Berlin's Historic Tempelhof Airport Closing

An undated file photo shows Berlin children sitting on a fence of the Tempelhof airport watching a...

An undated file photo shows Berlin children sitting on a fence of the Tempelhof airport watching a so called 'Raisin Bomber' approaching for landing. During the Berlin Airlift allied forces flew a total of 278.228 transport flights to supply the about two million people in the West sectors of the city during the Soviet blockade in 1948/49. Tempelhof Airport is due to close on Thursday, Oct. 30, 2008. (AP Photo/File)

(AP)

Tempelhof Airport has been many things to Berlin — a lifeline to German areas cut off after World War I, a center of the city's defense in World War II, and the hub of the airlift that ensured West Berlin's survival during the Cold War.

But for 85 years, it has always been an airport.

That will change Thursday, when the last flights leave and Tempelhof is officially closed. The future of the 900-acre (365 hectare) site is uncertain.

Proposals have included turning the airfield and building — one of the biggest in the world, protected as a historical landmark — into a luxury spa, some condos, a museum, a park, a trade center or even the centerpiece of a new Olympic bid.

"Tempelhof is nothing more and nothing less than the cradle of aviation," said Ralf Kunkel, a spokesman for Berlin's airports. "A very big and important chapter of European aviation is going to end."

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Berlin Mayor Klaus Wowereit, who heads a left-wing coalition that includes ex-communists, has been trying to close Tempelhof for years despite fierce opposition from the conservative opposition and citizens' groups.

The city also plans to close its biggest airport, Tegel, and route all flights to a new hub just outside the city, which is being created by expanding the former East Berlin's Schoenefeld airport.

"The next chapter has already begun," Kunkel said. "Right now we are building a new airport for the German capital ... to be opened in 2011."

But many still question the wisdom of closing down centrally located Tempelhof, even as other cities like London have built new city airports in recent years.

In an April referendum, 60.2 percent voted in favor of keeping the historic airport open, but only 21.7 percent of Berlin's 2.4 million voters turned out — below the minimum required to make the ballot valid.

Karin von Wysiecki was evacuated by the British from Tempelhof in 1948 as a six-year-old to stay with relatives in Hannover after the Soviets blockaded West Berlin.