FLUG REVUE August 2006: FLUG REVUE going strong after 50 years

August 2006

FLUG REVUE CELEBRATES 50 YEARS

Half a century ago Motor Presse Stuttgart made the decision to found an aviation magazine. This was a bold step as there were already several publications dealing with this subject. In next to no time publisher Paul Pietsch put a team together in the summer of 1956 and FLUG REVUE was born. He never regretted his decision, as he says in the VIP interview in this anniversary edition of FLUG REVUE (see page 30), as the new magazine was Europe's best-selling German-language aviation magazine from its very first issue. It still holds this distinction to this day, thanks to you, our readers, who have remained loyal to us over the decades.

FLUG REVUE reports on the entire spectrum of aviation, something which is more important today than it was then, as nowadays technologies are only seldom developed solely with just military aviation or just civil aviation in mind. In the era of computers, the boundaries between military and civil technology have become more fluid.

You can gain an idea of what the first issue of FLUG REVUE looked like for yourself, since, as an anniversary present, we are enclosing a reprint of the entire first edition. At that time the title story was about two pilots from the new German Luftwaffe with a Lockheed T-33. The cover picture of this anniversary issue serves as a bridge leading back to that first edition: Patrick Hoeveler has photographed the two Luftwaffe pilots, Group Captain Günter Katz, commodore of Fighter Wing 73 “S” (left) and Wing Commander Michael Schießwohl, Commander of Operations Wing JG 73 “S” standing in front of a Eurofighter. One could hardly find a better way of conveying the changes that technology has undergone over the last five decades.

The last 50 years have seen aviation develop at a rapid pace. Jet airliners have replaced piston-engined aircraft. Widebody aircraft have transformed the aeroplane into a means of mass transport, while Concorde became a supersonic peripheral phenomenon of commercial transport. Technology has advanced with giant strides. In this connection one just has to think of the fuel consumption and noise emissions of earlier aircraft compared with those of today. Today the computer is a member of the crew that is taken for granted in the cockpits of fighter aircraft and airliners alike. Spaceflight has also achieved huge advances. Mankind has landed on the moon, has stationed a permanent outpost in space in the form of the International Space Station (ISS) and is preparing for the next leap forward, a manned mission to Mars.

Despite many changes and innovations over the past 50 years, there are still some factors which have remained constant: aerospace continues to fascinate people, as we saw, for example, at the air show debut of the Airbus A380. And this fascination we are sharing with you, our readers. Another factor which has remained constant is FLUG REVUE's originally stated aim which continues to be valid to this day: like our predecessors 50 years ago, we see it as our mission to keep you constantly up-to-date with coverage of all the major events and developments in aerospace. We are informing you so that you can be better informed.

From FLUG REVUE 8/2006

Last updated 14 July 2006

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