A BAe Flight Systems A-4 was on static display at the German Navy (Marineflieger) airshow at Eggebeck close to the Danish border in north Germany last year. I think there’s (at least) a picture of it on airliners.net

Looks like deliberate scrapping to me. Yet another “preserved” aircraft gone and what a shame that is. I remember seeing it in Le Bourget in December 1988.

Flying can be exciting enough without having to worry about people shooting at you as well…. :p

Great pics, Andrew, thanks a lot! Nice to see that the Hunter has been restored in its original RDanAF colours, got any more pics of that one by chance?

Have you seen both aircraft exhibitions of the Deutsches Museum? There is the museum in the center of Munich and a dedicated aircraft museum (“Flugwerft”) in a north-western suburb (Oberschleissheim). Highlights at the latter for you would be a genuine Fokker D.VII, a Halberstadt C.IV, and a CASA 2.111 and a Do 24 undergoing restoration. Other points of interest that cross my mind:

– There’s apparently a newly restored, genuine Bf 109 at Speyer, and now a Concorde at Sinsheim so a revisit might be worthwile,
– Luftfahrtmuseum Hannover-Laatzen
– Flugzeugsammlung Leo Junior in Hermeskeil (huge private museum, but the only WWII bird is a CASA 2.111)
– Luftwaffe museum in Berlin-Gatow.

Yes, Wake vortex does come from the wing tips. But I don’t think this is a wake vortex as such. Not in the same sense anyway

If I am not very mistaken it is of the same constitution as the wake vortex on a wing tip: Spanwise airflow on the upper (low pressure) and the lower (high pressure) surfaces mix in a spiralling vortex as consequence of nature trying to equalize the pressure. Static pressure in the vortex is very low which causes a visible condensation (vapour) of humidity in the air when conditions (relative humidity – which does not necessarily mean pouring rain!) are right. So it is indeed a vortex of the same type as that originating from the wing tip; in fact, some aircraft (e.g. the Boeing 757) are reputed to produce flap edge trailing vortices which are so powerful that these alone can cause problems for other aircraft flying into them.

As an educational measure I can highly recommend a couple of hour’s spotting at an airport near the extended centerline of the approach runway as close to the threshold as you can get. Not only can you see these vortices, you can also vividly hear and sometimes feel them a couple of second after an aircraft has passed overhead.

The Scandinavian Air Services flight

Scandinavian Airlines System (a.k.a. SAS), perhaps… 😉