German POI, Part III

For Part II we will be in the German State of Bavaria.

We depart from Schenkenturm (EDFW), Würzburg’s GA airfield. After departure, we overfly the Würzburger Residenz, a UNESCO World Heritage Site. Interiors considered masterworks of Baroque/Rococo or Neoclassical architecture and art include the grand staircase, the chapel, and the Imperial Hall. Napoleon reportedly called the building the "largest parsonage in Europe". It was heavily damaged by the Allied bombing during World War II, and restoration has been in progress since 1945. Since 1981, the Residence has been a UNESCO World Heritage Site in recognition of its outstanding Baroque art, design, and architecture.

We follow the River Main for a short distance and land at Giebelstadt AAF (EDQG). Giebelstadt supported 5,786 soldiers and their families during the U.S. Army's 62-year history until its closure along with the U.S. Forces drawdown of the Würzburg area in 2006. The airfield has since been renamed Giebelstadt Airport to host civilian flight operations. At the closure of the airfield, it was found that there were more than 200 items of unexploded ordnance within and in the surrounding grounds of the barracks where single soldiers were housed. We continue east and land at Neustadt/Aisch (EDQN).

Our next stop is Nuremberg International Airport (EDDN). Nuremberg and Fürth were once connected by the Bavarian Ludwig Railway, the first steam-hauled and overall second railway opened in Germany (1835). Today, the U1 of the Nuremberg Subway runs along this route. Subway lines U2 and U3 are the first German driverless subway lines, automatically moving railcars. Nuremberg Airport (Flughafen Nürnberg "Albrecht Dürer") is the second-busiest airport in Bavaria after Munich Airport and the tenth-busiest airport in the country. Between 1945 and 1946, German officials involved in war crimes and crimes against humanity were brought before an international tribunal in the Nuremberg trials. The Soviet Union had wanted these trials to take place in Berlin. However, Nuremberg was chosen as the site for the trials for specific reasons. However, the explanation triggered so many "word not allowed" system edits that it seems useless to expand on the topic here. Please refer to Wikipedia for more information. 

We follow the German Autobahn 9 south and land at Beilngries (EDNC). The town is situated at the river Altmühl and the Rhine-Main-Donau Canal. The Altmühl valley is a popular holiday destination for hikers and bikers. Now we turn southwest and land at Eichstätt (EDPE). Just 10 miles south we reach the German Air Force Base Neuburg (ETSN). Neuburg is home to the Fighter Wing 74, flying the Eurofighter Typhoon. Neuburg is Germany‘s smallest airbase.

We head south and reach the Munich Metropol area. We land at Schleissheim (EDNX), home of the Flugwerft Schleissheim, an aviation museum. It forms part of the Deutsches Museum collection and complements the aviation exhibits on display at the main site. The museum was opened on 18 September 1992. Many aerospace exhibits are on display including fixed-wing aircraft, helicopters, and aircraft engines. The main display hangar is a restored glazed building, visitors can view exhibits undergoing restoration. After departure, we overfly the Allianz Arena and explore the city of Munich, including the Olympic Stadium and Nymphenburg Palace. We land at Oberpfaffenhofen (EDMO). Oberpfaffenhofen is a special-use airport, mainly for test and evaluation purposes. It is home to numerous well-known aerospace companies and facilities. The airport is therefore regarded as the center of the German aerospace industry. However, companies from the automotive industry are also based here. One of the three control centers of the European satellite navigation system “Galileo” is also located here. The German Aerospace Center (DLR) operates the Space Operations Center in Oberpfaffenhofen as well as numerous important research institutes, e.g. for atmospheric research and robotics. The ground control center for the European satellite navigation system Galileo was officially inaugurated on September 8, 2008. The two clusters “Aeronautics” and “Satellite Navigation” as well as the “Satellite Navigation Application Center” are also located at the site. Also based at the special airport is Lilium GmbH, a technology start-up financed with over 100 million US dollars in venture capital, which is developing the Lilium Jet, a vertical take-off and landing aircraft that completed its first test flight at Oberpfaffenhofen Special Airport in 2019.

We continue and overfly Seefeld Castle. In recent years the grounds and buildings have been renovated by the owner, Graf Hans Caspar zu Törring-Jettenbach. The castle is now the home of various businesses, craftsmen, and vendors. There is a wide-screen cinema, a museum, and a hall in the southern wing of the castle that is used for events. A brewpub has been open since the mid-1990s in one of the castle buildings, offering Bavarian cuisine. The first floor of the castle holds a hall richly decorated with stucco and paintings, divided by marble Corinthian pilasters on ocher stucco bases. It includes reliefs of musical instruments, games and fruit, and portraits. The first and second floors of the north wing, connected by two stairways, have been used for special exhibitions.

