Hangar-7 at Salzburg Airport

As of October 2026 – If you look east from the observation deck at Salzburg Airport, you see it immediately: a flat, glass arch on the other side of the runway that looks like a giant aircraft wing. That is Hangar-7, the home of the Flying Bulls. Under the glass dome stand a Douglas DC-6B, a B-25J, a Corsair and other classics – all airworthy, all impeccably maintained. And admission costs nothing.

For spotters the hangar is a rare stroke of luck: types that otherwise only show up at big airshows, from close up, weather-independent and without a ticket. This page shows you what to expect, how to take good pictures under the glass roof and how to combine the visit with the deck opposite into a full spotting day.

A glass dome for a vintage fleet

The idea for Hangar-7 arose because the Flying Bulls fleet had grown too big for its previous home at Innsbruck Airport in the late 1990s. Planning began in October 1999, and construction started in January 2001 on the site east of the runway at Salzburg Airport. The hall opened on August 22, 2003. It was designed by the Salzburg architect Volkmar Burgstaller, and the steel framework comes from Waagner Biro.

The numbers behind the building are impressive: according to the operator, the shell contains about 1,200 tons of steel and 380 tons of curved special glass, distributed over 1,754 glass panes, none of which is identical to another. The building is just under 100 meters long, 67 meters wide and 14.5 meters high at the apex. The dimensions are designed for the largest aircraft in the fleet, the DC-6B. Because its vertical stabilizer is so tall, a folding element was built in above the hangar door so that it fits in at all.

The hangar is more than an aircraft hall. Under the same roof are the Ikarus restaurant with guest chefs changing monthly, the Carpe Diem café, the Mayday Bar and the small Threesixty Bar in a glass cylinder at the very top of the roof. There are art exhibitions, concerts and television productions. For you as a spotter, though, one thing counts above all: the aircraft stand in the middle of the space, and you can get close.

At the beginning of 2025 the hangar was renovated and was completely closed to visitors for the first time since opening. It has been open again since June 7, 2025 – with new climate control, digital labels on the exhibits and a revised layout concept.

The Flying Bulls fleet

The Flying Bulls are not a museum collection in the classic sense. Their aircraft and helicopters are airworthy and perform at airshows – at the AIRPOWER in Zeltweg, for example, they are a familiar sight in Austria. They are maintained in the neighboring Hangar-8, a somewhat smaller hall of similar shape that is not open to the public. That also means: the lineup in Hangar-7 changes constantly.

Type	Year built according to the Flying Bulls	Registration	What makes it special
Douglas DC-6B	1958	OE-LDM	largest aircraft in the fleet, formerly Tito’s VIP aircraft
North American B-25J “Mitchell”	1945	N6123C	twin-engine bomber, most-produced B-25 version
Chance Vought F4U-4 “Corsair”	1945	OE-EAS	bent wing, folding wings for aircraft carriers
Lockheed P-38 “Lightning”	1944	N25Y	twin booms with two Allison V12 engines
North American P-51D Mustang	1944	–	long-range fighter of World War II
Grumman F8F-2 Bearcat	1947	–	one of the last piston-engine naval fighters
Canadair F-86 Sabre Mk 6	1956	–	the only jet among the historic combat aircraft

In addition, trainers like the North American T-28B, the T-6, the PT-17 Stearman, the Fairchild PT-19 and the Beech T-34 Mentor belong to the fleet, as well as workhorses like the Pilatus PC-6 Porter, a Cessna 208 Caravan as an amphibian, a Cessna 337 Skymaster and an Extra 300 for aerobatics.

Douglas DC-6B: from presidential aircraft to flagship

The story of the DC-6B is the best in the whole hall. The aircraft was delivered in 1958 to Yugoslav JAT, which converted it into a luxurious VIP aircraft for Marshal Josip Broz Tito. In 1975 Tito sold it to Zambian President Kenneth Kaunda, who also used it as a government aircraft until it stood parked at Lusaka airport. An operator from Windhoek in Namibia got it out of there and made it airworthy again.

