Residents of Kaufbeuren in southern Germany were surprised when they looked out of their windows in the middle of the night to see a Eurofighter cruising down the main road!
The plane was being transported from Lechfeld to its new home in Kaufbeuren. Of course, going by road isn’t the normal way for Eurofighters to travel to the town’s air base but on this occasion an alternative had to be found because the runway at Kaufbeuren was closed.
The road trip with a difference took place in June. The aircraft left Lechfeld at approximately 8pm and arrived at its destination roughly six hours later, an hour earlier than planned.
At 11 metres wide, 4 metres high and 15 metres long, navigating the aircraft through parts of the route was like going through “the eye of a needle”. The stint from Wertach city to Kaufbeuren, took 3 hours at walking pace.
Despite the efficient planning, the journey wasn’t without the odd hitch. There were two unscheduled stops — the first to deal with a traffic light that had to be removed at short notice, the other due to a problem with the low loaders’ hydraulics. Fortunately, both incidents were resolved within 15 minutes.
The journey overall was a huge success with the jet arriving in Kaufbeuren, with no damage, minimal disruption and dozens of excited spectators.
Eurofighters are used at the Air Force’s Technical Training Centre to train aircraft technicians.