We land at Paterzell Airfield (EDPN). After departure, we overfly the German Weather Service Meteorological Observatory atop the Hohenpeissenberg and reach the incredibly famous Wieskirche. It is an oval Rococo Church, designed in the late 1740s. It is a UNESCO World Heritage site. It is said that, in 1738, tears were seen on a dilapidated wooden figure of the Scourged Saviour. The legend of this miracle resulted in a pilgrimage rush to see the sculpture. In 1740, a small chapel was built to house the statue but it was soon realized that the building would be too small for the number of pilgrims it attracted, so Steingaden Abbey decided to commission a separate shrine. Construction took place between 1745 and 1754, and the interior was decorated with frescoes and stuccowork in the tradition of the Wessobrunner School. Many who have prayed in front of the statue on the altar have claimed that people have been miraculously cured of their diseases, making this church even more of a pilgrimage site. The church underwent extensive restoration between 1985 and 1991. We overfly the town of Oberammergau and head west. We will visit three castles that King Ludwig II of Bavaria built. The first is Linderhof, the smallest of the three palaces and the only one that was actually completed and that he lived in most of the time from 1876. Please refer to this video for a tour of this palace. The next castle is Neuschwanstein.

Despite the main residence of the Bavarian monarchs at the time—the Munich Residenz—being one of the most extensive palace complexes in the world, King Ludwig II of Bavaria felt the need to escape from the constraints he saw himself exposed to in Munich, and commissioned Neuschwanstein Palace on the remote northern edges of the Alps as a retreat but also in honor of composer Richard Wagner, whom he greatly admired. Ludwig chose to pay for the palace out of his fortune and utilized extensive borrowing rather than Bavarian public funds. Construction began in 1869 but was never completed. The castle was intended to serve as a private residence for the king but he died in 1886, and it was opened to the public shortly after his death. Since then, more than 61 million people have visited Neuschwanstein Castle. More than 1.3 million people visit annually, with as many as 6,000 per day in the summer. Just a few 100 yards away is Hohenschwangau Castle. It was built by King Maximilian II of Bavaria and was the childhood residence of his son, King Ludwig II of Bavaria. King Maximilian died in 1864 and his son Ludwig succeeded to the throne, moving into his father's room in the castle. As Ludwig never married, his mother Marie continued living on her floor during the summer months. King Ludwig enjoyed living in Hohenschwangau, however mostly in the absence of his disliked mother, especially after 1869 when the building of his own castle, Neuschwanstein, began on the site of the old Schwangau fortress, high above his parents' castle. After Ludwig died in 1886, Queen Marie was the castle's only resident until she died in 1889. We pass over the Festspielhaus, a building for the yearly musical performances directly at the lake shore.

We land at Füssen (EDGD). (Note: the airport is at WP9, not at the position displayed in Little Nav Map!). From here we head north and reach Kempten (EDMK). Kempten was the birthplace of Claudius Dornier. We continue north and arrive at Allgaeu Airport (EDJA). This airport was a German Air Force Fighter Bomber Wing until the airport was closed in 2003. It was reopened as a civilian airport in 2004. We fly north again and land at Thannhausen (EDNU), a small glider field. We continue northwest and finish the flight at Leipheim (Z11L). The airport was used as a military airfield for light bombers and later as a FOB for A-10 from Bentwaters. In 2008 the airport was closed and is now being transformed into industrial use.

Aircraft: The flight has a length of 288 miles and 13 landings. I will be in the A2A Comanche. Please fly what you like

Flight plans are here. NOTAM: The destination airport Leipheim is not in the GTN database. The GTN flight plans therefore end at EDPJ.

Recommended scenery:

EDFW: https://flightsim.to/file/10004/edfw-wurzburg-schenkenturm

EDQG: https://flightsim.to/file/36365/giebelstadt-airfield-edqg

EDNC: https://flightsim.to/file/30676/ednc-beilngries

EDPE: https://flightsim.to/file/17552/edpe-eichstaett-near-ingolstadt

ETSN: https://flightsim.to/file/79750/etsn-neuburg-donau-airbase

EDMX: https://flightsim.to/file/27392/oberschleissheim-edmx-ednx

EDMO: https://flightsim.to/file/46185/edmo-oberpfaffenhofen

EDGD: https://flightsim.to/file/18817/fuessen-edgd-airfield-nearby-neuschwanstein

EDMK: https://flightsim.to/file/16892/mikea-at-edmk-kempten-durach

EDNU: https://flightsim.to/file/46522/ednu-thannhausen

Z11L: https://flightsim.to/file/81408/z11l-leipheim

The complete package is available here.

NOTAM: ETSN Neuburg requires various other airfields and libraries to be installed. These are not included in the package. The airport looks good even without the additional add-ons.

Nuremberg is available as payware from aerosoft.

We try real weather. Please set your simulator for a 10:00 am local departure.

Multiplayer Particulars
Date and time: Saturday, November 9, 2024 - 1900 UTC

AVSIM Discord Server: https://discord.gg/K5Vy6UxWNm  - AVSIM GROUP EVENTS-WED. COM1
Microsoft Flight Simulator Multiplayer: EAST-USA Server

If you want to help others enjoy the multiplayer experience, don't forget to enter your aircraft details on the multiplayer spreadsheet (linked here). Your courtesy will save others a lot of time and effort.