Tannkosh Airshow

Tannheim Airstrip
Tannheim
Bavaria
Germany
July 14 -16, 2006


During this hot summer weekend more than 1300 aircraft of all descriptions and from all over Europe, descended on the Tannheim airstrip for an annual festival of flying.

Billed as Tannkosh, the event pays its respects to its American inspiration – Oshkosh – and I imagine Tannkosh today is similar to what Oshkosh was in the beginning. A Fly In for flyers. There is no formal Air Show program as such – it’s more like a pilot saying I feel like doing my thing now and then doing it. And the performances exactly reflected the obvious enjoyment the pilots were having. Backing up the flying was a program of Workshops and, of course, a couple of awesome parties!

For me there were several memorable moments but the one that comes most to mind is sitting on the terrace on the Friday evening enjoying a fine Bavarian lager, talking with a flyer from Koln who had made the in bound flight in a home built that day, watching a graceful aerobatic display by an immaculately prepared Harvard. The only thing that would beat that would be flying the Harvard!

Tannkosh started in 1995, the brainchild and passion of the flying Dolderer family. It was Max Dolderer - who turned from farming to flying - who lay the foundations for the show 30 years ago by converting a field to an airstrip. Today Verena and Matthias Dolderer are in charge and are clearly keeping the tradition alive – the 1300 arrivals this year bettered last year’s numbers by almost 500.

As for the aircraft, it must be a plane spotters paradise, vintage, microlights, ultralights, powered gliders, warbirds and even a couple of gyrocopters. All beautifully prepared, all beautifully flown.

From a spectators perspective maybe the best day is Sunday when there is a constant stream of departing aircraft from virtually first light.

I imagine most will be returning next year and if you are interested you will be able to follow the build up at www.tannkosh.com. Or if you just want to go flying in a beautiful area with very hospitable hosts, check out http://www.edmt.de.

As they say at Tannheim, here’s to ‘blue skies and tailwinds’.