The Transall was in service around the world as a transport aircraft for the Bundeswehr for 50 years.
Now this era is coming to an end.
To say goodbye, a Transall in the special paint scheme starts a goodbye tour in the south of Germany as a “retro brummel”.
The C-160 also flies over the former Fursty and Penzing air bases.
Fürstenfeldbruck / Penzing -
until the Lufttransportgeschwader (LTG) 61 in Penzing was disbanded four years ago, a hum could be heard in the sky over the Fürstenfeldbruck district.
The unarmed Transall was on its way to or from the Landsberger Air Base and impressed many with its slow fly-by - with a take-off weight of almost 50 tons.
Successor aircraft
After Penzing, the LTG 63 in Hohn, Schleswig-Holstein, will also close at the end of 2021.
This is where the Penzinger had delivered their last Transall.
The successor model A400M is now available in sufficient numbers and with all application configurations, slightly delayed.
These operate from the only remaining Air Transport Wing 62 in Wunstorf near Hanover.
Angel of the air
From 2028, ten A400Ms are also to be operated from Lechfeld in the form of a multinational air transport (MNAU).
After humanitarian missions during various famines in Africa, grateful recipients of medication and food rations, which could also be dropped off in the deepest flight, described the Transall as the “angel of the air”.
Airlift
Shuttle flights within Germany, but also to supply German embassies around the world, were routine tasks.
In 1978, during the Lebanese civil war, an airlift was set up between Bruck Air Base and Tel Aviv Airport.
Paratroopers
In a military context, in addition to transporting cargo and passengers, the Transall was used to drop paratroopers on almost all United Nations operations.
This mostly happened over the air landing and air transport school in Altenstadt.
By equipping them with a special kit, injured persons could also be flown out of a danger zone during ongoing, extensive medical care.
+
Almost completely analog: the Transall cockpit on a farewell tour.
On the left the seat of the aircraft commander, on the right that of the co-pilot.
In the middle (position of the photographer) is the place of the flight engineer.
A Transall always has to be controlled by three people.
© mjk
Off to the museum
Of the 110 Transall that the Air Force had put into service since 1968, only a few are still airworthy.
The remaining machines will be scrapped or given to museums by the end of 2021.
A Transall is already on display at the Oberschleissheim aircraft yard.
The last Penzinger Transall was transferred to the Aviation Museum in Wernigerode in the special “Silver Gams” paint scheme.
Final tasks
In return, the “Retro-Brummel” from the far north, which can be seen in the sky tomorrow, will find its final place in Bavaria in the Air Force officers' school in Roth, which is currently being built.
The days of the last Bavarian (special) Transall are already numbered: on December 6, 2021, the test pilots of the Wehrtechnischen Dienststelle 61 in Manching also have to hand over their "baby".
The C-160 Transall is still used there to extend the pilot's license.
Communication with patients was often difficult on medical evacuation flights
The Transall, which is equipped for medical evacuation flights (MedEvac), has only a few things in common with an ambulance jet.
Both planes are about flying patients - but where to pick them up makes the first big difference.
"With the MedEvac-Transall we can also fly injured or wounded soldiers from crisis regions," reports the aviation medical assistant Stephan Wagner.
The former Grafrather was already doing many MedEvac on-call shifts in LTG 61 in the mid-1990s.
The MedEvac-Transall should be able to take off within a very short time with specially trained medical staff from Penzing. The expected targets were mostly in the Balkans. "Once we picked up an English soldier with severe burns," recalls Sergeant Stephan Wagner.
There would have been enough space for patient care - since 2001 also with special transport options for intensive care patients - in the Transall, but communication with patients was very difficult given the very loud propeller plane inside.
“You have to work more with your eyes than with your ears,” says Wagner.
The flights with the Transall were hardly more pleasant, but because of the exotic destinations in many countries in Africa or even French Guiana, the flights with the Transall were very exciting: For more than three days in the tropics, an aviation doctor or at least an aviation medical assistant must be there.
"At 90 percent humidity and over 35 ° C, unloading a Transall - sometimes even without a forklift - is a sweaty affair".
mjk
The overflight times
On Wednesday, August 18: Penzing 10.25 a.m. to 10.40 a.m., Fürstenfeldbruck 10.45 a.m. to 10.50 a.m., onwards towards Munich (11 a.m. to 11.05 a.m.).
Also interesting:
The Fürstenfeldbruck Air Base on the way to the civilian future
