| Tempelhof Central Airport | |
|---|---|
| Located in West Berlin, Germany | |
Location of Tempelhof Central Airport in Occupied Berlin 1945-1990 |
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| Type | Military airfield |
| Built | 1923 |
| In use | 1945-1994 |
| Controlled by | United States Air Force |
| Garrison | 7350th Air Base Group |
Tempelhof Central Airport (TCA) was a United States Military airfield in West Berlin, Germany between 1945 and 1994.
During its operational life, it was garrisoned by the United States Air Force, with units of the United States Army Berlin Brigade located within the facility. TCA was located in the northern part of the Tempelhof district of Berlin, about 2 miles from the center of the city. It was bounded on the north by Columbiadamm, on the west by Mehringdamm, and on the south by the Tempelhof Freight Terminal, in the American Sector of West Berlin.
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The main USAF unit at Tempelhof was the 7350th Air Base Group under various designations:
Other Major USAFE units at Tempelhof AB were:
Tenant units included the 6912th Electronic Security Group[1], part of the Electronic Security Command, an organization belonging directly to Air Force Intelligence[2].
The facility was named after the historic Tempelhof parade ground in the Berlin district of Tempelhof.
Prior to World War II, TCA was acquired for use as a Royal Prussian parade and exercise ground by King Fredrick William I in 1721. Tempelhof remained a parade ground until 1918. From 1895-1918 field served also as a demonstration area for balloons, airships, and aircraft, including flights in 1908 by Orville Wright and his Wright Flyer.[4][5]
A German commercial airport was erected on the site in 1922 and a modern European international airport was established in 1934. Ernst Sagebiel designed Tempelhof's futuristic airfield facilities and terminal 1934-1936, and converted it into a major European and international airport. Tempelhof Airport officially opened in 1936, with peak passenger traffic attained in 1938-1939.[4]
Germany did not use Tempelhof as a military airfield during World War II, except for occasional emergency landings by fighter aircraft. The airfield was seized by the Soviet Union Red Army in April, 1945 and turned over to the United States in July 1945 with the division of Berlin into occupation zones.
TCA was established as an aerial port on 2 July 1945, being designated Tempelhof Airdrome (Code Number R-95). The first USAAF unit assigned to Templehof was the 715th Air Service Squadron, being transferred to the airfield on 2 July 1945 from Halle, Germany. This was quicky followed by the 473d Air Service Group, establishing headquarters on 5 July and assuming host duties.[4][5][6]
Reconstruction of the facility began on 3 July 1945. The 852nd Engineer Aviation Battalion arrived at Tempelhof on 10 July 1945 and conducted the original repairs. The first USAAF flying unit assgned was the 301st Troop Carrier Squadron, with its ground echelon arriving on 4 July 1945 and beginning operational use in August.
In September, Templehof began routine military passenger service as the Berlin center for the European Air Transport Service (EATS) until March 1948. The first major Allied use of the airfield was for the Potsdam Conference, being held from July 16 to August 2, 1945.[5][6]
On 9 September 1946 it was renamed Tempelhof Army Air Base, and it supported the mission of the Office of the High Commissioner of Germany (HICOG). It was redesignated Tempelhof Air Base on 9 November. The base also housed an air-sea rescue operations center when USAFE assumed the direct responsibilities of EATS on 20 December 1947.[4][5]
With the formation of the United States Air Force in 1947, Tempelhof became a USAF base. The United States Air Forces in Europe (USAFE) renamed the facility Tempelhof Air Force Base on 1 July 1948 (the designation was reverted back to Tempelhof Air Base on 1 May 1950).[5]
Soviet troops closed off all surface routes into West Berlin on 20 June 1948, compelling the Western Allies to establish the greatest military airlift in history, the Berlin Airlift, flying millions of tons of fuel, clothing, and food into Tempelhof for the beleaguered West Berliners. Engineers constructed a new 6,000-ft runway between July and September 1948 and another between September and October 1948 to accommodate the expanding requirements of the airlift. The last airlift transport touched down at Tempelhof on 30 September 1949. In 1971 one of the pilots during the Berlin Airlift, and the original Candy Bomber, Gail Halvorsen, returned to Berlin as the commander of Tempelhof Central Airport.[4]
A civil aviation agreement allowed the major airlines to use the airport beginning on 22 May 1950, and U.S. authorities turned over the north-east corner of the airport to the City of Berlin for recreational purposes in 1950.[4]
USAFE renamed the facility Tempelhof Central Airport on 28 February 1958, and on 15 November 1959 administration of Tempelhof was transferred to Ramstein AB.[5]
On 1 September 1975, when all civil air traffic was transferred to Berlin Tegel Airport. Tempelhof was then used solely as a military airport until 1985 when Tempelhof Airways, a US-registered commuter airline, resumed commercial operations with a pair of Nord 262 commuter turboprops to secondary and tertiary destinations in West Germany not served by any scheduled carrier from Tegel at that time.[5][7]
With civil traffic routed to Tegel, TCA was used solely by U.S. military airlift traffic until the end of the Cold War.
With the fall of the Berlin Wall and the reunification of Germany, the presence of American forces in Berlin ended. The USAF 7350th Air Base Group at Tempelhof was deactivated on 29 January 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 returned a united city of Berlin to the unified German government.
The U.S. Army closed its Berlin Army Aviation Detachment at TCA in August 1994, ending a 49-year American military presence in Berlin.
This article incorporates public domain material from websites or documents of the Air Force Historical Research Agency.
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