Back to the journey

The Final Scene · Option A

Tempelhof

The runway that saved a city.

The Airlift Memorial at Tempelhof — three curved prongs reaching skyward, with the vast terminal building behind
The Airlift Memorial at Platz der Luftbrücke, with Tempelhof's great curved terminal behind it.Photo: Kasa Fue, CC BY-SA 4.0, via Wikimedia Commons

One of the largest buildings on earth — built for a very different Germany, then reborn as the runway that helped save a city.

For fourteen months in 1948–49, planes landed here every few minutes, carrying food, fuel and everything else West Berlin needed to survive.

Today the airfield is a vast open park where Berliners cycle the runways, while the great curved terminal still stands over it all.

You walk the same concrete where the Airlift landed.

Airlift Memorial · Tempelhof

Fixed Points

Tempelhofer Feld

  • The airfield itself is a public park — free, open dawn to dusk, entered through the old gates.

  • The terminal building can only be seen inside on a guided tour; English-language tours run on selected dates.

Getting there

  • U-Bahn to Platz der Luftbrücke puts you at the main gate; allow a half day, more if you add the terminal tour.

The final scene is yours to choose.