“Bealine One four one seven alpha Outer marker finals zero nine right” A voice with American accent came crisply back “Bealine fourteen seventeen alpha is cleared to land zero nine right surface wind one one zero less than five knots” The silence that followed was interrupted only by the click of the landing light switches causing two beams of wingtip lights to sweep forward from below and behind. Ahead lay the approach and runway lights with its formidable display of reds and whites beckoning the aircraft those final yards across the local S Bahn Station to a carpet of runway lights beyond. There followed a gentle rumble and she was down “Dump” “Brakes checked” – “ok Anti Skid off” “Bealine one four one seven alpha clearing zero nine right” - then that American voice again “Bealine fourteen seventeen alpha, Roger call ground point nine.” and following a brief pause “You have the privilege of having just completed the last commercial flight into Berlin Tempelhof”
The overture to these words had begun some three hours earlier when Captain Bob Warnock and his crew had reported to BA Operations, an insignificant office deep inside the canopy of one of the largest buildings on earth. With only a single window, neon lights were always needed in the interior and on the large operations board showing the tally of flights scheduled on any given day. In common with most days the list consisted of an impressive array of "on schedule" departures, a source of considerable pride to all staff who participated in what was known as the IGS, the Internal German Services. On this day however the foot of the board contained a series of extra departures as, one by one, each BAC 1-11 to arrive was to fly empty across the divided city to Tegel where a newly completed terminal had just opened to accommodate both British Airways and Pan American, the only civilian operators to Berlin Tempelhof.
The scene outside remained typical of any evening at Tempelhof. It was more reminiscent of a Formula 1 Grand Prix pit stop than an airport. Aeroplanes scurried up to their parking positions, their noise and bustle augmented by the acoustic effect of that semi closed roof. Like modern day VIPs, incoming passengers poured down steps into the hot summer evening as, built in the 1930s, the apron design pre-dated piers and push backs. As each machine rolled to a standstill, ground handling crews pored over them like busy bees attending to every detail, placing chocks, refuelling, cleaning windscreens, loading and unloading baggage. Inside the terminal, departing passengers were released from the gate as if by chequered flag, participating in a contest to see how quickly they could board. With only 25 minutes to go before departure, our final actor, BAC 1-11 Victor Mike Oscar, taxied in to join the fray. As soon as possible, we were aboard and within no time had the starboard engine running as a few stragglers mounted the steps. With ship’s papers signed, doors closed, steps and chocks away, with our 84 passengers, we taxied one minute early just as night fell.
Thus it was that when as the returning BE 1469A, Mike Oscar finally taxied to a halt the scene just described could not have been more different when the sound of its Rolls Royce Speys died away. An all pervading eerie silence was evident within the cavernous apron confines of the great canopy at Tempelhof. No longer the ear piercing roar of the Boeing 727 trapped between concrete and steel. No longer the whining noise of the Rolls Royce Spey as it struggled over its starting hump, just ghosts of jets and props of earlier days and just one solitary aeroplane waiting for its turn to leave.
In the few hours since our departure, the Operations Room had changed out of all recognition. The removal men had arrived and were ripping out everything, telephones, desks, operations board and all. One harassed Operation’s staff was signing requisitions for this and that giving orders here and there. For us there remained the job of flying what must be one of the shortest sectors in the world, a straight line distance of no more than 7 nautical miles. This sector had its moments with an unexpected change of landing runway to 26 L at Tegel which transformed the flight to a U turn of around 9 nautical miles. As we changed frequency to “Tegel Tower” a French accent greeted us with “Bonsoir, you are cleared to land runway two six right.” It was an accent which would last until 1989 when the axe would fall on not only on the Berlin Wall, but the entire aviation infra structure set up in post war Potsdam .
The date was 31st August 1975 and history will relate that “last commercial flight” it was not to be as, subsequently, Tempelhof re opened for commercial use. At the time, however, it heralded the closing of a chapter in aviation history of the then West Berlin and the then West Germany. Written just afterwards, my following words were to prove 30 years too early "Once Mike Oscar had parked just outside the enormous canopy and disgorged its 13 passengers from Dusseldorf, Tempelhof was a civil airport no more". Now following permanent closure, I re visited my original, unpublished piece to discover that this had been really a truly golden age of air travel. This was the age when passengers waved for photos at the foot of the aircraft steps, This was an age when they knew in what type of aeroplane they flew, what it looked like and how many engines it had. It was a golden age of light touch regulations bereft of the indignity of Security and the mass transit it was to precede. If for no other reason, we should all lament the passing of Berlin Tempelhof.
Christopher Burke
Extract from notes made at the time
31st August 1975
G-AVMO
Outbound:
EDBB – EDDL
STD 1925 STA 2025
ATD 1924 ATA 2022
TOW 37984 FOB 7000
84 Pax
Captain R Warnock, F/O C Burke, CC Stwdss Ashendorf, Stwdss Simonson
Flight number BE 1417A
Return:
EDDL –EDBB
STD 2045 STA 2150
ATD 2044 ATA 2147
TOW 33211 FOB 7500
13 Pax
Captain R Warnock F/O C Burke CC Stwdss Ashendorf Stwdss Simonson
Dead Head
EDBB-EDBT
STD 2250 STA 2310
ATD 2210 ATA 2227
TOW 29432 FOB 4500
Nil Pax
Captain R Warnock F/O C Burke