Places - Lost in Time: Munich-Riem Airport

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Hello, and welcome back to Places - Lost in Time, a series that looks back on the tale of places and locations that have existing within living memory or photographic record, but are now lost to the pages of history.
Today, we venture to southern Germany, where in the capital of the historic state of Bavaria, what is now a widespread exhibition area and business park, once played host to one of the nation's most important gateways, the long dismantled Munich-Riem Airport.
Munich-Riem emerged during the dark days of World War II, with the post-war economic miracle of West Germany's rebuilding seeing this facility become a major artery for flights into this vital part of the country, though within only two decades of its opening, the fate of the airport was sealed following a series of horrendous crashes, leading to work beginning on a brand new airport away from the urban area, and the field at Riem being put on borrowed time.
All video content and images in this production have been provided with permission wherever possible. While I endeavour to ensure that all accreditations properly name the original creator, some of my sources do not list them as they are usually provided by other, unrelated KZbinrs. Therefore, if I have mistakenly put the accreditation of 'Unknown', and you are aware of the original creator, please send me a personal message at my Gmail (this is more effective than comments as I am often unable to read all of them): [e-mail]
The views and opinions expressed in this video are my personal appraisal and are not the views and opinions of any of these individuals or bodies who have kindly supplied me with footage and images.
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Thanks again, everyone, and enjoy! :D
References:
- Flughafen München GmbH (and their respective references)
- Wikipedia (and its respective references)

[@marcom2248]

Very well done 👍 I was born and raised in Munich. My grandparents died in the allied bombing of Munich. I grew up in the decending zone of the runway and can remember, that every few minutes there was a plane flying over our house... The noise was terrible... Another thing to point out, was the move from all personel and material was done overnight from München-Riem to the new airport. And everything worked out fine the next day.

[@mnamnam6061]

Oh yeah, my Aunt lived in Kirchtrudering also, right in front of the runway, insane noise every day. Did my part to build the new one and was on duty for the BFS (like the FAA) at the new airport when we switched from Riem to FJS. Gave me chills to watch the clip. Thank you Ruairidh.

[@Panzerfee]

We lived in Neuperlach, but we heard the noise (after some month) anymore. As we shifted to Moosach, it was too quiet 😳

[@peterm7548]

The disturbing thing I take from this video is that Heathrow's flight path to the 27L and R runways goes straight over Central London. A similar disaster could affect London.

[@JP_TaVeryMuch]

Ahh yes there is that but it seems to be a trade off between such a risk and ease of access of course. The joy of overflying central London is to be had in such wonders as watching the last Concorde fly in up the River Thames from my houseboat at the time.

[@filakyle3663]

You dont need to be that worried. Arrivals for thouse directions are constructed coming from south or north and than doing westbound turn toward the airport so to avoid city center and fly westbound toward this airport only what is necessary for safety of aircraft performance. What is about 15 miles. ( I am a pilot and aviation enthusiast and I do know this airport well ) Your worries or similar safety concerns are considered there. Ps, there is another airport at London city center. But this one is small and with much less and smaller traffic.

[@bobdobalina838]

Just to put a foot note on your wonderful story of munich Reim, I emmigrated from the U.S to germany in early 1994, And soon got swept away by the wonderful , wonderful rave scene of nineties Germany. You are correct that in the last few years it was used as an "entertainment venue", because I ended up going to a rave there! It must have been 1995. It was called the Universal Gathering ( I believe it was put on by the same British promoters who did those raves of the same name in the UK) and it was absolutely unforgettable.I will never forget it as long as I live. Raving to a DJ in arrival hall B And looking up at signs like to gates 1-25, etc 😅. And most of us slept in our cars or campers and the next day we would dance around in the parking lot, Keeping the party going. It was wonderful, And put a wonderful Punctuation on the end of the service of this great airport. I miss those days so much. PS I am so glad that they left the tower there though the rest has been long torn down.I went back there a few years ago to remind myself of the wonderful memories.

