Fliegermuseum Altenrhein at St. Gallen-Altenrhein Airfield

Updated: October 2026 – On the south shore of Lake Constance, where the Old Rhine flows into the lake and Austria is only a few hundred meters away, lies one of Switzerland’s most historic airfields. At Altenrhein, Dornier built flying boats in the 1920s, and military jets were later developed here. Today the field is home to an association that does something few museums in Europe dare: it keeps its collection in the air.

The Fliegermuseum Altenrhein (FMA) sees itself as a flying museum. Pilatus PC-7 and P-3, a Boeing Stearman and a Dornier Do 27 take off here for displays and member flights, and in the large FFA Museum next door stand the exhibits that no longer fly. Many spotters still associate Altenrhein with the thundering Hunter jets – but that era is over. This page shows you what you can realistically experience today, how to get there and how to plan the visit photographically.

An airfield with a hundred years of history

Altenrhein is no random place for an aviation museum. Its roots go back to 1925, when Do-Flug AG was founded. The background: the Treaty of Versailles severely restricted aircraft construction in Germany, so Dornier production moved to the Swiss side of Lake Constance. In 1927 the airfield began operations. At the Altenrhein plant, the most famous aircraft of its day was created in the late 1920s, the giant flying boat Dornier Do X. How this project influenced aviation, you can read in the article Dornier Do X.

From 1927 there were regular passenger flights, for example to Basel, Innsbruck and Munich, until the Second World War interrupted operations. Later the grounds belonged to the Flug- und Fahrzeugwerke Altenrhein (FFA) (Altenrhein Aircraft and Vehicle Works), which developed the Swiss fighter jet prototype P-16 here, among other things. Since 1987 several private owners have followed, and today Airport Altenrhein AG operates St. Gallen-Altenrhein Airport. You will also find the link to manufacturer history in the profiles of Dornier and Pilatus, whose aircraft today form the backbone of the museum fleet.

The Fliegermuseum itself celebrated its 30th anniversary in spring 2025. From an association of enthusiasts, it has become an organization with its own flight operations, its own maintenance, logistics and administration. Maintenance is mainly handled by the museum’s own company, Historic Flight Maintenance HFM GmbH. The aircraft are flown by former military pilots of the Swiss Air Force, active and former professional pilots and experienced private pilots, who are trained internally by the museum’s own flight instructors.

Two houses, one address: FMA and FFA Museum

If you travel to Altenrhein for the first time, you often stumble over the two names. The division is simple, though:

The Fliegermuseum Altenrhein (FMA) is the association with the flying collection. It operates the aircraft, trains pilots, appears in formations at airshows and offers its members flights. As a visitor, you see the FMA mainly when its aircraft are in the air.

The FFA Museum – the name stands for Fliegermuseum Fahrzeugmuseum Altenrhein (aviation and vehicle museum) – is the large, modern exhibition building. On roughly 5,000 square meters it tells about 100 years of aviation and automobile history. A common thread is Rolls-Royce: the museum shows how automobile construction and aero engines are connected. Add flight and car simulators and a slot-car track. The FMA’s non-flying exhibits stand here too, and club members get free admission.

An integral part of the FFA Museum is Jet and Prop Heritage. The organization has set itself the goal of preserving historic Swiss jet and propeller aircraft for the long term and building a competence center for historic aircraft. The special thing for you: according to the museum, you can watch live as work is done on the aircraft.

The flying fleet at a glance

The following overview is based on the Fliegermuseum’s fleet page as of October 2026. Aircraft may be on the ground for maintenance, away at events or newly added – take the table as a guide, not a guarantee.

Aircraft	Registration	Origin	Interesting for spotters because …
Pilatus PC-7 MkI	HB-HMU, plus T7-FMA and T7-FUN	Former trainers of the Swiss Air Force (including A-903, A-907)	Fly in the PC-7 SUBITO Team as a three-ship formation
Pilatus P-3	HB-RCJ, HB-RCO	Trainers of the Air Force, HB-RCJ flew as A-829 until 1995	Form the Patrouille Papillon, HB-RCJ has a smoke system
Dornier Do 27 H-2	HB-HKD	Formerly V-601 of the Air Force, retired 2008	Back in the air since May 2023 after almost two years of restoration
Boeing PT-13D Stearman	HB-RBG	Built 1943 for the Argentine Navy	First flying Stearman in Switzerland, with radial engine and smoke system
Lockheed Electra Junior 12A	NC18125	Built 1937, later with the Canadian air force	Twin-engine prewar classic, at Altenrhein since 2023

The focus is clear: Swiss Air Force history in propeller form. The Pilatus PC-7 was for decades the trainer of Swiss military pilots. According to the museum, HB-HMU served from 1979 to 2009 as A-903, and T7-FMA flew as A-907 and reached almost 3,400 flight hours at its retirement in 2009. Three PC-7s now form the PC-7 SUBITO Team, which flies in formation at events.

