The museum has a collection of more than 200,000 items, including 155 aeroplanes, 5,000 uniforms and 30,000 books.

Aircraft include World War I planes such as the Fokker E.III as reproductions, and World War II planes such as the Bf 109, as well as at least one aircraft of every type ever to serve in the air forces of East and West Germany.

Most of those postwar aircraft are stored outside on the tarmac and runways, however, and many are in bad condition.

There are long term restoration projects, including a Focke-Wulf Fw 190.

The museum traces its beginnings to 1957, when a former government official named Helmut Jaeckel started acquiring the personal collections of Wehrmacht soldiers and displaying them at Uetersen Airfield.