Is the Luft46 web site no more?

[cluttonfred]

The link appears to be dead.

https://luft46.com/

 

[fightingirish]

The link appears to be dead.

https://luft46.com/

Yes, this site does not exist within the LDAP database anymore.
But the latest snapshot at Webarchive is from August 2025 (2025-08-27).
Link:
https://web.archive.org/web/20250827201539/http://www.luft46.com/

 

[Cfinley2001]

I'd noticed this myself. I enjoyed using it as a resource, sad.

 

[Apophenia]

Dan Johnson, who ran Luft46, died last Summer. Still, 28 years is a pretty impressive span for any individual-run website.

 

[alberchico]

It is a shame when these small websites that offer a wealth of information are forced to shut down because the one person who was running it could not continue doing so and there was no one else available to keep it going. There is an excellent maritime website that documents in great detail the ocean liners of the past that was about to run into the same problem, fortunately the site creator found someone who agreed to take it over and keep writing articles for it. It is worth taking a look at it if you're into ocean liners.

http://ssmaritime.com/

 

[perttime]

^^^^ At least the archived version looks pretty good, at a quick look.

 

[Apophenia]

It is a shame when these small websites that offer a wealth of information are forced to shut down because the one person who was running it could not continue doing so and there was no one else available to keep it going...

Agreed. But maintaining such a website is all-consuming and, eventually, tedious SEO chores becomes the driving time-suck.

Adding to that is the rapidly-diminishing appreciation of the work involved by many of the site's users. Once contact with demanding 'consumers' of information begins to outweigh the support of collaborators, turning off 'life support' for the website becomes a mercy.

 

[Hood]

I remember stumbling across that site 25 years ago... wow how time has flown.
Was an interesting resource, though this site probably has a better technical coverage of some of the individual projects and a lot more has been written about most of those projects in recent years.
Still, at least it was nostalgic for an internet time long past.

 

[Dan Sharp]

I'm a bit late here - I've been head-down working. This is incredibly sad news. I had no idea Dan Johnson had died. His website literally changed my life and I owe him a great debt that I could never and now can never repay.

Luft46 was an incredible resource and although updates ceased many years ago, I still occasionally went back to it for a hit of nostaligia. As Hood says - it was an enduring time capsule of an internet long gone.

 

[Gryphus1]

Dan Johnson, who ran Luft46, died last Summer. Still, 28 years is a pretty impressive span for any individual-run website.

Seriously? That's sad.
My condolences to everyone around him.

 

[Star Aviation Limited]

The link appears to be dead.

https://luft46.com/

Oh this is so sad... I was just scrolling it a year back.

 

[Star Aviation Limited]

Dan Johnson, who ran Luft46, died last Summer. Still, 28 years is a pretty impressive span for any individual-run website.

Fly high air boss, fly high

 

[T. A. Gardner]

That's sad. It was a fun site for insane Nazi aircraft projects that never had a chance.

 

[Redpilled_Retribution]

RIP to both the website and its creator
Have plenty of fond memories perusing it more than a decade ago