Waren (Vielist)   EDOW

Date of Visit = Summer 1992 and 1997

Pilot: = Chris Belton

e-mail = chris@yarboo.freeserve.co.uk

Field Report = My first visit was shortly after unification. I wanted to see what it was like in former East Germany. Waren is in the lake district, so I thought it ought to be a nice place anyway.

I was in a rented Robinson R22 helicopter in which I was visiting western Germany in connection with a book I was writing. It was during the school holidays so, having failed to find a babysitter, I brought my ten-year-old daughter along.

We got a bit lost, but we knew immediately when we arrived in the former eastern zone by the spider-like tractors, the dilapidated houses and the wide, rusty electricity pylons.

We eventually recognised the Muritzsee (you couldn't really miss it), and headed to the town of Waren, at the top. There was no sign of the airfield, which is a few miles out of town, but we got radio contact and fortunately they could hear the helicopter and directed us in.

There was a rusty security fence round the buildings and parking area, and the latter contained only microlights and gliders - and some scrapped Trabants. These people were just beginning to get their act together after the unification, and Trabants were, well, just not cool!

They had managed to get the airfield up and running during the communist era as a gliding club. There was a scrap-book illustrating the history of the place.

The two microlight/gliding instructors were former NVA (East German Army) helicopter pilots, and delighted (as well as rather surprised) to see an R22 - they had not flown helicopters since the demise of the communist regime, though one of them had started a flying school nearby at Neubrandenburg.

There was some rudimentary accomodation in the rather shabby buildings, but we were urged to go to a hotel near Waren town. This turned out to be full (of west German tourists) but in true eastern-block style we were offered the basement of a private house for £10. The furniture was of the same style throughout, and apparently in all the houses in the area, a sort of MFI style with a shiny finish. In communist times it was all you could get since it was produced by the local state furniture factory.

We did get a meal at the hotel, which specialised in Mecklenburg cuisine. As in Poland, cooked beetroot featured prominently on the menu in various forms (not drowned in vinegar), and very good it was too.

The next day we went for a walk to the lake, accompanied by an entourage of manic mosquitoes. There were butterflies and wildflowers everywhere. Squashed slow-worms lined the track. Obviously they just hadn't been quick enough...

Photo: The Muritzsee next to Waren town in the NE German lake district

We couldn't get the helicopter close enough to the fuel (I think it was in a bowser which no longer moved), so they carried it by the bucketful. I needn't have worried: the buckets were stainless steel and scrupulously clean.

When we returned in 1997, all the buildings at the airfield had been modernised, and there was proper accomodation, though we stayed in our tents. A new tower had been acquired: it was the former observation tower from the autobahn junction at Schwerin. One of the old Trabants had found a new lease of life, and a new black and yellow chequered colour scheme, as an airfield vehicle at Neubrandenburg.

Photo: Our landlady and my daughter outside our lodgings in a private house just outside Waren. We rented the whole of the basement for 10 GBP.