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Burglary at the Museum Burglary! - Heavy losses for aviation museum at Rechlin Impudent thieves get away with lots of WW II Luftwaffe aircraft parts During the night of December 20./21. 2002, thieves broke into one of the exhibition halls of the „Luftfahrttechnisches Museum Rechlin“ (technical-historical aviation museum). The exhibits in this hall are related to the history of the German Air Force Test Center (Erprobungsstelle) Rechlin, furthermore there are aircraft parts and equipment from the 1920 – 1945 period along with some post-war items. The burglars took some 150 valuable objects out of some 20 glass cabinets. Most of these objects were loans from private collectors and supporters of the museum. Beyond the stolen objects there were two complete instrument panels from a Messerschmitt Bf 109 G including the Revi 12 C gunsight and from a Heinkel He 162 A, extremely rare cockpit equipment from a Dornier Do 335 A, irreplaceable personal flight suits, boots, heated trousers, gloves, flight maps, decorations from former Rechlin test pilots and engineers. Furthermore the thieves got away with lots of instruments, injection pumps, oil and fuel pumps, generators, magnetos, gearboxes, electrical motors, compasses, chronometers, switches, filters, sparking plugs etc. A detailed list of these objects can be found on the museum’s website The museum keeps detailed data about each object, its nameplate, serial number etc. All items have been photographed before being exhibited. Police investigations are on course. This burglary means a heavy set-back for the relatively young museum in north eastern Germany. In 1993, the “Foerderverein Luftfahrttechnisches Museum” was registered in order to prepare a museum on the historical site. Here the biggest ever test center of the Luftwaffe was located from 1918 to 1945. The remaining area could be purchased from the German Government by the “Foerderverein” with donations from former Rechlin engineers and pilots. The museum was open to the public in 1998 in the ancient main gate building of the Erprobungsstelle and other adjacent original buildings. The number of visitors grew from year to year to some 16.000 in 2002. They can see separate exhibitions showing aviation and test center history until 1945, local history and post-war period (Russian airforce at Rechlin as well as VEB Schiffswerft Rechlin). The museum is operated exclusively by honorary work of the members and without any public or government support. Now it is doubtful, if and how the loss of the majority of objects can be balanced. Any support from the collector’s, researcher’s and historian’s community will be most appreciated. Everybody is asked to contact the museum in case any parts, instruments or equipment as listed above is offered to him or if he knows about such offers or the present location of the parts. Please contact phone ++49 3 98 23 2 0424 or mailto chr.regel@luftfahrttechnisches-museum-rechlin.de for further information or requests. Responsible:
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