As the GDR wanted to build passenger jets

The first German passenger aircraft with turbojet engine was built in Germany, but in the former GDR. The success of the model will be called 152, however, was not.

A tractor pulled on 30. April 1958, the Sensation of a Monday Halle in Dresden on the airfield log: the first airliner with jet propulsion from Germany. As the guest of honor of the GDR head of state Walter Ulbricht was present, the first Secretary of the Central Committee of the SED. The prototype was presented by the manufacturer as "finished" and ready for "soil testing".

Ready or even capable of flight, the plane was not fitted, but still long, even if the TV pictures of the hidden. And so the machine with the identifier of the DM-ZYA, only on 4. December to your half-hour maiden flight. The Name of this impressive model: 152 or Baade 152.

Four Dead in crash

Was developed the four-engine Short - and medium-haul aircraft under the direction of the former Junkers engineer Brunolf Baade at VEB Flugzeugwerke Dresden. He had, with Other German engineers after the Second world war, forcibly brought into the Soviet Union, already in the development of the two-jet nozzle bomber 150 worked. Back in the GDR developed and Baade and his Team built up then the plane that was supposed to be the flagship plane for the East German aviation industry. The 152 was a development of the Soviet bomber 150.

Three months after the maiden flight took off, the DM-ZYA again. The machine should be the first to fly for a photo shoot at a low altitude over the airfield, Dresden, and to impress in the afternoon, then across the Leipzig spring fair, the Soviet party chief Nikita Khrushchev. But not all of it. In the approach, the machine crashed about six kilometers from the Dresden airfield.

Up to 73 passengers

The four crew members, two pilots and two engineers, did not survive. At first, human error was cited as the official reason for the accident, you know, in the meantime, also technical problems with the fuel system. The program was led, in spite of the disaster.

After delays, a further prototype was completed in 1960 and graduated as a DM-ZYB in August and September, a successful flight. The new Version of the 152 had compared to the first prototypes no lateral support wheels, but a three-point suspension. In the GDR, developed in Pirna 014 engines replaced the Soviet RD-9B. The Jet 48 to 73 pass bot. But in November, the flyer was banned because of problems with the tank system, a flight.

A hull in the Museum

The re-delay, the crash of the first prototype, the progress of the competition abroad – made it all the 152 for customers less attractive. When the Soviet Union canceled a big order, this was the nail in the coffin for DRR developed 152. In 1961, the production was set. All built or under construction 152 were scrapped, apart from a few hulls. The one with the serial number 011, served until 1989, on the airfield of the National people's army in Rothenburg/upper Lusatia as a stand - by and storage room.

Since 1993, the hull belongs to the traffic Museum in Dresden, and is now restored. Here, too, he lived not always a very good existence: He stood at the back of the hall on the edge and in the interior made in 2013, an office Golf tournament Station. In April 2018 hull 011, was lifted by a crane into a new Position, "now as a real eye-catcher located in the middle of the hall," as the airport Dresden. And this is also appropriate for the first German jet-powered passenger aircraft.

You can see in the above image gallery with Videos, historical recordings of the 152.

Posted by Jack at .