15 July 1987 · Aircraft and balloons
18-year-old flies a light aircraft from Potsdam to RAF Gatow
On only his second solo flight, 18-year-old Thomas K. took off in a single-engine plane south of Potsdam and landed at the British airfield in Gatow.
Thomas K., 18, was unhappy with the political system in East Germany and wanted to join relatives in West Germany. He was learning to fly at an airfield south of Potsdam.
On 15 July 1987, on what was only his second solo flight, he flew a single-engine aircraft across the border and landed at the British military airfield at Gatow in West Berlin. According to the Chronik der Mauer, he got under all Soviet and East German radar controls.
The aircraft itself was later returned: British military personnel handed it back on the Glienicke Bridge on 5 August 1987.
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