On the Road is a weekday feature spotlighting reader photo submissions.
From the exotic to the familiar, whether you’re traveling or in your own backyard, we would love to see the world through your eyes.
We are back to Austria today, but this time we are in Hangar 7 at an airport in Salzburg, with planes, trains and automobiles. (And a bit of poetic license.) ~WaterGirl
I had been working on a photo submission to Alain when he died so unexpectedly. (My laptop was stolen in December 2018, so I’ve been slowly reconstructing my photo collection.)
These photos are from a couple visits to Hangar 7 at the Salzburg Airport, Austria. The hangar is a large glass bubble filled with Herr Red Bull’s toys (aka, Dietrich Mateschitz). My husband & I make a point of riding bicycles to visit the hangar every time we’re in Salzburg since the exhibits change continually as does its art exhibit featuring young artists.
The collection always features a mix of beautifully restored airplanes, jeeps & motorcycles plus modern jets, heliocopters, race cars & motorcycles, and for a while, the capsule from Felix Baumgartner’s stratospheric jump over the New Mexico desert. I didn’t keep track of the provenance of the various items as the plaques were in German, and mein Deutsch ist rudimentary. Just enjoyed the pageantry. And a cappuccino / Stiegl at the adjoining café.
Very cool, old motorcycle with a sidecar. Hopefully someone can offer a more specific description…
And raven comes through…
A gorgeous, powerful and unusual motorcycle, the Puch P800 was equipped with a 4-cylinder boxer engine that was capable of propelling the bike to speeds of up to 125 km/h (75mph). Despite the fact that the model was designed for civilian needs and police, its increasingly positive reputation meant that it was soon drafted into use for the Austrian army and was later happily adopted by the transport-hungry Wehrmacht.
View across the main floor, showing a large float plane, seating for an evening event, plus the little room suspended from the top with catwalk access.
Close-up of the glass roof and catbird seat.
A nod to early flight aspirations.
A restored prop plane. Note, the private hangar for Red Bull’s active planes, helicopters, and jets in the background.
Looks like a Land Rover to me…
raven
A gorgeous, powerful and unusual motorcycle, the Puch P800 was equipped with a 4-cylinder boxer engine that was capable of propelling the bike to speeds of up to 125 km/h (75mph). Despite the fact that the model was designed for civilian needs and police, its increasingly positive reputation meant that it was soon drafted into use for the Austrian army and was later happily adopted by the transport-hungry Wehrmacht.
otmar
I’ve visited Hangar 7 a few times. (and once we had a big company celebration there)
Yes, cool architecture, interesting exhibits and art. Don’t get me riffling through my picture archive.
And one of the best restaurants in the area.
Derelict
@raven: A friend of mine was a Wehrmacht veteran from WWII. That motorcycle is the model he rode as a military messenger.
Fred told me about being stationed in Romania after the fall of Greece. One night, his commanding officer summoned him and handed Fred a packet full of envelopes. His instructions were to deliver each envelope to the various unit commanders, and Fred was not to leave any unit until he had personally seen the unit CO read the enclosed orders. Fred said that as each CO read through the orders, the color drained from their faces. Some began to shake.
The orders were for the invasion of Russia, set to begin at dawn the next day.
Derelict
An odd and eclectic collection there. The weird bird-like wood-and-fabric thing is one of Otto Lillienthal’s hang gliders.
raven
@Derelict: Cool!
Le Comte de Monte Cristo, fka Edmund Dantes
@Derelict: That’s an amazing story. Wow!
Laura Too
Cool pics, and lovely building, thanks!
@otmar: Wow, the menu and pictures of the food!
mad citizen
I spy the Formula 1 car beyond the prop plane. They won 4 drivers championships (Sebastian Vettel) and 4 constructors championships in a row 2010, 11, 12 and 13. Weird how you can create this money from selling a caffeinated energy drink, but the Red Bull aesthetic of action and adventure is way cooler than whatever coke and pepsi are up to.
Derelict
@Le Comte de Monte Cristo, fka Edmund Dantes:
Fred had a whole bunch of amazing stories from the war. He ended up being taken prisoner by some Free French when North Africa fell. The French turned him over to the Free Italians, who turned him over to the British. The British put him on a ship and turned the whole lot of Wehrmacht prisoners over to the Americans.
So Fred ended up in a POW camp in Oklahoma. The Germans had been told by their commanders that they would be tortured, worked, and starved to death. Fred said that the first shock was when they walked into the barracks and saw that every prisoner had a bed with clean sheets, blankets, pillows, etc. And their own little chest of drawers. The second shock was when they were all mustered for dinner, and dinner turned out to be steaks. They couldn’t believe it.
By the end of their second month in captivity, most of the prisoners had not only decided that Germany was DEFINITELY going to lose the war, they were actively rooting for the Americans!
Uncle Cosmo
Frontal view of that prop plane is challenging – I’d guess FW 190 or P-47 except for the tricycle landing gear, with which (AFAICT) no single-engine WW2 fighter was equipped except for the P-39 Airacobra, whose engine was definitely not visible from the front (housed behind the pilot with a drive shaft between his feet!).
Net to the rescue! I googled up “hangar 7 airplanes” and found the North American T-28B Trojan USN trainer of 1954. Figures that a postwar military propellor-driven plane would be a trainer.
tokyokie
I was wondering what the plane on the far right of the photo with the float plane was because it has a big-ass engine, and I thought it must be a bomber. I was thinking it might be a B-25 Mitchell, but those had 3-blade props, not 4-blade props. But then I realized you can just make out the cockpit behind the engine, so it has to be the F-4U Corsair in the collection.
way2blue
@raven: Thank you, raven!
way2blue
@otmar: If I recall correctly (from last week?), you have family who live in Salzburg. Normally, we would visit a friend, who has a little cottage near Schloss Hellbrunn, in November. But not this year alas.
way2blue
@Derelict: Thanks!
Jay Noble
@Derelict: Same POW responses at camps here in Nebraska, from both Germans and Italians. Some managed to immigrate back here after the war.