[@aureliobrighton1871]

As I have been a munich boy all my life, this must be the landmark in my memories. For once Riem was present in almost every movie connected with my city. Secondly I had a terrible crash which almost cost my life, just round the corner. A few years later I lifted off to the Golden State and Hawaii from there. Incredible. Obviously, there are many more things woven into my life making 'München-Riem' a mooring for my dreams gone by. Not the least a Leningrad Cowboys concert, 'Thankyou very many'. Judging from now, the closing of this distinctive airstrip also brought along the turning point in Munichs legacy. Lost are the human proportions and unmistakeable Aire. To me that once biggest italian village north of the main alpine ridge has quickly become another nuthouse run by stags and boomers, without any character at all. Just another, gleaming gathering point for the Lemming. To cool my wings at the end, I am going to hum 'Über den Wolken ...' and drop my Dankeschön before touching down on runway 2024 again.

[@Texasstyle67]

In 1975 i get lost on the Riem Airport and found 1hour later by a police that brought me back to my mum. Then we flew from there with Tunisair 727 to carthago. In the 2008 i started wirh X -plane simulator. Then some time ago i started to create the Riem airport for X plane. With the help of a Friend we could also recreate the terminal 2 and LH hangar. I also created the temporary Germanwings Hangar that was only used for 2 years. I actually have Riem in the layout of 1942 and 1945 , 1961, 1985 and 1989. Riem is my favourite airport. And now a detailed report in english . Very thanks

[@donosodemaistre2764]

I am living in Munich, and three working colleagues of mine are now dwelling in the new Riem suburb. I have to say, a flawless documentary, thank you for this... 😃

[@generalrodcocker1018]

poor, poor colleagues! This suburb is the most depressing suburb i ever visited. How could someone live in such a place?

[@donosodemaistre2764]

@@generalrodcocker1018 At least those who reside there don't even get to see Munich, which is definitely an advantage and makes up for a lot. 🤣

[@Colaholiker]

Riem was the first airport I flew into - my aunt took me on a flight from Frankfurt where we lived to Munich where she lived nearby (well, actually closer to where the Munich airport is now, but that didn't exist yet). I also remember departing to and returning from a holiday out of Riem in the second half of the 1980s, as we couldn't get flights out of our home airport of Frankfurt. One thing I find quite funny is that they kept Riem ready for operation after everything was moved to the new airport. I remember it being a huge news event when the move happened, and during that night, they had officially closed down a road corridor between the two airports to move all ground service equipment from the old one to the new one. After all, most of the vehicles you see there aren't usually allowed on public roads, so legally they would all have to be loaded onto trailers if it hadn't been for that corridor. But now imagine having to re-open Riem in a pinch with all the equipment being quite a distance away at the new airport. Anyway, thanks for this nice documentary of a bygone chapter in German aviation, and congratulations - your pronunciation of the many German names there is really good for someone whose native language isn't German!

[@ianhelps3749]

Thanks, that was an interesting film. I live in Munich now, and remember flying in to Riem Airport in the early 1990s. The transfer to the city centre was by bus, which worked quite well as the distance was not so long. I am reminded with the situation in Jakarta wherecmy wife comes from. Originally the international airport was Halim, which by the endvof the 1980s was no longer adequate for the growing passenger numbers, and it was surrounded by houses etc. So a new airport Suekarno Hatta was built outside Jakarta opening in the early 1990s. Halim airport was originally mothballed and expected to close eventually, but due to ever growing demand for air travel it has since reopened for domestic flights. I had a flight in there from Batam a few years ago

[@MrJimheeren]

Oof, Hatta is so far away from the city and Indonesia being Indonesia, there isn’t even a mass people mover to get there without a taxi

[@michaelhoffmann2891]

What a blast from the past! Born and bred in Bavaria, living in and around Munich, until I left Germany. Friend of my parents worked for Lufthansa until his retirement and we often visited Riem to watch the airliners (and get a bit of behind the scenes tours - oh, and back then having someone "on the inside" could get you some sweet upgrades). It was inevitable that it needed to close after those horrible crashes - but nimbys delayed that for years, decades even.

