Deutsche Lufthansa Ilyushin IL-18 - DM-STA

With its official entry into service on March 28, 1960, the Ilyushin IL-18 registered as DM-STA was the first of a total of 16 of this type in the German Democratic Republic. It was operated by Deutsche Lufthansa (East) in blue livery and with the well-known crane logo. The Soviet-built four-engine turboprop was the main workhorse for many years and was used for flights within the Eastern Bloc, for example to Sofia or Moscow, but also on long-haul routes to Havana and Beijing. Due to legal disputes with Lufthansa in West Germany, which had also been reestablished around the same time, the East German Lufthansa was liquidated in 1963 and Interflug, which was the second airline in the GDR, initially entrusted with charter flights, took over all employees, aircraft and routes as the sole national airline from then on. DM-STA, later reregistered as DDR-STA, remained active until 1988. After being retired, she was parked at Leipzig-Halle Airport. Initially still part of the Aeropark, she had to make way for the expansion of the airport. In 2012, the airport presented her as a restored exhibit and made the IL-18 accessible to the public once again as an important part of aviation history.