The bundesverwaltungsgericht has settled a year-long controversy and finally ruled that the world-famous airport will be closed in Octobre 2008. It is in minor use only, anyway, mostly frequented by company aviation. Berlin holds three airports currently, beside Tempelhof there are Tegel and the former east-german airport Schönefeld, which is planned to be modernized and expanded to become the new major hub for Berlin.
That's many sentiments, memories, and historic events given green signal to finally pass into history. I lived all the 80s in berlin, and the palce where I lived with my parents was exactly located in the approach path for the East-pointing runway(s), exactly three and a half kilomters away from the beginning of the airport perimeter. Sometimes the american Hercules flew in, with a deep humming sound like giant hornets, which was no bad sound at all. Only the Galaxies soemtimes moving in - they were really a high-hissing pain in the ear, and made you stop what you were doing and holding hands on your ears, and they were extremely loud. 3.5 km away from the airport, planes also already were I sometimes incredibly low, you just needed to raise your head and could see all the aircraft'S details and smallest features for the few seconds they were visible between the houses and roofs. and trees. I often strolled around in the vicinity of the airport, my great love from schooldays lived in viewing range of it, too.
That the airport now will die, gave me a sting in my heart.
It's unknown what became of the area. Some want to flatten everything and turn it into a park, others want to use the installations for business or industrial purposes.
In my floight simulator, Tempelhof with it'S unique architecture, still the greatest single building in Europe, will always remain to be one of my most preferred landing targets.
http://www.welt.de/berlin/article142...schlossen.html
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