Aircraft and balloons
Homemade balloons and microlight aircraft flown over the Wall.
The records on this site for the air are few, and most date from the 1980s. Winfried Freudenberg built a gas balloon about 13 metres high from polyethylene sheeting, took off alone shortly after 2 a.m. on 8 March 1989 and was killed when it came down in Zehlendorf about five hours later. The Chronik der Mauer counts him as the last refugee to die at the Berlin Wall.1
The earliest case was not a flight over the border at all: on 27 September 1961 two US Army helicopters flew seven refugees out of Steinstücken, a West Berlin exclave surrounded by the GDR. Twice a Polish airliner bound for Schönefeld was forced down in West Berlin instead, at Tegel in October 1969 and at Tempelhof in August 1978.
Home-built aircraft came in the 1980s. Two men carried two hang gliders onto the roof of a Leipziger Straße tower block in October 1984 and gave up because of the wind; a toolmaker took off in a motorised hang glider near Potsdam in December 1986 and had to land again inside the GDR. An 18-year-old on his second solo flight landed a light aircraft at the British airfield at Gatow in July 1987. On 26 May 1989 two brothers who had already fled flew two microlights, painted in olive camouflage with red stars, from West Berlin over the Wall; one landed in Treptower Park to collect their youngest brother, and both came down in front of the Reichstag.
Sources for this text
- FAQs – 36 Fragen und AntwortenChronik der Mauer
Checked October 2026. Facts taken from an escape record on this site link to that record, which lists its own sources.
11 events: 5 successful escapes, 4 failed attempts and 2 fatal attempts. At least 14 people reached the West in these events.
Related methods: window jumps, over the wall, ziplines and cables
27 September 1961
US Army helicopters fly seven refugees out of Steinstücken
Seven people who had slipped into the tiny West Berlin exclave of Steinstücken were flown out to West Berlin in two US Army helicopters.
19 October 1969
Two East Germans force a Polish airliner to land at Tegel
Two young East Germans forced the pilots of a Polish Ilyushin 18, flying from Warsaw to East Berlin, to land at Tegel in the French sector of West Berlin, where they asked for political asylum.
10 March 1970
Christel and Eckhard Wehage's attempted hijacking of an Interflug plane
A young couple tried to force an Interflug An-24 on a domestic flight to fly to Hanover. The crew secretly turned back to Schönefeld; as the plane landed, Christel and Eckhard Wehage took their own lives.
30 August 1978
LOT Flight 165: East Germans divert a Polish airliner to Tempelhof
When a plan to leave via Poland with forged papers fell through, two East Germans hijacked the LOT airliner flying from Gdańsk to East Berlin-Schönefeld and forced it down at Tempelhof in West Berlin.
24 October 1984
Two hang gliders on a tower-block roof in the Leipziger Straße
Two men carried two home-built hang gliders up to the roof of a Leipziger Straße tower block, changed the lock on the roof door and tried to launch towards West Berlin. The wind was wrong, they gave up and left, leaving the gliders behind.
27 October 1984
A window cleaner's hang glider, carried to night practice by public transport
A 26-year-old glass and building cleaner built two hang gliders, practised at night on the edge of Berlin and scouted the Leipziger Straße tower blocks as a launch site. A tip from the public about glider parts stored in an attic led to his arrest.
19 November 1986
Volkmar Kienöl and Klaus Kuschmierz try to glide to the Springer building
Two young men spent a night on the roof of a Leipziger Straße tower block beside two home-made hang gliders, planning to land in front of the Axel Springer building in West Berlin just 200 metres away. They came down short of the Wall.
20 December 1986
Failed motorised hang-glider escape near Potsdam
A 37-year-old toolmaker took off in a home-built motorised hang glider towards West Berlin, but poor visibility, disorientation and the cold forced him down in the GDR.
15 July 1987
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.
8 March 1989
Winfried Freudenberg's fatal gas balloon flight
The last refugee to die at the Berlin Wall, as the Chronik der Mauer counts it: Winfried Freudenberg crossed into West Berlin in a home-made natural-gas balloon but was killed when it came down in Zehlendorf.
26 May 1989
Ultralight flight from Treptower Park to the Reichstag
Two brothers who had already fled flew ultralight aircraft from West Berlin to Treptower Park at dawn; one landed to pick up their brother Egbert, and both aircraft came down in front of the Reichstag.
