OSNABRÜCK (Atterheide)   EDWO

Date of Visit = July 1996 and July 1999

Pilot: = Chris Belton

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

Field Report = On both occasions we stopped here en route to Poland in the C150. It was getting late, and this was the only small airfield (suitable for camping) which was still open, or prepared to let us land when it wasn't.

Basically, it's very user-friendly. It even has customs (PPR) if you need them.

We camped next to the aeroplane, but both times, by the time we'd put the tents up the flying club restaurant/bar was closed, which was a pity, but our fault for being disorganised (it was ten o'clock!).

The first time, undeterred, we set off in the dark for a wood with a restaurant in it, next to the lake under final approach to runway 27, about a mile or so away. We picked our way along a cycle track in the darkness. Suddenly there was the sound of singing. Fast approaching voices, presumably on bicycles, were chanting "Oh Tannenbaum oh Tannenbaum" to the tune of "The Red Flag". They overtook us with much jingling of bells and "Guten Abend"s and disappeared into the night. There followed a sudden crashing noise and screams of "Oh Scheizer" as one of them ran into a tree.

We got a snack at the restaurant and phoned home, then made our way back to the airfield. On our second visit we ate at another restaurant next to the airfield, which was good but a bit expensive by our standards. Behind the fence where we camped was a riding school, and we got permission to fetch water from the yard. The second time I had a look round it. There was an English girl working there.

The surrounding forest belongs to a baron, and the baroness keeps a beautiful dapple grey Spanish stallion (flowing mane and tail) at the stables. The people at the stables kept the airfield mown in exchange for the hay it provided. They lived there, and grumbled a bit about the business aircraft which woke them up when they occasionally departed at first light, but apart from that it looked like a good arrangement with everybody happy.

The staff in the tower helped us out on both occasions with some tricky flight planning. The first time we were going to a destination where no British plane had ever landed before (more about this after our article on the subject has been published). They managed to get us permission.

The second time we were doing battle with the Poles to land at some minor airfields, requiring 2 days PPR. One turned out to be notamed as closed, but we got permission. They did all this for us, including lengthy telephone calls to the German and Polish aviation authorities and even to a haulage agent they knew personally in Gdansk. This trip is the subject of another forthcoming magazine article. Without their help (we didn't even have a mobile phone) we'd never have managed it.

We did eventually eat in the flying club bar, and can recommend that too.