Technik Museum Sinsheim

There are aviation museums with a Concorde. And there are a handful of museums with a Tu-144. But there is only one place in the world where the two stand next to each other: Sinsheim in the Kraichgau region. On the roof of an exhibition hall, right on the A6, the Air France Concorde F-BVFB and the Soviet Tupolev Tu-144 point their noses at the sky in takeoff pose. You climb into both and walk through the cabins up to the cockpit. Down in the halls, a Ju 52, DC-3, Il-18 and Viscount are waiting – for plane spotters, the Technik Museum Sinsheim is a day trip you won’t forget anytime soon.

From classic car museum to supersonic magnet

The museum opened on May 6, 1981 as the Auto & Technik Museum Sinsheim, at the time on about 5,000 square meters. Behind the idea were collectors and restorers around the entrepreneur Eberhard Layher. To this day the museum is run by a nonprofit association that, according to Wikipedia, is funded solely by admissions, donations and membership fees – with no public subsidies. Ten years after Sinsheim, the same association opened the Technik Museum Speyer, about 35 kilometers to the west. Together, the two museums operate as Technik Museen Sinsheim Speyer.

In the beginning, cars were the focus, but aviation joined early. In 1988 the museum brought a Douglas DC-3, an Ilyushin Il-14 and a Boeing Vertol helicopter to Sinsheim; according to Wikipedia, the Il-14 was flown onto the grounds slung beneath a German Army helicopter. In 1989 a Tupolev Tu-134 followed, arriving in pieces from Manching. Over time the aviation collection grew to around 60 aircraft.

Today Wikipedia gives the museum more than 50,000 square meters of exhibition space, about 30,000 square meters of it in halls, plus over 3,000 exhibits and more than a million visitors a year. That makes Sinsheim one of the largest privately run museums in Europe.

The supersonic duo on the roof

If you’ve driven the A6 between Mannheim and Heilbronn, you know the sight: two slender delta wings stand on a hall roof as if about to take off. Both sit on steel supports in takeoff position, tilted slightly as if lifting off. What looks like a stage set from below can be entered. You climb up the stairs, step into the cabins and walk to the cockpit.

The appeal lies in the direct comparison. Concorde and Tu-144 were developed in parallel in the 1960s, on both sides of the Iron Curtain, and solved the same problem with similar means. Both rely on a delta wing and four afterburning jet engines, and both droop the nose for takeoff and landing so the pilots can see enough. In the details, though, they differ considerably – and in Sinsheim you can see exactly that with your own eyes.

You’ll find more on the development of both types on the pages for the Concorde and the Tu-144.

The Tu-144 CCCP-77112: the first supersonic airliner in the sky

The Tu-144 was in the air earlier than its Western counterpart. According to the museum, its first flight took place on December 31, 1968, about two months before the Concorde, and on June 5, 1969, it became the first airliner to break the sound barrier. The road to scheduled service, however, was rocky. In 1973 a Tu-144 broke apart in the air during a demonstration at the Paris Air Show. From December 1975 the type flew mail and cargo, and in November 1977 passenger service began between Moscow and Alma-Ata, today’s Almaty. By 1978 it was over again: after the crash of a Tu-144D in May 1978, scheduled service was discontinued; operations were considered costly and uneconomical anyway.

According to Wikipedia, the Tu-144 flew a total of 102 scheduled flights, 55 of them with passengers. Later NASA used a modified aircraft as a flying laboratory; the last flight of any Tu-144 took place in 1999. The article Tupolev Tu-144 provides a compact overview, and the page on Tupolev introduces the company behind it.

The Sinsheim example carries the registration CCCP-77112. According to Wikipedia, it first flew in 1979 and last flew in 1981, then stood for almost two decades in Zhukovsky near Moscow. It is considered the only Tu-144 on display outside Russia.

A journey across rivers and seas

How the aircraft got to Sinsheim is a story in itself. According to the museum, an initial inquiry in Moscow went unanswered at first. About ten years later, a delegation from the design bureau got in touch and offered an aircraft. Museum president Hermann Layher made an offer that included transport to Mannheim – and it was accepted.

In total, according to Wikipedia, the aircraft covered more than 4,000 kilometers. In 2026 the museum celebrates a quarter century of the Tu-144 on its roof.

The Concorde F-BVFB: to Sinsheim for one euro

The Concorde arrived two years after the Tu-144. F-BVFB carries serial number 207 and, according to Wikipedia, first flew on March 6, 1976, in Toulouse. It belonged to the Air France fleet and logged about 14,770 flight hours.

After the crash of Air France Concorde F-BTSC near Paris in July 2000 and the later return to service, both operators flew the type for only a short time. Air France ended commercial Concorde operations at the end of May 2003, and British Airways followed on October 24, 2003. The Concorde story tells the background of its rise and end.

