Hahnweide vintage aircraft fly-in: historic airplanes in Kirchheim/Teck

A grass strip, the Albtrauf escarpment in the background, and a radial engine rattling overhead: the vintage aircraft fly-in at Hahnweide near Kirchheim unter Teck is one of those events spotters are still talking about years later. No jet noise, no aerobatic team every few minutes, just biplanes, trainers, liaison aircraft and warbirds taking off and landing on a meadow. This guide explains how the event came about, why it doesn’t take place every year, how to get there and how to photograph historic propeller aircraft so they don’t look like models with a stationary propeller.

The Hahnweide vintage aircraft fly-in in brief

The event is a multi-day fly-in with flying displays for historic aircraft, hosted by the Fliegergruppe Wolf Hirth Kirchheim unter Teck e.V. The first edition took place on September 12 and 13, 1981. Since then the event has been held at irregular intervals, typically in September: the 18th edition ran in 2016, the 19th from September 13 to 15, 2019, and the 20th was scheduled for September 12 to 14, 2025.

The character is remarkable: the club stresses that the entire organization is in the hands of volunteer helpers; the food stands are mostly run by the resident flying groups. That also explains the breaks. After 2019, the event paused for several years. In a 2023 statement, the organizers explained this by saying the risks were too great for a small club; requirements from the authorities, a lack of helpers or a lack of know-how were expressly not the reason.

As of our editorial cutoff (October 2026), we had no confirmed date for a 21st edition. If you want to keep the event on your radar, follow the organizer’s official website and social media channels – a new date is announced there first.

The airfield: grass runways below the Teck

Hahnweide is a special airfield (Sonderlandeplatz) about two kilometers southwest of Kirchheim unter Teck at an elevation of about 356 meters, ICAO code EDST. The owner is the city of Kirchheim; the site is leased by the Baden-Württembergische Luftfahrtverband (BWLV, the state aviation association), usually represented on site by the Fliegergruppe Wolf Hirth. Besides it, other clubs from the region are based at the field, and the BWLV also operates a powered flight school here.

For spotters, the runways matter – all three are grass:

Runway	Length × width	rough orientation
12R/30L	640 × 30 m	east-southeast – west-northwest
12L/30R	640 × 30 m	east-southeast – west-northwest
06/24	520 × 30 m	east-northeast – west-southwest

In everyday operations, Hahnweide is mainly a gliding field. The International Hahnweide Gliding Competition has been held every year since 1966. Powered flight is limited: a maximum of 15,000 flight movements per year is permitted, and visiting powered aircraft generally cannot fly in. That is exactly why the vintage aircraft meeting is an exceptional situation: on these days, numerous historic aircraft land at an otherwise quiet gliding field – but only those registered with a participant number.

The club’s namesake, Wolf Hirth (1900–1959), was one of the defining German gliding pioneers. In 1935 he supported Martin Schempp in founding his glider company and later became a partner; the firm operated as Schempp-Hirth from 1938 and moved to Kirchheim unter Teck the same year. If you are interested in this side of aviation history, you will find plenty of context in the German Gliding Museum on the Wasserkuppe, and to follow the gliders in the sky, the guide FLARM and Open Glider Network helps.

What to expect in the sky

The field of participants is set anew each time and depends on which owners and pilots register. There is therefore no binding list of types; before the event the organizer publishes a participant list that keeps growing until shortly before the start. For 2019, the club highlighted in its review that many warbirds, biplanes and unusual aircraft took part – and that the mix mattered more to it than as much displacement as possible. On top came gliding demonstrations, a host, evening music and an indoor show. The last aircraft to say goodbye in 2019 was a Hawker Sea Fury with a flypast.

To help you identify aircraft faster on site, take a look at the type families that are generally well represented at European vintage meetings:

• Biplanes and prewar trainers, such as the British de Havilland Tiger Moth or the American Boeing-Stearman Kaydet.
• Light high-wing aircraft such as the Piper J-3 Cub, whose yellow has almost become a symbol of grass-strip flying.
• Trainers and warbirds – from the North American T-6 Texan to fighters like the Supermarine Spitfire or the P-51 Mustang.
• Big piston-engine classics such as the Antonov An-2, a hefty single-engine biplane, or the Junkers Ju 52.

Which of these types actually come to a particular edition is revealed only by the current participant list. How to tell vintage aircraft apart by silhouette, engine and tail is explained in the guide Identifying vintage aircraft in the sky. For the registrations of visiting aircraft from Germany and abroad, it is also worth a look at Identifying light aircraft.

Getting there, tickets and facilities

The following details come from the visitor information for the 2025 edition. For a later edition, prices, times and shuttle stops may change – check the official page before you travel.

Tickets and opening hours

Ticket 2025	Price
Friday	€18
Saturday	€25
Sunday	€25
all three days	€48
Children up to 14 years	free

Visitors with a severe disability and the B mark paid half, as did a companion. There was no advance sale; tickets were sold exclusively at the box office on site. The main box office opened at 7:30 a.m. on Fridays and as early as 6:00 a.m. on Saturdays and Sundays. Flying started around 9 a.m. each day and ran into the evening.

