This is the 69,901 seater Allianz Arena stadium in Munich, Germany, which is due to play host to tonight’s world cup opening match. In which case, they might want to hurry up and put some grass in there Incredibly, the entire stadium is lit up red, blue or white depending on which team is playing, which looks super-cool. They can do combinations too, so might we see something new tonight?

(And yes, before somebody spoils it, this is the first in a series!)

Thanks to Kristian, birphborph, Robertofon, Dennis, Bertrand Capo, Patino, Falco Winschel and Fraser for his joke.

Despite my attempt in August last year to claim that England wins this competition, judging by these images of the Effelsberg 100 metre radio telescope… I’d say it was pretty safe to assume that Germany wins the largest radio telescope in Europe prize

As for any other competition which Germany may or may not win, well, we’ll just have to wait and see… Go Trinidad and Tobago!

Thanks to Some Guy and Stefan.

Today we’re looking at E-3 Sentry AWACS (Airborne Warning and Control System) planes – they’re really just Boeing 707s with a 9.1m diameter rotating radar strapped onto the back, which provides airborne surveillance and battle management.

Starting in Britain there’s an E-3 Sentry at RAF Mildenhall. This is one of seven that the RAF purchased and named Happy, Sleepy, Sneezy, Grumpy, Dopey, Bashful and Doc.

Hopping over to France we see 3 of 4 E-3s owned by the Armée de l’Air.

Further afield there’s Khorat airfield in Thailand. I think this is actually a US E-3 and part of “Cope Tiger”, an annual, multinational exercise for practising interoperability with U.S. Forces. There’s also various fighter planes to see just to the South.

The US Air Force owns 34 E-3s in total and 28 of them are stationed at Tinker AFB (although I only count 13). Tinker AFB’s claim to fame is that in 1948 the first ever Tornado warning was issused from here (about 3 hours before it hit).

Also worth seeing while we’re in the area is another Children’s Play Area and [B-52 and B-1B bombers](http://googlesightseeing.com/maps?p=951&c=&t=k&hl=en&ll=35.411464,-97.378006&z=17 ) which, according to submitter “West,” are being refitted with new electronics to allow them to carry and drop JDAM munitions.

Thanks: Don Mecoy, Mike, DFarmer, DDA, Grant hutchins, West, pooms, CraX & teuf

Here’s the longest stone arch bridge in the world, the Rockville Bridge in Pennsylvania (Wikipedia page). It was opened in 1902 and (as you can clearly see on the linked Google map) carries heavy railroad traffic to this day.

There’s a great-old postcard of the bridge at Wikipedia which claims the record of “longest stone bridge”. However the Anping Bridge in China is also made of stone, and has been around much, much longer.

It seems that there truly is no end to the number of possible records to be broken.

Thanks to Jonathan Hoppe and RJ Marquette.

Thanks to the various Google Maps updates of imagery in Germany we can now get a good look at Hitler’s “Eagle’s Nest” or Kehlsteinhaus as it is properly known. The Eagle’s Nest was part of the Berghof complex in the Bavarian Alps near Berchtesgaden. It was built as a 50th birthday present for Adolf Hitler from the Nazi party but was apparently rarely used by him as he was afraid of heights. Aside from the macabre connotations it is a fantastic feat of engineering. The Nest is built on a ridge at the top of the Kehlstein mountain, 1835 metres up. It can only be reached by a 4 mile road which cost 30 million Marks to construct in 1939. The final approach to the Nest is an elevator bored through the mountain that travels 124 metres up via a granite tunnel. The elevator itself is surfaced with polished brass, talk about extravagant…

The Nest was used as a command post by the Allies until 1960 when it was handed back over to Germany. It is now a restaurant and Hitler’s small study is used as a storage cupboard.

Thanks: justin flavin & Tom