Reading "Last Flight from Tempelhof"

I’m about halfway through the book “Last Flight from Tempelhof,” which was written by one of my former Air Force linguist colleagues. If you are reading this post on the blog, I’ve put a link to the book’s Amazon page in the right hand column. You can read more about the plot of the book there, since I don’t want to spoil it. But I thought I would put up a note about the experience of reading it so far.

Basically a detective story, the book moves along at a very entertaining pace. To folks that were stationed at Tempelhof (I overlapped with the author there in the early ‘80’s), there are pleasant reminders of some fond memories, both on- and off-base. I’m posting some photos here with images of some of these memories.

First, here is a map of the building, recovered from an old base phone book. In the book, D. Mitchell Lindemann spends some time describing the design of the building and its shape – that of a soaring eagle, a symbol of Germany and of National Socialism. The building was designed and built during the Nazi era, conceptually the airport for the emerging capital of Europe.
In a scene from the book, the lead character walks through the arcade area, past the shops and other amenities that were together in this area, near one of the dormitories (in the Air Force, we had dorms, not barracks).

In another scene, the character visits a nearby restaurant called Columbus – it was a favorite for its Italian cuisine and the friendliness of the wait staff. I have two photos posted of the neighborhood near Columbus, which was only a couple of blocks off the base. One is a street sign from near there, the other is a photo of some of the stores, shops, and cafes on the other side of the block from Columbus – in fact, a beer joint called “Snoopy’s” is in one of these doorways.

There was a sidewalk terrace at Columbus, fine for a summertime pasta dinner with a nice Warsteiner to accompany it. Anytime you went there, you could count on an aperitif of flaming Sambucca after dinner, which was something that would stay pleasantly with you for the cold walk back to base on a winter’s night. They also had a back room that could host about 20 people; once, my aunt stopped by on her way to Saudi Arabia and joined a bunch of my friends there for a meal during the holidays.

I went looking for Columbus during my 1995 visit to Berlin – on the way to Kiev, I took a four-day layover in the city. The restaurant was closed, and I guess that may be because the base was closed. However, all of the signs for it were still there. Again in 2001, when my wife and I visited for ten days, we went by the place and the signs were still up. Just yesterday, we talked about the possibility of a vacation there next year…obligatorily, I will walk up and down all of these familiar blocks again; that is a guarantee.

So back to Lindemann. When he first contacted our alumni group about the book, one of the features he mentioned is the setting and that it might bring back some memories. For me, that’s definitely the case. I don’t normally go out for detective stories, but I have picked them up from time to time for a change of pace, and that’s what I’m getting here in “Last Flight from Tempelhof.” I’m having a good time reading it, and for my fellow Berlin “alumni,” or anyone wanting a little taste of the Cold War life in Berlin, I’m happy to recommend it.

Note, I accumulated these photos from various websites over the years – I have no intention of violating copyrights – if you recognize them as your own, please let me know. We’ll make it right by giving you credit for them.