Thanks to John Tempest for this excellent video of the meeting.
As we were saying our goodbyes and preparing to leave the fly-in at Albstadt-Degerfeld, Hermann Deibold said "This has been a dream come true." I think eveyone at the event felt the same way. About 25 Bückers had arrived by air. Six Siemens Jungmeisters, six Hirth Jungmann, two LOM Jungmann, Two Walter Mikron B&F Jungmann, three Tigre/CASA Jungmann, three Bestmann, one LOM Jungmeister, a Stieglitz and more. A Jungmeister and two Jungmann are based at Degerfeld, so all together I think I counted 29 Bückers!
The sound of 20+ vintage engines turning at once was something to experience.
When Joe Valise and I arrived at the airport on Friday morning, there were very few people around but we found a large white truck that had driven through the night from Poland. It contained a B&F 131B Jungmann airframe that Peter Funk had arranged to be delivered for us to see. We were able to lend a hand in getting it assembled. - We didn't help much, but we did get a really good look at the aircraft. To say we were impressed would be a considerable understatement. The workmanship, attention to detail and the originality of the aircraft is just amazing. You will see many pictures of in the photo album linked below.
Although the forecast for the weekend was horrible, Bückers started to arrive from Germany, France, Austria and Switzerland. There was lots of flying to be done, friendships to renew, stories to tell and eventually work to get that many aircraft into Degerfeld's big hangar.
At dinner on Friday night in the airfield restaurant we were treated to the much anticipated "Bücker Movie". Unfortunately a computer problem the week before had cased some problems with the movie, but even so what we saw was wonderful. Historical footage I had not seen before and a lot of new content of the most excellent quality. When this film is finished it is going to be fantastic.
Saturday morning dawned wet and soggy with low ceilings and drizzle. Breakfast at the hotel then off to the airfield just in case anyone was brave enough to fly. - Of course they were! Benoit Dierickx arrived in the fabulous LOM Jungmeister, Two more Hirth Jungmann arrived from Switzerland, and Christian Becker flew in from Mannheim, a short distance to the North. None the less it was not going to be a great flying day so Hermann organized a visit to the nearby Winter Instrument factory.
More movies and stories were enjoyed at the airport restaurant, and Peter Funk gave a most interesting talk on the development of the A and B model Jungmanns he now produces.
Sunday was a much better day. The early morning clouds soon dispersed and flying commenced. Benoit put on another impressive display of the flying that recently won him the world vintage aerobatics championships, there was some formation flying (three formations of three aircraft over the field), passenger rides were given to members of the Winter family who had so kindly shown us around their facility the day before, and some last minute maintenance was performed prior to what was for many, a long trip home.
Throughout the event we were treated to flights by RC model Bückers, the larges of which by far was this 80% scale Jungmeister. I counted at least eight servos, two receivers and five batteries in the model.
This is a B&F 'A' model Jungmann powered by a Walter Mikron engine. It sounded very Tigre like and was of spectacular quality. Two of the ten aircraft so far delivered were present.
Shortly after lunch (the airport restaurant "Il Delta" again) the Bückers started to fire up for departure. At one point there were 20 Siemens/Hirth/Tigre/LOM/Walter engines all running at one. The sound was glorious!
My favorite aircraft of the show. What a classic.
Here is a link to some pictures of the event: https://photos.app.goo.gl/T2p1rB0bvgg37EId2
and an album of the B & F Jungmann reproductions: https://photos.app.goo.gl/swDzmgIOdgL0p2Fb2
Many people helped to make this event the success that is was, in particular:
- Martina and Christian Deibold, who helped Hermann organize the event
- The club management that let us use the infrastructure, the airfield and the hangars
- Martin Schick and the whole Degerfeld crew who helped in so many ways
- Ulli Hunger and Achim Döring of the Bücker film team
- The "Il Delta" restaurant team
- And last but not least all the Bücker crews that came a long way helped make it a success.