren’t that lucky. Only one F-5 departed and at that time the sun was almost disappearing behind the mountains. So after that we left and drove towards Interlaken, to have a look over there. The airfield of Interlaken is completely closed and even an entertainment park called Mystery Park is located here. So were drove directly to the city of Interlaken were we planned to stay for the night.

 

The next day, we drove very early in the morning towards Payerne. The weather was very bad that day. In the morning we had some light rain and in the afternoon we even had some snow showers. It was very quiet, only a few F-18s a F-5 and a PC-6 flew. And the small museum, which is located a few hundred meters from the zuschauerplatz, was closed. We tried to arrange a base visit. I even made a phone call with the base commander, but unfortunately it was not possible. So around noon we drove towards Geneva to visit the city and to see the large fountain in the Lake of Geneva. It seems like everything went wrong that day, even the fountain was turned off.

 

The last day of our Switzerland trip we had a long ride home. The first stop was planned at the Château Savigny-Lès-Beaune where a big museum is located inside the castle garden. The weather was very good for taking pictures, but it was freezing like hell. More pictures of this museum can be found here. After a two-hour visit we drove towards Nancy-Ochey where we planned our second stop. Here we saw eight Mirages and a Transall. Around nine o’clock in the evening we came home. We drove 2945 kms during our six-day trip.                                                        (Click here for a full log of the tour)