26+49 preserved in Dresden

This week we were surprised by the sudden appearance of F-104G 26+49 (wnr 7309) being preserved at the entrance of the Militärhistorisches Museum der Bundeswehr at Dresden, Germany.
Owned by the German Air Force museum in Berlin-Gatow it is very likely that this Starfighter went to Dresden on loan.  It still carries the remains of the worn WTD61 markings on the inlets and is waiting for final mounting of the wing root plates. This means that it must have arrived shortly.

This Starfighter was withdrawn from use at Manching (with LWS11) on December 15th, 1989 with a total of 2793 flying hours. Soon after it went to Erding Air Base (storage, LVR1). In October 1992 it was transported to Berlin-Gatow (Air Force Museum) and put on display and soon after it again went in storage there around 2001/2002. In 2005 it was seen again preserved outside on the museum location where it has been available at least till last year 2022.

The picture at Dresden was taken by Henk Schakelaar on February 27th, 2023.