Lufthansa announced today the 2013 tour schedule for the beloved Junker Ju52 “Templehof” that will celebrate her 77th year with the fleet. This special aircraft has been maintained by Lufthansa Technik and serves as an ambassador for the airline at unique events throughout Europe. What is so special about this is that anyone can book a ticket for a short flight to relive the nostalgia of this iconic aircraft. Last year 7500 people were fortunate enough to have experienced this.
The aircraft, D-AQUI, was constructed and delivered in 1936 to Lufthansa (pre-war company that is different than today’s LH) and over the 77 years had served in Norway, the jungles of Ecuador and also in North America. She was reunited with Lufthansa in the early 1980s when the airline decided to save and restore the aircraft. With the efforts of volunteers from Lufthansa’s Technik, the Ju52 ‘re-debuted’ in 1986 and has been a favorite of aviation enthusiasts.
The aircraft continues to be serviced and maintained by Lufthansa, and is actually flown by a group 25 Lufthansa pilots who take time away from their modern aircraft and cockpits to help keep the tradition going. Additionally 15 engineers and 23 flight attendants round out the Ju52 crew that rotate throughout the year.
Due to increasing popularity, Lufthansa has scheduled more appearances for her this year than in past years.
This year, she will make her first appearance May 9 to May 12 to help help celebrate Hamburg’s 824th Harbour Birthday. From there she’ll will be busy until the end of October:
MAY: Hamburg – Bremen – Hannover – Paderborn – Dortmund – Münster-Osnabrück – Essen-Mülheim – Kön/Bonn – Egelsbach – Leipzig – Schönhagen bei Berlin – Dresden – Bayreuth – Nürnberg.
JUNE: Giebelstadt (Hessen) – Egelsbach – Speyer – Mainz – Siegerland – Hamburg – Düsseldorf (Aviation Day June 9) – Köln – Dortmund – Hannover – Lübeck – Heringsdorf – Neubrandenburg – Schönhagen bei Berlin – Braunschweig – Bremen – Kiel (Kiel Week June 29-30).
JULY: Bremen – Hildesheim – Leipzig – Dessau – Dresden – Mainz – Speyer – Karlsruhe – Mainz – Egelsbach – Siegerland – Essen-Mülheim – Dortmund.
AUGUST: Hamburg – Braunschweig – Leipzig – Dresden – Egelsbach – Bayreuth – Nürnberg – Tannheim (August 23-25 Ground Visit Only) – Memmingen – Friedrichshafen – München-Oberschleißheim (Flight to Salzburg and return) – Ingolstadt.
SEPTEMBER: Straubing – Stuttgart – Hahnweide (September 6 Ground Visit Only) – Egelsbach – Karlsruhe – Speyer – Köln – Mainz – Saarbrücken – Speyer – München.
OCTOBER: Nürnberg – Dresden – Schönhagen bei Berlin – Leipzig – Hannover – Paderborn – Dortmund – Münster-Osnabrück – Bremen – Hamburg.
In addition to her Germany schedule, the Ju52 will also make cameo appearances at the Duxford Airshow (UK) in July , Sweden in August and the ‘Goodwood Revival” Classic Car Show in Sussex (UK) in September.
If you happen to be in any of these cities when the Ju52 is in town, you can arrange to experience a 30 or 60 minute flight. For 30 minutes, the fare is €199 and for 60 minutes it’s €372. Booking is easy and can be done at www.lufthansa-ju52.de or by calling 040-5070-1717.
A flight on the Ju52 is definitely on my “Aviation Bucketlist” and I hope to check it off the list later this year!