[@user-yc2oz8kc5k]

You should start a series on closed airports. Kai Tak in Hong Kong and Stapleton in Colorado come to mind. Im sure there are more closed airports to talk about. Great narration, as usual.

[@JenniferinIllinois]

Yes, I agree. Big fan of Stapleton here. Can't forget about Templehof, Tegel, Oslo Fornebu and the old Quito Sucre.

[@TheCaptainCruise]

He already did Kai Tak !!

[@UncleJoeLITE]

I'm lost inside on a rainy winter Saturday, so thanks RMV.

[@ewilloch]

I'm awestruck by the quality of your videos and this one is in my humble opinion your best so far. I think I have seen all the videos on this channel, and while I have enjoyed them all, I mostly don't have the knowledge to judge whether the information provided is correct or not (although I meanwhile trust it to be). However, a few times I have had some knowledge of the topics covered, like the sinking of the Blücher in the Oslofjord, where I grew up just a few hundred meters from where the sunken ship now rests. So, I've always had a big interest in the Blücher's history and with a WW2 history buff as my father, I dare claim to know a bit about the sinking of the Blücher and the area it was sunk. Still, not a single detail in your video appears to be even slightly incorrect. For this new video, I can only say that I'm equally impressed. I live in Munich since 2000, from 2000-2013 close to Riem, and I've been an aviation enthusiast for almost 50 years, so again, I have a bit of knowledge about Riem, aircraft in general, the two accidents covered, the town Munich and mentioned areas like Erding, Trudering and Riem, and yet, the video is in my opinion absolutely flawless. So, when I can't detect a single tiny flaw in videos covering virtually my core interests, I can only assume that all your videos covering topics of which I have zero knowledge, provide information of equally high quality. Most impressive! Thank you very much!

[@Canleaf08]

one small patch of runway is still left in Munich Riem. And a sign « ABFLUG », the visitors side Tribunes.

[@charlesmoss8119]

I loved this airport - soooooo convenient. It in many ways echoed the issues you had with Milan except with German efficiency they closed this airport and everything moved while now we all fight for flights to Linate to avoid the echoing corridors of Malpensa 😂

[@666wurm]

My mother worked in Flughafen Riem and I visited it as a child several times and went on my first ever flight (Canary Islands). In the 90s I went partying to "The Terminal" in Riem and of course I have taken many flights from the great new Flughafen "Fanrz-Josef-Strauss".

[@samhartnett8700]

As a train and planespotter from Munich, this will be fun to watch! Thanks for the upload:)

[@user-Yoh.I]

Lufthansa's Boeing 727 and 737-200 bring back fond memories. I flew on the 737-200 when traveling from Dusseldorf to Hamburg. I have flown the 727 to Osaka's Itami Airport, probably on a charter flight.

[@TheHylianBatman]

It always makes me sad to see old things destroyed and shut down, even if they've become useless. Change is inevitable, I suppose.

[@albinmuc2714]

One more historical fact: Nirwana played their last concert on March 1st 1994 in the former Terminal 1 building

[@thiloreichelt4199]

I remember using the runway of the closed airport to train with roller blades. Where else do you find a nice flat surface that big without car traffic?

[@peterbenda8270]

Trank you for this great video, I grew up in Riem. Luckily at least once I went on a flight from there when I was 19. In my early years I also drove a Bonanza bicycle around the remaining WWII bomb craters a bit north of the Airport.

[@1951GL]

Vaguely remember the 1960 crash in the news. Fascinating video.

[@clipper747pa2]

Thank you for this well researched video!!! I lived in Munich as a child and have strong memories about this airport, as I used my bike back then for regular visits and also often departed from Riem myself. Later, working for PAN AM, Riem was part of Pan AM „IGS“-flights and I always loved this airport

[@RenateDietrich-Karger]

I worked there in the 70. in the Departure Hall and saw many famous people passing through.

