On 3rd October 1978, aircraft number 21588, was delivered to the German national airline Lufthansa, one of thirty-two aircraft delivered by Boeing to the airlines in 1978. The aircraft was christened "Schleswig-Holstein" - after the northernmost "Länder" in Germany - and assigned the registration D-ABYM. The aircraft was fitted with General Electric GE CF6-50E2 which provided 23,625 kg/52,500 lb of thrust.

As the airline acquired the new specifiation Boeing 747-400 aircraft - from 1989 onwards - Lufthansa's fleet of 200-series aircraft was gradually reduced. By September 2001 Lufthansa disposed of its eight remaining 747-200s; five were put into storage and two scrapped. In March 2002 Lufthansa's sole remaining 200-series 747 was acquired for a nominal one euro (€) by the Auto & Technik Museum in Speyer, Germany.

In early 2002, the mammoth seventy-metre long D-ABYM flew the short journey from Frankfurt to Karlsruhe where she was dismantled: her engines, wings and tailplane were all removed. Transported by road to Söllingen on the banks of the Rhine, she was then loaded aboard a barge for the final leg of her journey down the river to Speyer. A year later, in March 2003, the aircraft was installed above a raised - twenty-metres above the ground - platform.

Designation	Boeing 747-230B(M)	Aircraft Number	21588
Registration Code	D-ABYM	Delivery date	3rd October 1978
Length	70.5m/231 ft	Height	19.3m/64ft
Wing span	59.6m/196ft	Wing area	510.97m2/5490ft2
Weight (empty)	170,600kg/376,100lbs	Engines	General Electric CF6-50E2
Cruising speed	895kmh/555mph	Cruising altitude	10,650m/35,000ft
Flying range	12,700km/7,900 miles	Fuel capacity	203,000 litres/44,660 gallons
Fuel consumption	13,550 litres/3580 gallons per hour	Passengers and crew	397 (in three classes)/18 (flight and cabin crew)