Tempelhof International Airport
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| Tempelhof International Airport Flughafen Berlin-Tempelhof |
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| IATA: THF - ICAO: EDDI | |||
| Summary | |||
| Airport type | Public | ||
| Operator | Berlin Airports | ||
| Serves | Berlin | ||
| Elevation AMSL | 167 ft (51 m) | ||
| Coordinates | |||
| Runways | |||
| Direction | Length | Surface | |
| ft | m | ||
| 09L/27R | 6,870 | 2,094 | Paved |
| 09R/27L | 6,037 | 1,840 | Paved |
Tempelhof Central Airport (IATA: THF, ICAO: EDDI) a.k.a. Berlin Tempelhof (German: Flughafen Tempelhof) is an airport in Berlin, Germany, situated in the south-central borough of Tempelhof-Schöneberg. This airport is commonly known as Tempelhof as well.
To United States military forces, Tempelhof was known as TCA (Tempelhof Central Airport). Tempelhof is often called the "City Airport". Tempelhof mostly has commuter flights to other parts of Germany and neighboring countries, since its runway is too small to receive long-haul airliners such as the Boeing 747.
Tempelhof Airport has two parallel runways. Runway 9L/27R has a length of 2094 metres (6870 feet) and Runway 9R/27L has a length of 1840m (6037ft). Both runways are paved with asphalt. The taxiway is in the shape of a circle around these two runways, with a single terminal on the north side of the airport.
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[edit] History
The site of the airport was used as a parade field from 1720 to the start of World War I. Frenchman Armand Zipfel made the first flight demonstration in Tempelhof in 1909, followed by Orville Wright later that same year. [1] Tempelhof was first officially designated as an airport on 8 October 1923. Lufthansa was founded in Tempelhof on 6 January 1926.
The old terminal, originally constructed in 1927, received politicians and celebrities from around the world during the 1930s. As part of Albert Speer's plan for the reconstruction of Berlin during the Nazi era, Prof. Ernst Sagebiel was ordered to replace the old terminal with a new terminal building in 1934. The airport halls and the neighbouring buildings, intended to become the gateway to Europe, are still known as the largest built entities worldwide, and have been described by British architect Sir Norman Foster as "the mother of all airports". With its façades of shell limestone, the terminal building, built between 1936 and 1941, forms a massive 1.2-kilometre long quadrant yet has a charmingly intimate feel; planes can taxi right up to the building and unload, sheltered from the weather by its enormous overhanging canopy. Passengers walk through customs controls and find themselves in a dazzlingly simple and luminous reception hall. Tempelhof is served conveniently by the U6 U-Bahn line along Mehringdamm and up Friedrichstraße (Platz der Luftbrücke station).
[edit] World War II/Cold War
Weserwerke started war production in a new building for assembling Junkers Ju 87 "Stuka" dive bombers and later Focke-Wulf Fw 190 fighter planes. Germany did not use Tempelhof as a military airfield during World War II, except for occasional emergency landings by fighter aircraft. Soviet forces took Tempelhof in the Battle of Berlin on 24 April 1945, and it was handed over to the U.S. 2d Armored Division on 2 July 1945.
Major United States Air Force units at Tempelhof Central Airport (TCA) were:
- 473d Air Services Group, July 2, 1945 - 1946
- 788th Air Base Unit 1946 - 1948
- 7350th Air Base Group, 1948 - 1994
Tempelhof hosted passengers arriving and departing the Potsdam Conference, and served as Berlin center for the European Air Transport Service (EATS) during the early postwar years. It also supported the mission of the Office of the High Commissioner of Germany (HICOG), and air-sea rescue operations center when the United States Air Forces in Europe (USAFE) assumed the direct responsibilities of EATS on 20 December 1947.
Berlin Airlift
Troops of the Soviet Union closed off all surface routes the British, French and United States occupation zones of Berlin on 20 June 1948, compelling the Western Allies to establish the Berlin Airlift. During the airlift, American and Allied aircraft flew millions of tons of fuel, clothing, and food into Tempelhof for the beleaguered Berliners. During the Airlift, the USAF 53d Troop Carrier Squadron was temporary assigned to Tempelhof to facilitate cargo operations.
In addition to the airlift operations, American engineers constructed a new 6,000-ft runway at Tempelhof between July and September 1948 and another between Sepember and October 1948 to accommodate the expanding requirements of the airlift. The last airlift transport touched down at Tempelhof on 30 September 1949.
Cold War
During the Cold War years, Tempelhof was used jointly by civil and military transport aircraft until 1 September 1975, when all civil air traffic was transferred to Berlin-Tagel Airport. Tempelhof was then used as a military airport until 3 October 1990 when, as a result of German Reunification, the airport was reopened to civil air traffic.
With the fall of the Berlin Wall and the reunification of Germany, the US Forces in Berlin had accomplished their mission to protect the city against the Soviet threat. The U.S. Air Force left Tempelhof in June 1993.
In July 1994, with President Clinton in attendance, the British, French, and American air and land forces in Berlin were deactivated in a ceremony on the Four Ring Parade field at Tempelhof in accordance with the Treaty on the Final Settlement with Respect to Germany. The Western Allies had achieved their goals and returned a united city of Berlin to the unified German government. With this ceremony the last vestige of World War II officially ended.
The U.S. Army closed its Berlin Army Aviation Detachment at TCA in August 1994, ending a 49-year American military presence in Berlin.
[edit] Postwar Commercial Use
American Overseas Airlines started the first commercial air service after the war with a flight from New York on 18 May 1946. On 20 May 1950, U.S. forces held the first Armed Forces Day, open to the public. Boeing demonstrated its prototype 727 as the first jet transport plane in Tempelhof on 2 December 1964.
A U.S. Air Force C-5A Galaxy landed at Tempelhof on 17 September 1971, being the wide-body aircraft to land there. However, with the opening of the newly built terminal at Berlin-Tagel Airport on 1 September 1975, Pan Am and British Airways moved commercial aircaft operations there and Tempelhof became exclusively used by the U.S. Military.
The ending of the Cold War and German Reunification opened Tempelhof for non-allied air traffic on 3 October 1990. U.S. President Bill Clinton christened a new Boeing C17A Globemaster III, transport plane, Serial 96-0006 as the "Spirit of Berlin" at Tempelhof on 14 May 1998.
As of 2006 Templehof remains in use, although it only has half a million passengers per year and does not make a profit.
The following regular airlines fly to Tempelhof International Airport:
- Cirrus Airlines
- European Air Express
- InterSky
- Luftfahrtgesellschaft Walter
- SN Brussels Airlines
- Sterling Airlines
The following Taxiflights fly to THF:
- AAF Aviona Air
- Air Service Berlin
- AIRSHIP Air Service
- Bizair Fluggesellschaft
- Business Air Charter
- Heli Unionair
- Jet Club Deutschland Chartermanagement
- Private Wings
- Rotorflug
- TAG Aviation
- Windrose Air
[edit] See also
[edit] References
- Endicott, Judy G., USAF Active Flying, Space, and Missile Squadrons as of 1 October 1995. Office of Air Force History
- Fletcher, Harry R., Air Force Bases Volume II, Active Air Force Bases outside the United States of America on 17 September 1982, Office of Air Force History, 1989
- Maurer Maurer, Air Force Combat Units Of World War II, Office of Air Force History, 1983
- Ravenstein, Charles A., Air Force Combat Wings Lineage and Honors Histories 1947-1977, Office of Air Force History, 1984