[@1258-Eckhart]

Although I've lived here in Munich since 1992, I never knew the full story of the Convair crash in Schwanthaler Straße, 1960. Everybody here knows the story of "Busby's Babes" being killed in the crash of 1958, but the later crash was all new to me, as was the thoroughly relatable decision of the state government to build a new airport at Erding because of this terrible crash. Never knew that, so thanks! 👍👍👍

[@BobAbc0815]

Franz Josef Strauss Airport is named after the long standing bavarian PM

[@justme-hh4vp]

Thanks for that, i think many people assume it's the composer Franz Strauss, father of Richard.

[@scofab]

Fascinating as always, thank you again.

[@emmanuelpower2439]

Very interesting indeed. Learned lots😊😊😊

[@badjudgement]

Really interesting, thank you for your great content!

[@atomic32205489]

Very informative video. Thank you!

[@michaelibk418]

Ich wusste gar nicht, dass die Erweiterung in den 70ern schon in Hinblick auf einen neuen Flughafen umgesetzt wurde. Leichte Materialien die man dann wieder relativ problemlos Rückbauen bzw. entfernen kann.

[@MichaelBurggraf-gm8vl]

Thank you verymuch for this highly interesting video.

[@normg2242]

As a boy, I spent hours standing at the fence at the west end of the runway, challenging myself not to cover my ears whenever I saw a 727 coming, which proved to be the loudest planes of them all back then ....lol

[@JP_TaVeryMuch]

14:04 To add mine own gratitude to several others here in the commentariat; this list of facts is one of the enchanting reasons that I come back to your output again and again. Why it should be that these highly detailed streams of information appeal is a mystery to me. Nonetheless I suppose it proves that you're top level content provider on KZbin, as if it needed to be said. Many thanks for your consistently compelling creations and for my inevitably joyful discombobulation!

[@burgerpommes2001]

There is still a bit of runnway left in a small forest

[@DS6422224]

Besides the control tower, there are several more building and artefacts left, including a small piece of runway, now surrounded by trees. It can be easily seen on Google maps, straight to the west from Munich Exhibition main entrance

[@Stan_o7]

More great content, Ty👍

[@stephenwhelan2515]

Yet another great video from a great channel. And as a bonus, a picture of a very rare Potez 840/841 at 7:55!

[@torgeirbrandsnes1916]

Great vlog as always! Oslo airport FBU has almost the same history after its opening in 1939.

[@henriachalme443]

Bellevideohenri🎉🎉🎉

[@ryankenyon5010]

I flew into there in 1988. I remember it being crowded, chaotic and dreary.

[@acm_1985]

13:10 Not showing Boeing 720, but Boeing 727 instead. Boeing 720 had 4 engines under the wings and was quite similar to Boeing 707.

[@laurencemaddock1118]

Perhaps one should remember some images and videos are copyrighted, so using them on a small budget is not an option, I'm sure RMV was aware of the issue

[@acm_1985]

@@laurencemaddock1118 Agree, this might be a problem

[@Colaholiker]

@@laurencemaddock1118 Yes, there is some other footage that is likely period correct but not actually from Riem - there is a small clip of a departure board that is all labeled in French. Not exactly the language I would expect to be used as the only language at an airport in Germany. But that doesn't make RMV's videos less good by any means. Footage from long bygone areas is hard to find, and getting permission to use it is even harder. So I don't think it's a big deal. As long as the factual information he talks about is correct.

[@randomscb-40charger78]

The 720 was really only a shortened 707-120 that was only named that way so the general public didn’t think United Airlines was cheating on Douglas with their DC-8 with Boeing.

[@feddik4381]

Could you also make a video of the old Oslo airport, Fornebu?

[@andrewrussell4707]

An excellent idea. I think Fornebu had a problem of being incredibly expensive real estate, so there was a real pressure to move the city airport over to that awful Gardermoen location. I worked in Stabaek in the eighties and would cycle to Fornebu to get the British Sunday newspapers. A great place for an airport, but was closed. I wonder what the truth is behind the closure?

[@GBreezy57]

Reccommend taking longer takes for voiceover. Its very clear you edit it a sentance at a time. It will add a lot of flow and get rid of your very prominent vocal fry. Great video, great content, just some hopefully usefull advise.

