The visit of the Hamburg and Munich Branches to the UK from 30th March to 1st April was a great success. 43 people in total participated, 18 from Hamburg and 23 from Munich. The first tour was at RR in Derby where we all met up on Friday afternoon after flying in via Manchester (Hamburg) and Birmingham (Munich). There we were greeted by Céline Roche from the Derby Branch and RR who had organised our tour and shown around the AR&O facility, the heritage centre and technology exhibition. Helen Barton, Chairperson Derby Branch greeted us in the technology exhibition. Many thanks are due to all involved and particularly to Céline for organising a fascinating tour with expert guides and where we were made to feel really welcome. We then travelled to our hotel close to Chester before the following morning making the short journey to Airbus in Broughton. There we were greeted by Brian Hales who had organised everything. After a short introduction we were taken around the long-range and single-aisle wing facility in the east works and shown the single-aisle wing flow-line. We then went to the west works to see the A380 facility and were met by Carl Mann, Chairman Chester Branch. For anyone who had not previously seen the A380 wing this was probably the highlight of the visit and people were staggered by the size of the facility and the wing. Again great thanks are due to Brian and his team for sacrificing their Saturday morning to show us around. On the way back to the hotel Carl took us on a detour to see therailway crossing point where the A380 wings are taken en route to the ship transfer. He explained the complex and precision procedure required to take the wings over the bridge which is located in an S-curve in the road. The afternoon was free to allow people to look around Chester and do any obligatory shopping. For the evening entertainment, Carl had organised a dinner in a local restaurant which allowed people to mingle and the Chairmen of the Chester, Hamburg and Munich Branches to get to know each other. A very pleasant evening with a good meal was enjoyed by all. Thank you Carl for the hospitality! On Sunday the Branches split and Hamburg and Munich went their own ways. The southerners had a day sight-seeing since they were staying an extra day whereas the northerners were off to the RAF Museum at Cosford prior to flying home on Sunday evening. On arriving at Cosford we were given the red-carpet treatment being greeted on arrival by the Chairman of the Birmingham Branch, Graham Harris and treated to a welcome cup of coffee and snack. This gave us sufficient strength to spend the next four hours looking around the museum and the newly-opened Cold War Exhibition before departing for Manchester airport and our flight to Hamburg. We all much enjoyed our visit to this fascinating museum and it was an excellent way to round-off our three days. In summary the trip which had been organised by the young Hamburg Branch was a great success much enjoyed by all and allowed people to make new contacts and get to know each other. Lasting impressions will be the great welcome we received everywhere and, particularly for the German visitors, to see the RAeS Branch network in action which made us feel like VIP’s. Contacts were established between five branches and invitations extended to visit Germany. |