In 2000, the then chief pilot of the Flying Bulls, Sigi Angerer, discovered the aircraft in a sales ad. In July 2000 it flew from Windhoek to Salzburg in four legs and about 28 hours. From 2001 to 2004 it was restored and received new engines, a new cabin and modern avionics. At first it flew with the US registration N996DM, later as the first DC-6B with Austrian registration as OE-LDM – according to the Flying Bulls, it is the only aircraft of this type registered in Austria.

With a wingspan of about 36 meters and a tail almost nine meters high, it visibly fills the hall. You can find more about the type on the page for the Douglas DC-6; if you want to trace the line of Douglas airliners back, read on at the DC-4 and the DC-3.

B-25J, Corsair and P-38: the warbirds

The B-25J “Mitchell” is a medium bomber with two 14-cylinder Curtiss-Wright radial engines. The J version was the most-produced variant; the Flying Bulls’ aircraft dates from 1945. Typical of the B-25 are the twin vertical stabilizers and the glazed nose – everything about the type is at North American B-25 Mitchell.

You recognize the F4U-4 “Corsair” immediately by its bent wing. It was necessary so that the huge propeller of about four meters in diameter got ground clearance without the landing gear having to be too long. The wings can be folded upward hydraulically – intended for the tight conditions on aircraft carriers. It is powered by an 18-cylinder Pratt & Whitney double-row radial engine.

The P-38 “Lightning” stands out from every line with its design: two tail booms with one Allison V12 engine each, with a short central nacelle for the pilot between them. The Flying Bulls’ aircraft was restored in the US over more than four years and brought to Hamburg by cargo ship in 2009 before it flew to Salzburg.

Helicopters and race cars

The Flying Bulls’ helicopters also stand in the hall at times, including a Bell Cobra, the Bo 105 with which the Flying Bulls perform aerobatics, a Bristol Sycamore and a Bell 47. In addition, newer types like an EC135 (today H135) and an AS 350 B3 “Écureuil” (predecessor of the H125) belong to the fleet. You can read more on the subject in the article Helicopter spotting. Between the aircraft there are also Formula 1 cars and, depending on the lineup, other exhibits from the Red Bull environment.

Opening hours, admission and rules

According to the operator, the exhibition area is open Monday to Saturday from 9 a.m. to 10 p.m. and on Sundays and holidays from 9 a.m. to 5 p.m. On Mondays it closes as early as 8 p.m. because of television recordings. During events the hangar may close earlier or be only partly accessible; the operator publishes these exceptions daily on its website.

Feature	Hangar-7 Salzburg
Admission	free
Exhibition	Mon–Sat 9 a.m.–10 p.m., Sun/holidays 9 a.m.–5 p.m., Mon closes at 8 p.m.
Carpe Diem café	daily 9 a.m.–5 p.m.
Parking	approx. 70 free spaces (P1), more at Hangar-8 (P2)
Photography	private allowed, commercial only with permission
Dogs	allowed in exhibition and café
Accessibility	all areas barrier-free
Groups	only with advance registration, tour without a guide

All information: as of October 2026, according to the operator. Check the current page before your visit, especially on days with events.

For groups: visit only with advance registration, as an independent tour without a guide. Tour buses may not enter Wilhelm-Spazier-Straße; the group gets off at the start of the street and walks a few minutes.

Photography under the glass roof

Hangar-7 is a rewarding but quirky place to photograph. Daylight falls through the glass shell from above and from the sides, and the steel skeleton casts striped shadows on fuselages and wings. On bright middays these shadows get hard; on cloudy days the light is much more even – one of the few spots where you can be glad about clouds.

• Focal length: For full-length shots of the DC-6B or the B-25 you need a wide-angle lens or a short standard zoom, because the distance is limited. You bring in details like engine nacelles, nose art or cockpit areas with 70 to 135 millimeters. How to work with short focal lengths is at Wide-angle and standard lenses for spotting.
• Perspective: From the raised areas around the café and bars you can easily get the aircraft from above. Long fuselages in particular look more harmonious that way than from below.
• Exposure: White and polished surfaces like on the DC-6B tend to blow out. Correct the exposure slightly downward and check the histogram. You’ll find basics at Camera settings for plane spotting.
• Reflections: If you photograph from outside through the glass, it helps to hold the lens close to the pane and wear dark clothing. More at Shooting through fences and glass.