By train and shuttle

The most relaxed way to travel is on S-Bahn line S1 to Kirchheim unter Teck. From the station, a free shuttle bus ran to Hahnweide in 2025, serving several stops in the town on the way, including the central bus station (ZOB). Operating hours: Friday 11 a.m. to 10 p.m., Saturday 8 a.m. to midnight, Sunday 8 a.m. to 8 p.m. If you want to be there for the box office opening on Friday morning, you need another solution – bike, walking or car.

By car or bike

By car, the route leads via the A8 Stuttgart–Munich, exit Kirchheim-West, toward Nürtingen and, after about 500 meters, left toward the Segelfluggelände Hahnweide (gliding field). Parking on the grounds was free, but the organizer expected heavy traffic and recommended the shuttle. Bicycles, motorcycles and scooters are parked in front of the main box office, not on the grounds.

Food and dogs

On the field there are several food and drink stands, mostly run by the Hahnweide flying groups – the proceeds go into their youth work. Bringing your own food was allowed in 2025. Dogs on a leash were allowed; the organizer pointed out that noise-sensitive animals have a hard time here.

If you want to combine the trip with a detour to a major commercial airport: Stuttgart Airport is nearby, and the Stuttgart spotter guide shows you where to stand there.

Photography at Hahnweide

A vintage aircraft meeting makes different demands than an airport fence. The aircraft are small, slow and have propellers – and the propellers decide whether a picture is good or a miss.

Propellers need time

At 1/2000 second, you freeze the propeller completely, and the aircraft looks as if it were gliding through the air with its engine stopped. For a visible propeller disc, you have to lengthen the shutter speed considerably. As a rough starting point, values around 1/250 to 1/160 second apply for taxiing shots and takeoffs, and longer for slower-turning radial engines and biplanes. The exact calculation with RPM and blade count is explained in the guide Photographing propellers: the right shutter speed.

Longer times don’t forgive camera shake. This is where panning technique comes in: you swing the camera smoothly with the aircraft and release the shutter during the movement. The aircraft stays sharp, the background blurs. How to practice this is in the article Panning technique. Feel free to plan for a few rejects – at 1/125 second, not every shot is sharp even for pros.

Focal length and gear

Because as a regular visitor you cannot get to the flight line – in 2025, access was restricted to accredited press with an assignment – you need reach for in-flight shots. A 100–400 mm zoom is a good compromise for most situations; which models are worthwhile is compared in the article 100–400 mm telephoto zooms compared. For the static display and atmospheric shots on the ground, a standard zoom is handy. What else belongs in your bag – batteries, memory cards, sun protection, hearing protection – is collected in the checklist for airshow day.

Planning the light along the runway axis

The two long grass runways lie on the 12/30 axis, so roughly from east-southeast to west-northwest. The basic rule follows from that: on the southwest side of the axis, looking northeast, you have the sun more behind you for much of the late morning and afternoon; on the northeast side, looking southwest, you are more likely to shoot into the backlight at that time. Where exactly the spectator area is located at a given edition is determined by the organizer – so check on site which side is open to you and plan your priorities accordingly. For the evening hours, the guide Golden hour and blue hour is worth reading, and on warm September days, heat haze over the grass can become an issue with long focal lengths.

Safety: why the rules are meant seriously here

Historic aircraft are often hard to see, have limited forward visibility and fly in a dense program. The event is supervised by the Regierungspräsidium Stuttgart as the responsible aviation authority. The fact that flying displays are strictly regulated in Germany also has to do with the Ramstein airshow disaster of 1988, after which the rules for airshows were fundamentally revised.

Not everything has gone smoothly at Hahnweide either: at the 2019 event, two aircraft rolled into each other on the ground on Sunday. According to the organizer, the occupants were only slightly injured, and the flying program was cancelled for that day. For you as a visitor, that means: respect barriers, follow marshals’ instructions and don’t bring your own drones – a private drone has no business over a field with dense flight operations.

Hahnweide compared with other events

If you have been to big military or trade-show airshows, you will experience a different format at Hahnweide. Instead of jets with afterburners, piston engines dominate; instead of a concrete runway, grass; instead of sponsor tents, club stands. The closest comparison is warbird events in England – the article on the airshows at Duxford gives an impression. For an overview of more dates in Europe, see the guide Airshows in Europe for plane spotters, and for general tips on displays of any kind, Photographing airshows.

What to keep in mind

• Always check the date officially. Because the event takes place irregularly, outdated dates often circulate in forums. Only the organizer is authoritative.
• The program is subject to change. The organizer points out that weather and technical issues can change the schedule at any time. With vintage aircraft in particular, a program item occasionally drops out.
• Not every participant flies a display. Many aircraft come as guests and are mainly on the ground. The most beautiful flying pictures often come at arrival and departure.
• Be considerate of residents. In everyday life, Hahnweide is a gliding field with limited powered flight. Anyone who parks where they shouldn’t ends up harming the club.
• Support the clubs. The stands fund the flying groups’ youth work – one more reason to eat there. If you want to get into a cockpit yourself, the article on the glider pilot license offers a starting point.

Conclusion

The vintage aircraft fly-in at Hahnweide is not a must-do on the annual calendar but a rare event – and that is exactly why it is so sought after. On a grass-runway airfield at the foot of the Swabian Alb, a small club brings together aircraft you would otherwise have to hunt for across half of Europe. If you arrive early, plan the light along the runway axis and have your shutter speeds for propellers under control, you go home with pictures that are not possible at an airport fence.