Charlottenlund Fort

Back to my trip to Europe now.  This was our 'home' for 4 nights - a campsite in a fort!  Charlottenlund Fort was built in the 1880s to help protect Copenhagen from dodgy foreigners.  Given how easily I got in it's not working well.

The fort still has it's full complement of 12 305mm guns which were

 installed when it was remodelled in 1911-12

As camping spots go, this one was pretty surreal!

Some later steel and concrete.

Copenhagen - Kastellet

After two nights at Sonderborg the next stop was Copenhagen. After crossing the Alssund on the motorway bridge seen in the previous post and driving the few miles across the island of Als, we made the rather choppy ferry crossing of the Little Belt from Fynshav to Bodjen on the island of Funen. After driving across Funen, the next major water crossing was the spectacular Great Belt Bridge to - all 11 miles of it!  We were staying at the northern end of Copenhagen - more about that site in a future post.  On our first full day there we got the train (well, two trains) into the city and visited the Kastellet.

This well-preserved star-shaped fortress dates from the 17th century and is still in use by the Danish military.

The fort is home to a monument to Denmark's international activities after 1948.   The inscription reads "a time a place a person".

The other side of the wall names the fallen.

In one of the fort buildings is a museum commemorating Denmark's international involvement.  Cyprus features quite prominently.

There are considerable numbers of field and fortress cannon in the fort and on the ramparts.

 

The battle of Dybbol, 1864

The main reason we parked for a couple of nights was to visit the Dybbol battlefield.  The nearby town of Sonderborg spans both sides of the Alssund. We weer on the western bank.  In the distance is the bridge which carries motorway 8 from the mainland to the island of Als.

In the centre of Sonderborg, "this memorial stone was erected as a thank you to all those sent on international missions for Denmark since 1948."

The coastal walk into Sonderborg was dotted with these memorials to Danish soldiers protecting the evacuation of their fellows to Als after the Dybbol defences were overcome.

The eastern side of the Alssund - Sonderborg has expanded a bit to the north in the past century!

The Dybbol battlefield is still largely unspoiled and included a visitor centre in one of the redoubts.  Always good to see a fortress gun.

This crane was for changing gun barrels.

This chap was spotted trying to cram the field gun into a rucksack.

A brief cycle ride away is another even larger redoubt!

Across the road from the redoubt is Dybbol Mill and this memorial.  Sadly while we were visiting the mill the weather closed in so my photos of it are awful.  But fear not, as an er, scale model of the mill features in a forthcoming post.

And the weather picked up soon afterwards.  It was one of those days where we had four seasons, not just in one day but in a couple of hours!

Danish dart

Alongside the F-100 featured earlier, I refurbished this scruffy F-104 Starfighter.  Again I went for the simple but rather appealing all-over green finish.

The Royal Danish Air Force operated Starfighters from the mid-sixties to mid-eighties.  The attrition rate due to accidents was apparently 23.5%! 

As with the Sabre, the roundels began as WW2 Japanese and the tail flashes were hand painted.

Danish F-100 Super Sabre

This scruffy specimen was rescued from an eBay purchase batch. No idea what make the kit is. While solidly built, it looked as though previous paint had been removed. And replaced with dust.  I eventually decided it was destined for Denmark. Here are four excellent reasons why:
1. The Royal Danish Air Force used F-100 from 1961-1982. Prime Little Cold Wars decades!
2. Bertrand and I have vague plans for a Warpact landing in the Baltic.
3. It’s an easy paint job.
4. I have memories of seeing Danish Sabres in flight over the Highlands c1980.

Some repairs were needed but I decided to keep things basic and not add bits which might promptly fall off again.

I did warn you that the paintwork was basic!  The all-over green finish was relieved by the markings. The roundels began life as WW2 Japanese with the white inners painted in. The tail flashes were painted by hand.