Combining with the observation deck

Hangar-7 and the observation deck at Terminal 1 face each other on the two sides of Salzburg’s only runway 15/33. Both are free, and together they complement each other ideally: in the hangar light hardly matters, on the deck it’s good only from the afternoon, because you look east there. That makes for a simple day plan.

Time	Place	What you do
from 9 a.m.	Hangar-7	Warbirds and DC-6B without visitors in the frame
Midday	Café in the hangar or dining at the terminal	Break, review pictures, check the afternoon’s arrivals
Afternoon	Observation deck Terminal 1	Scheduled and charter traffic with the sun at your back, Hangar-7 in the background
Evening	Forecourt Hangar-7 (optional)	the illuminated glass dome at dusk

From the deck you see Hangar-7 as part of the backdrop, together with the fortress and the mountains. If a Flying Bulls aircraft flies that day, you catch it there on the runway – from the hangar itself that can hardly be planned. Basics on runway use in Salzburg and elsewhere are at Understanding runway direction in use at airports.

Between the two points you drive once around the airport by car. Without a car, the trolleybus lines help: line 2 stops at the terminal and at Karolingerstraße near the hangar, line 10 at the terminal and at Pressezentrum. Check travel times and frequency in the current timetable information.

Getting there: trolleybus, car, bicycle

Hangar-7 is at Wilhelm-Spazier-Straße 7A on the east side of the airport – so not at the terminal. By trolleybus, take line 2 to the Karolingerstraße stop or line 10 to Pressezentrum. From there it’s three to five minutes on foot according to the operator.

By car, you park in parking lot P1 right in front of the hangar, which has about 70 free spaces. If it’s full, you switch to P2 in front of Hangar-8, about two minutes away. From Bavaria the trip is short; the border is only a few kilometers west of the airport.

By bicycle you’re flexible and get back and forth between hangar and terminal quickly – handy if you want to react spontaneously to an announced aircraft.

With children and for beginners

For families, Hangar-7 is one of the most pleasant aviation outings in Austria: no admission, short distances, accessible entry, a café in the building and aircraft that gleam as if they had just come from the factory. Children marvel at the huge propellers of the Corsair or the twin-boom shape of the P-38, and because the hangar is weather-independent, it also saves a rainy vacation day. You’ll find more ideas at Plane spotting with children and Plane spotting in bad weather.

For beginners, the hangar is a good place to build type knowledge: you see the aircraft from close up, can compare details in peace and learn how piston engines, landing gear and tails differ. For the first trip to the fence, Plane spotting for beginners helps afterward.

More museums and spots in the region

If you want more aviation history after Hangar-7, you’ll find the Aviaticum aviation museum in Wiener Neustadt in eastern Austria. For pure scheduled traffic, a trip to Vienna to the spotter hill at Vienna Airport is worthwhile, or across the border to the visitors’ hill at Munich Airport, which is easy to reach from Salzburg. And if you want to see the Flying Bulls in the air, plan an airshow visit; an overview is in Airshows in Europe for plane spotters.

Legal information on spotting in Austria, for example on photos at the fence and on drones, is at Plane spotting in Austria and Flying a drone in Austria. In the vicinity of the airport, the drone stays in the backpack as a rule.

Verdict

Hangar-7 is not a classic spotting point, but a must-stop for anyone who comes to Salzburg. For zero euros you stand in front of a DC-6B with presidential history, a B-25J, a Corsair and a P-38 – in a condition you’ll find in hardly any museum. The glass dome is itself a subject.

Its limits lie in the nature of a flying collection: not every aircraft is always there, and you rarely see takeoffs and landings from the hangar. That is exactly why it fits so well with the observation deck opposite. Vintage aircraft in the morning, scheduled traffic in the afternoon – that’s how a quiet regional airport becomes a varied spotting day.