According to Wikipedia, Air France handed F-BVFB over to the museum for the symbolic price of one euro. On June 24, 2003, it took off on its very last flight – bound for Karlsruhe/Baden-Baden. There the wings and vertical stabilizer were removed, and it continued by barge and road to Sinsheim. Since 2004 it has stood on the roof next to the Tu-144.

Walk-through classics in the halls and outdoors

The two supersonic jets are the magnet, but by no means everything. According to Wikipedia, in Sinsheim you can enter several other airliners and special-purpose aircraft. What stands where can change – the overview gives examples, not a complete list.

The Ju 52 is a good starting point for a trip back in time: the article Ju 52 – Tante Ju tells how the corrugated-skin aircraft became a legend, and the technical data is on the page for the Junkers Ju 52. Right behind it waits the DC-3, the aircraft that shaped scheduled air travel in the 1930s and 1940s – more in the history of the DC-3.

The East-West comparison among the turboprops is also fascinating. The Il-18 and the Vickers Viscount show how two camps brought the turboprop into scheduled service in the 1950s. The Tu-134, in turn, represents the next generation of Soviet jet airliners.

The stocky flying-boat hull of the Canadair CL-215 stands out on the grounds immediately. The firefighting flying boat is the predecessor of the CL-415, still in service today, which you can see fighting wildfires in southern Europe in summer. And the cockpit section of the 747-200 invites a detour into the world of the early jumbos – if you want to experience the whole aircraft, you’ll find it in Speyer.

Photography at the Technik Museum Sinsheim

For photographers, Sinsheim is relaxed: according to the museum, photos and videos for private purposes are allowed without restriction. Tripods and lights are permitted as long as you don’t disturb other visitors. You may show private pictures on your website and on social media. For commercial use you need prior approval from the press office.

The biggest photographic challenge is the roof. Concorde and Tu-144 stand outdoors and high up – so you work with sky, sun and clouds as at an airport, just without movement.

Getting there, opening hours and overnight stays

The museum is located at Museumsplatz 1 in 74889 Sinsheim. According to the museum, it is open 365 days a year, Monday to Friday from 9 a.m. to 6 p.m., on weekends and public holidays from 9 a.m. to 7 p.m. Different hours apply around Christmas and New Year. We deliberately don’t list admission prices because they change.

• By train: Since 1995 the museum has its own stop. You ride to the terminus “Museum/Arena” and then walk about five minutes, according to the museum.
• By car: via the A6 between Mannheim and Heilbronn, exit 33b Sinsheim-Süd. Parking is paid, but according to the museum free for a certain time after entry. It can get crowded on match days at the neighboring arena.
• By RV: According to the museum, RVs and trailer rigs may park and stay overnight on lot P6, though without electricity and water hookups.
• Hotel: There is a hotel at the museum, handy for a two-day visit combined with Speyer.

On accessibility: according to the museum, the grounds, ticket counters and restaurants are accessible, and most exhibition areas can be reached via ramps or elevators. Large walk-through exhibits such as the aircraft and some galleries, however, are not wheelchair accessible – that includes Concorde and Tu-144 on the roof.

Combining it: museum, sister museum and live traffic

Sinsheim has no airfield right next door. For live traffic you have to travel a bit – but it combines nicely into a weekend.

• Technik Museum Speyer: The sister museum shows a walk-through Lufthansa jumbo on stilts, the Antonov An-22 and the Buran space shuttle. If you visit both museums, you’ve seen supersonic, widebody and spaceflight in two days.
• Frankfurt Airport: At the largest German hub, you see widebody jets all day from the Zeppelinheim viewing platform. Tips for the day are in the guide Plane spotting at Frankfurt Airport.
• Stuttgart Airport: The observation deck at Stuttgart Airport is a relaxed introduction, even with kids.
• Karlsruhe/Baden-Baden Airport: The Concorde landed here for the last time in 2003 – a small but historic detour.

If you want to follow supersonic history further, plan a trip to the other major Concorde sites: Aerospace Bristol shows the last Concorde ever flown, and the Musée de l’Air et de l’Espace in Le Bourget and Aeroscopia in Toulouse continue the French line. You’ll find a Tu-144 outside Sinsheim only in Russia, for example at the Central Air Force Museum in Monino.

Sinsheim is ideal for families: kids can climb into aircraft and the submarine, and the stairs up to the Concorde are the highlight of the day for many. You’ll find more ideas in the article Plane spotting with kids.

Conclusion

The Technik Museum Sinsheim has something no other museum in the world can offer: Concorde and Tu-144, the only two supersonic airliners that ever flew in scheduled service, stand here side by side on a hall roof – and you can walk into both. The adventurous journey of the Tu-144 across the Moskva, the Baltic Sea and the Rhine and the last flight of F-BVFB to Karlsruhe/Baden-Baden make the exhibition more than a photo backdrop. With the Ju 52, DC-3, Il-18 and Viscount come classics that you can hardly ever see from the inside anywhere else.

Plan a whole day, take a look at the weather and opening notices beforehand, and ideally combine the visit with Speyer or a spotting day in Frankfurt.