British architect Norman Foster dubbed Berlin’s Tempelhof Airport the “Mother of all Airports” because it introduced so many innovative features, which later were copied around the world. The airport was built between 1936 and 1941 on the site of an existing, much smaller airport dating back to the German empire. Tempelhof Airport was designed by Ernst Sagebiel under Nazi direction. Planned in accordance with Hitler’s vision of Germania, it was built to impress. Its main building was once one of the largest structures in Europe.
Predecessor of the “Mother of all Airports”
The predecessor of Tempelhof Airport was constructed in several stages between 1923 and 1929. Its primary purpose was to test airships and balloons. Scientific weather forecasting was still in its infancy in the late 19th century, and previous observations had almost always been made from land. When in the late 1800s, a cooperative program between meteorology and aviation investigated the upper atmosphere with manned and unmanned balloons, the first manned, untethered test balloon was launched from the Tempelhof site. That was in 1891. Over the next few years, a total of 65 manned balloon flights were launched using 16 different balloons.
The “Mother of all Airports” was never finished
The buildings of the ‘Mother of all Airport” still stand today and are made of reinforced concrete with limestone façades. The main departure and arrival hall’s free cantilevered roof exceeds 1,000 yards in length. The hall’s floor-to-ceiling windows are designed to let in as much light as possible. But the airport’s most distinguishing feature is the curved roof that extends 130 feet over the tarmac. Almost a mile long, it protects passengers from the weather as they walk to and from planes. Tempelhof Airport’s physical appearance has not changed much during its 75-year existence with the exception that, unfortunately, many of the buildings are in poor condition.
Tempelhof Airport arrival and departure hall. Photo © J. Elke Ertle, 2015, www.walled-in-berlin.com
Despite having been erected to embody Nazi Germany’s greatness, the “Mother of all Airports” was never more than 80% complete. Hitler also wanted the airport roof to accommodate as many as 100,000 spectators at air shows and military parades. But the 13 staircase towers that were supposed to take onlookers to the roof, were never built. Likewise, Hitler had envisioned a giant stadium surrounding the airport complex with the potential of accommodating a million spectators. That plan did not come to pass either. In fact, the Nazis never even used the airport’s grand buildings for their intended purpose. That did not happen until after WWII. The Nazis used them to house military aircraft and weapon construction projects. Then, when bombs fell on Berlin during World War II, Tempelhof Airport served as a huge air-raid shelter. Its rooms contained beds, toilets, food, and other amenities and were filled with people. The paintings on some of the walls still hark back to those times.
Wall paintings in a WWII bomb shelter at Tempelhof Airport, the “Mother of all airports”. Photo © J. Elke Ertle, 2015. www.walled-in-berlin.com
During the height of the refugee crises in 2015, airport buildings housed up to 3,000 refugees. Since then, most of them have been relocated. Today, the airport’s main tenant is the police, which has been renting space since 1951.
Berlin’s Tempelhof Airport’s, “Mother of all Airports” rooftop for spectator seating that was never completed. Photo © J. Elke Ertle, 2015. www.walled-in-berlin.com
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Walled-In is my story of growing up in Berlin during the Cold War. Juxtaposing the events that engulfed Berlin during the Berlin Blockade, the Berlin Airlift, the Berlin Wall and Kennedy’s Berlin visit with the struggle against my equally insurmountable parental walls, Walled-In is about freedom vs. conformity, conflict vs. harmony, domination vs. submission, loyalty vs. betrayal.
Tags: Berlin, Ernst Sabebiel, Hitler, mother of all airports, Norman Foster, Tempelhof Airport, test balloons