An older generation is the Pilatus P-3. According to the museum, Pilatus built 72 examples for the Swiss Air Force and six for Brazil. HB-RCJ was bought at an auction in Dübendorf in 1995, flew for about 20 years in Ticino and is now at home in Altenrhein. Together with HB-RCO it flies as the Patrouille Papillon.

The Dornier Do 27 HB-HKD is one of seven Do 27s the Swiss Air Force ordered in 1958. The type made its last Air Force flight in September 2008. The FMA made the aircraft airworthy again in almost two years – with a supercharged engine and a three-blade propeller. The Boeing Stearman HB-RBG has an eventful history: built in 1943 for the Argentine Navy, later a tug aircraft, registered in 1989 as the first flying Stearman in Switzerland, severely damaged at Altenrhein the same year after an engine failure and rebuilt in the USA. It has been flying regularly again since 1991.

How Switzerland’s civil registrations are built is explained in the article Swiss HB registrations. If you want to identify older types more confidently, the guide Identifying vintage aircraft in the sky helps.

What became of the Hunters and Vampires

Many spotters still know the Fliegermuseum Altenrhein as the address for flying jets. Over the years the collection included the Hawker Hunter, the de Havilland Vampire as a single-seater and as a trainer and a Dassault Mirage III – types that shaped the Swiss Air Force for decades. Especially well known was the Tiger Hunter.

In 2021, the museum retired the Tiger Hunter. The fleet the FMA shows on its website today consists exclusively of propeller aircraft. So if you want to travel to Altenrhein for a Hunter flypast, as things stand you will be disappointed.

The jet history has not disappeared entirely, though. Jet and Prop Heritage in the FFA Museum expressly looks after historic Swiss jets and propeller aircraft. Which jets are in the exhibition or the workshop during your visit varies – it is best to ask the museum beforehand if you want to see a particular aircraft.

Flying days and airshows: when the fleet is in the air

The Fliegermuseum has no fixed weekly flying day. Its aircraft take off on three occasions: for displays at events, for training flights and for member flights. Displays are booked by organizers in Switzerland and abroad – in 2024 the PC-7 SUBITO Team, together with the Do 27, was at the Festival Cervolix in France, for example, and the Stearman flew at the Seenachtsfest (lake festival) in Rapperswil.

A recurring date in the region is the airshow at Hoher Kasten, in which the FMA takes part with its aircraft. The third edition took place on May 30 and 31, 2025. The special thing: here you stand on a mountain summit and see the formations at eye level or even from above – a perspective you can’t get at any airfield.

Which dates are coming up in the current year, the museum publishes in the events overview on its website. Check there before any planning, and subscribe to the newsletter if you don’t want to miss short-notice flying offers.

For airshow days you need a different setup than in the museum: pack a telephoto zoom, and with the propeller aircraft think about shutter speed. If you photograph the propeller frozen, you turn a flying aircraft into one that seems to be falling. How to find the right speed is explained in the article Photographing propellers: the right shutter speed. General tips for flying displays are at Photographing airshows.

The airfield as a spot: view of the field

Even apart from the museum flights, there is something going on at Altenrhein. The airfield has an asphalt runway 10/28 1,455 meters long and a parallel grass runway of 810 meters. It lies at 398 meters above sea level right on the lake, about 20 kilometers northeast of St. Gallen.

Scheduled traffic goes mainly to Vienna: since 2011 the Austrian airline People’s has flown this route on its own account, and Austrian Airlines later withdrew entirely. Add seasonal charter flights, for example to the Mediterranean, as well as business and private aircraft. In total, the airfield most recently counted about 140,000 passengers a year. For spotters that means: a few movements a day, lots of time in between – ideal for browsing the museum in the meantime.

Legally, Altenrhein is a special case: the field is a private airfield without a concession, and because of its location right on the border, a state treaty with Austria in force since 1992 regulates flight routes and noise, among other things. For you as a visitor that changes little, but it explains why traffic stays modest.