[@jacksongennet967]

This story sounds familiar to that of Denver-Stapleton airport in Colorado. Once a major international and domestic gateway proving to be inconvenient, and becoming a neighborhood.

[@alcideslages8326]

Same here in northeast brazil with Natal Augusto severo airport and my hometown airport teresina sbte

[@aregularperson7573]

I flew through the airport that replaced this airport back in 2018 and while it’s not as good as Heathrow was it’s better than nearly all American airports in my experience with the exception of Detroit.

[@senabecool7232]

Nice, will you do other former airports like maybe Kemayoran Airport, Subang or Kallang

[@jgmm26]

The video at 13:10 is of the 727, not the 720. The Boeing 720 was 4-engine like the 707 was, just shortened.

[@gryff8400]

1:39 the timing 😂 chef's kiss 👍excellent

[@diba4645]

Right now there are Adele concerts going on at Riem

[@kineticdeath]

these places stand and serve for decades, and then are gone from all existance within years

[@stefanehlting1286]

At the first Golf War April 1991 i flight from Düsseldorf 🛫to Munich🛬🛫 to Djerba🛬🛫 to destination Monastir🛬🏊😁 with a LTU Looked Tristar . On Board prehab's 50 people 🤣. We was the First German Airplane with Tourist in Tunisia at this Time.

[@Canleaf08]

Gander airport is also almost forgotten.

[@deniro564]

One thing that I remember about Gander is the airport was emergency used for all flights that supposed to enter US, but after the sudden attack on September 11, all flights diverted to Gander, alongside with other international airports across Canada

[@ectem...]

Gander is still a major diversion airport for North Atlantic operations and is the name of one of only a handful North Atlantic FIRs.

[@JP_TaVeryMuch]

0:47 The things you learn from unexpected sources! 1820 you say? Hydrogen balloon you say? I was immediately drawn to the Hindenburg disaster, some one hundred and seventeen years later. The usual run of things is that humanity discovers something, accidents occur, improvements are made and within a decade or so we have the measure of the beast. I wonder what happened in the case of the airship's development and deployment to totally rubbish this rule?

[@graemejwsmith]

Did you have a cold when you recorded that commentary? 🙂

[@skylineXpert]

why does this circular field remind me to some extent of Tegel & Tempelhof?

[@user-so4pf5ek1v]

Tegel was never a circular field, but Tempelhof, Riem, Saarbrücken and Stuttgart were all built around the same time in the late 1930s to similar designs

[@rodolphep3102]

Why 30 seconds of Paris Orly footage at 13:47?

[@Sacto1654]

I think what finally doomed this airport was its inability to handle widebody jets on a large scale, something that the new Munich airport is well-suited for.

[@marcom2248]

The old airport was simply too small in every way. The old one could handle 8 million passengers per year, the new one can handle almost 4 million passengers per month...

[@hiha2108]

​@@marcom2248And it was placed much too close to the fast expanding city of munich.

[@marcom2248]

@@hiha2108 Agreed

[@stuew6]

Hey Check out Toronto three Airports

[@Random-nf7qb]

10:34 Subs say 42, not 52 :)

[@Brent_Holgersson]

10:50 Sean Connery wasnt that good of a pilot, glad he started movies instead.

[@Trek001]

One little error - the second world war in Europe wasn't declared over until 1990 when the Final Settlement with Regards to Germany was signed as only Germany's armed forces surrendered - not what remained of the civil government. It was this legal technicality that kept western forces in Germany during the Cold War Edit: Also, are you using a new mic because your voice sounds different again

[@kevanhubbard9673]

A different Nina:99 Luftballons!

[@trr9230]

Have you turned to AI speech? Something's off here.

[@t.p.mckenna]

If you don't wish to voice your own videos - and why not? - can you, at least, find a better voicer package, or at least, experiment more with the settings. A good starting point is a simpler commentary, and maybe also, build in some pausing. Allow the thing to breathe. Please.

[@billpugh58]

Which channel do you make? I guess it’s perfect? Please provide a link.

[@michaelm.stanic3330]

Sée my Essay ín MUSEUM AKTUELL und Expo Time