"Himmelfahrt" a public holiday, and a Walk through the Woods

Janet heads off for the airport.

Our walk this afternoon would have been much nicer had the weather been a little warmer,  but with me wearing socks, two jumpers, a scarf and a pair of gloves, and with Janet also warmly clad, we set out  on the 4 mile return walk through the woods to the airport. This pleasant walk along  Waggumer Weg, a wooded flat track, is just my sort of walk, and leads directly to the airport with its imposing facade.  The airport is used by a gliding club, and we watched several gliders being towed up into the air, then releasing their towropes and gliding gently back to earth.  

I don't know what this is called,  but maybe it's a "Yellow Tipped, Two Spotted" butterfly?

The facade of Braunschweig Airport constructed in the 1930s.

Braunschweig-Wolfsburg Airport is used for business jets and unscheduled traffic, as well as by the German Aerospace Centre, with their special mission aircraft to discover and research phenomena in the atmosphere.  Braunschweig University also has some aeronautical departments here.  Volkswagen, the Wolfsburg car manufacturer, is a major shareholder and uses the airfield as a base for its own airline fleet.  Volkswagen operate regular services to its other European sites and subsidaries, such as Skoda, Audi and SEAT.

This executive jet landed this afternoon and taxied onto a side apron.   The airport is equipped with a 1,560m asphalt runway and a 900m grass runway.

The following services operate at the airport:
Test flights by the Research Airport's partners.
General business traffic.
Pilot Training.
Glider training.
Parachuting sports.