The FFA Museum has a sun terrace and a roof terrace. According to the museum, you can experience takeoffs and landings of historic aircraft from the roof terrace. The terraces are also used for events – whether they are open during your visit, you ask at the desk.

Light and photography

In the FFA Museum, the aircraft stand in halls. Here it is not focal length that decides but lens speed. A fast lens and a higher ISO setting help more than any telephoto. For whole aircraft in tight space, you need more of a wide-angle to standard zoom – what to keep in mind is in the guide Wide-angle and normal lenses for spotting. Watch for reflections in glossy paint and for mixed light sources; you correct the white balance later.

Outdoors, the runway orientation plays the main role. Because runway 10/28 runs east-west, the sun is in the south at midday. Depending on which side of the runway you stand on, you then have front light or backlight. In the morning and late afternoon, the light gets softer and comes lower from the side. Especially for flying displays over the lake, it is worth checking the sun position carefully beforehand.

For propeller aircraft in the air, the rule is: better a longer shutter speed and panning, so the propeller stays visible as a disc. Start with about 1/250 second and go lower once your hit rate is good. For formations like the SUBITO Team, you need a bit more depth of field so all three aircraft are sharp. How to plan light and sun position systematically is explained in the article Planning the sun position for the perfect photo spot.

Getting there: train, bus and car

Altenrhein is somewhat off the beaten path but easy to reach.

By train and bus, according to the museum, you take the train to Rorschach or Rheineck and change there to the bus to Altenrhein. The stop is called Altenrhein, Flughafen. Look up the exact connections and frequencies in the SBB timetable.

By car, take the motorway exit Appenzellerland / FFA Museum Altenrhein and follow the signs to the airfield and the museum. Park at P2; from there a short walk leads to the entrance. You can have your parking ticket validated at the museum.

If you come from Germany or Austria, you are there quickly: the airfield lies right at the Austrian border, and Friedrichshafen is on the other side of the lake.

What a good day at Altenrhein looks like

What else belongs in your camera bag is covered in the Plane spotting gear checklist.

Flying along and membership

Part of Altenrhein’s appeal: you can not only watch but fly along yourself – though only as a member of the association. The museum offers its members flights in the seat next to the pilot. Annual membership costs CHF 80 for individuals, CHF 140 for families and CHF 35 for pupils and students. If you want to be involved long term, you can take out a five-year membership for CHF 360. The flights are billed separately according to a price list.

In addition there is a membership in the cooperative, with a one-time contribution. For you as a visitor, one benefit matters most: members get free admission to the static exhibition at the FFA Museum. What the work behind the scenes looks like in such associations is described in the article Volunteering at aviation museums.

Combining Altenrhein with other destinations

Lake Constance is a small aviation region of its own. On the German side lies Friedrichshafen Airport, where the general aviation trade show takes place every spring – more in the article AERO Friedrichshafen. The Dornier Museum Friedrichshafen, which connects directly with Altenrhein’s history, and the Zeppelin Museum are worthwhile there too.

For real scheduled traffic, you go to Zurich. At Zurich Airport, the Butzenbüel and observation deck B are the best-known vantage points, and the article Plane spotting in Zurich gives an overview. You can deepen Swiss military history at the Flieger Flab Museum Dübendorf and commercial aviation at the Swiss Museum of Transport in Lucerne.

To Austria it is just a stone’s throw. If you travel on, you will find another collection of flyable classics at Hangar-7 at Salzburg Airport. And if you want to see the Swiss Air Force in action once, read the article on the Patrouille Suisse.

Rules on the grounds

Altenrhein is an active airfield. Stick to the areas open to visitors and respect barriers – even when a museum aircraft stands right behind the fence.

Think of the neighbors too: Altenrhein is a village on the lake, and aircraft noise is a political issue here. Park in the designated areas, take your trash with you and behave in a way that keeps spotters welcome in the future.

Conclusion

Altenrhein is a place for spotters who prefer to experience history in motion rather than behind glass. The Fliegermuseum keeps former Swiss Air Force trainers and prewar classics in the air, and the FFA Museum complements that with a large, weatherproof exhibition and a look into the workshop. Add a small, active airfield with scheduled flights to Vienna.

The jets Altenrhein used to be famous for no longer fly there. If you know that and set your expectations accordingly, you still get a worthwhile day – especially if you schedule it for a date with flying.