Flieger Flab Swiss Airforce Museum in Dübendorf
Swiss Aircraft Museum Near Zurich
Article and photos by Simon Ewin
Some of my fondest memories of my childhood are going to museums with my dad. Somehow, he always seemed to know interesting stories that added colour to the information presented by the museum. His “specialist subjects” were the Royal Air Force and the Royal Navy, which was very convenient as I grew up not too far from the Maritime Museum in Greenwich.
Flieger Flab Swiss Airforce Museum in Dübendorf
When my own son recently started to become interested in aircraft, I started to look around for a suitable museum that we could visit and I stumbled across the Flieger Flab Museum in Dübendorf. It’s very conveniently located by the airfield at Dübendorf and can be reached easily – its about 12 minutes on the train from Zurich HB to Dübendorf and then a 10 minute walk from the station.
Military Aviation and Air Defence at the Flieger Flab Museum
So, one Friday afternoon, my ten year old son and I set off to visit the Flieger Flab Swiss Airforce Museum in Dübendorf. I wasn’t confident I would be able to provide the same insights my dad always provided me on such visits but, despite my shortcomings, we had a really enjoyable afternoon. The theme of the museum is military aviation and air defence and, whilst there are some things of interest to smaller kids, it’s more suitable for adults and older kids with a real interest in aircraft.
Virtual Reality Glasses
We started our visit by trying out the Virtual Reality Glasses that are on offer, albeit at an extra charge. There were 4 options on offer when we visited but this is constantly being developed so its worth checking in advance if this is of interest. I went for the option of sitting in the back of a Patrouille Suisse jet aircraft on a training flight over the Alps and my son tried a flight in a Pilatus PC-7 propeller aircraft over Dübendorf.
Messerschmitt Me-109 at the Flieger Flab Swiss Airforce Museum in Dübendorf
In the first hall, there are a lot of older aircraft and I was surprised and delighted to see, for the first time that I can recall, a Messerschmitt Me-109. As a kid when I played with model aircraft, you always had to have at least one of these in your collection so it could be shot down by your Spitfires and Hurricanes. The Swiss Airforce operated around 100 of these in the years between 1939 and 1949. Although it was outperformed by the Spitfire, the Me-109 was a very good and much-feared aeroplane and it was a real thrill for me to see one “in the flesh”.
Modern Aircraft in Second Hall of the Flieger Flab Swiss Airforce Museum
In the second hall, we moved into the modern era and, for some reason, the Swiss Air Force seemed to have changed their supplier ! This really did take me back – there were a number of Hawker Hunters, the jet fighter my dad always described as the most beautiful ever built. For a period in the 1950s, the Black Arrows, the predecessors to the world-famous RAF Red Arrows Display Team, flew Hunters, which must have been quite a sight. In the same hall, there were also a number of De Havilland Vampires and there was the opportunity to sit in the cockpit of one of these aircraft, which was obviously mandatory for both us. These aircraft are from a time where Great Britain had a plethora of aircraft manufacturers, including De Havilland, Hawker, Blackburn and English Electric. These companies were truly on the leading edge of aircraft development and the rate at which test pilots were killed was shockingly high, often one a week. It was something of a surprise to find these in a Swiss aviation museum.
The Junkers-52 in the Third Hall of The Flieger Flab Swiss Airforce Museum
The third main area of interest is a section dedicated to ground based air defence – this took a bit of effort to follow what was going on and we didn’t spend that much time in this area as we were keen to move on. Next on our list was to visit the Ju-52. The Junkers-52 is a three engine aircraft designed in 1931 which was used as a bomber in the Spanish Civil War. By 1939 it was obsolete as a bomber but continued to be used for military transport and supply throughout the Second World War. Ju-52s were critical to supplying German forces during the invasion of Norway, Denmark, France and the Low Countries as well as supplying Rommel’s Afrika Korps in north Africa. The Ju-52 was a regular sight in the air above Switzerland when I first moved here but one aircraft crashed in 2018 and since then the Ju-52 has not flown. It was an interesting experience to be able to get on such an old aircraft in the museum but I cannot imagine that anything would persuade me to go up in one if they were to be allowed to fly again – it felt more like sitting in an Anderson Shelter !
Aircraft on display at the Flieger Flab Swiss Airforce Museum in Dübendorf
Do Visit The Upper Deck of the Flieger Flab Swiss Airforce Museum
Finally, if you do visit the Flieger Flab Swiss Airforce Museum, don’t forget to go upstairs – there are some great model aircraft and also a “cutaway” helicopter that is intended to show how the controls move the various blades … suffice to say, we spent quite some time here before heading for home. Definitely somewhere we will re-visit in the future.
Flieger Flab Swiss Airforce Museum Dübendorf
Address: Ueberlandstrasse 271, 8600 Dübendorf
With many thanks to Simon Ewin for writing the article.
All photos by Simon
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