tagged w/ Berlin Blockade
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Last planes leave from legendary Berlin Blockade airport Raisin Bomber gives Tempelhof a fitting send-off
Just before midnight on October 30, the last two aircraft to ever take off from Tempelhof airport left the runway – an historic ‘Aunt Ju’ (Junkers 52) and a DC3 ‘ Raisin Bomber’, which the Americans and British used to bring food and supplies to West Berlin during the Soviet blockade 60 years ago.
Tempelhof, the 'mother of all airports', opened in 1923, but its finest hour came during the Berlin Blockade from 1948-49 when it became a symbol of freedom.
But despite protests against its closure, Berlin’s Mayor Klaus Wowereit (SPD) decided to shut down the legendary landmark. It is still not clear what will become of the extensive area of land (386 hectares, and the airport building itself is 1.2 km long).
“The world’s first passenger airport couldn’t be wiped out by either the Nazis or the communists. It took a coalition of mediocrity and despondency to do it,” wrote the head of Axel Springer Mathias Dopfner.
And so Tempelhof, once a symbol of progress and freedom, has become a byword for political arbitrariness, ignorance and a disregard of history.
Go to BILD.com to see photos of the legendary airport throughout the years. Last planes leave from legendary Berlin Blockade airport Raisin Bomber gives... more
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