Flugplatz Johannisthal was one of Germany’s first commercial airfields when it opened to the public in September 1909. It is known to some as the birthplace of heavier-than-air flight in Germany since airplanes were first used there.
We passed by bike a few times on our way to Adlershof, and we always wondered what it would look like from inside the fences. We knew about the abandoned Flugplatz Johannisthal for years and even tried to find our way a few years ago. Still, we only made it in early January 2021.
It was with some surprise that we found out how much this place looked like a destroyed wasteland, even though there was a police station just across from the main building.
Before we share some of the pictures we took of Flugplatz Johannisthal as a lost place, we have to tell you some of the histories of this place. Maybe you will understand better why we believe it’s so sad to see it as the wasteland it is today.
How the Flugplatz Johannisthal started
Located between Johannisthal and Adlershof, in what used to be the outskirts of Berlin, the airfield opened as Motorflugplatz Johannisthal-Adlershof. The name connected with the fact that this was the place for powered flights.
This happened because the German Army at the time didn’t want to see hangars being built at the parade grounds on Tempelhof. Before the airport was built, the area was used as a training field for the German Army. Only in the 1920s did construction start for the airport, and it became Flughafen Berlin-Tempelhof.
Berlin had some history with flights since Otto Lilienthal, a German aviation pioneer, undertook his first gliding experiments on an artificial hill called Fliegeberg.
This place is called Lilienthal Park and can be visited in Lichterfelde.
Returning to Flugplatz Johannisthal, the airfield opened in September 1909 and was the second commercial airfield in Germany. Only the August-Euler airfield in Darmstadt since it opened a year before, in October 1908.
Before the First World War, the Flugplatz Johannisthal had two large airship hangars by Zeppelin and Parseval. Also, a grandstand fitted more than two thousand visitors who used to flock to the area to see the airplanes landing.
This was so popular that the airfield became an international attraction, with people visiting Berlin to watch the planes fly. This tourism helped finance it even though many people jumped the surrounding fences.
Many of the first aviation events in Germany happened at Flugplatz Johannisthal. The first cross-country flight over Germany ended on the airfield when Hubert Latham landed on September 27, 1909. The first Deutschlandflug occurred there as well.
Also, the worst accident in airship travel at the time happened at Flugplatz Johannisthal in October 1913 when a Zeppelin caught fire and crashed, killing 28 people.
The first continuous flight lasting more than 24 hours also occurred there with Reinhold Böhm in July 1914. Another first was Amelie Beese, who trained there and became the first German woman to earn a pilot’s license.
When the First World War started, the airfield became a military operation. The entire area was used as an industrial park for surveillance and combat aircraft in different plants. The production at Flugplatz Johannisthal was so massive that over 25% of the 48,000 planes produced for the war came from there.
After the war’s end, Flugplatz Johannisthal was used for airmail between Berlin and Weimar, the location of the National Assembly in the Weimar Republic. Passenger service followed later, and German President Friedrich Ebert seemed one of the first guests.
Everything changed for Flugplatz Johannisthal in 1923 when Tempelhof opened as an airport. After that, it was only used as a military airfield. This included some secret tests for the rearmament of Germany during the Nazi era.
After the Second World War, the airport was operated by the Soviet Air Force and completely closed to the outside public. They moved to Berlin-Schönefeld Airport in 1952, and Flugplatz Johannisthal was later used by the East German National People’s Army as a military training ground.
During those years, the Academy of Sciences of the GDR moved to the south side of the airfield. It employed more than five thousand researchers, scientists, and technicians. Today, a part of the area is known as the Aerodynamic Park. It is a part of the Humboldt University campus in Berlin.
Also, from 1950 to 1991, VEB Kühlautomat Berlin used the area to make refrigerators and air compressors, which is a little unusual for us.
flugplatz johannisthal lost place
The Flugplatz Johannisthal was closed in 1995, and the area was split into three large zones. The abandoned site is on the north side of the airfield with the large hangar and the wasteland.
The landing strips became the Landscape Park Johannisthal/Adlershof, a conservation area and a park with some amenities. You can see the Aerodynamic Park and some new buildings in the south.
This exciting place to explore is still abandoned in the middle of Berlin. But be careful since many buildings have seen better days and a police station across the street.
Flugplatz Johannisthal as a Lost Place: Exploring Germany’s first commercial airfield
Arthur-Müller-Straße 24, 12487
Berlin
If you are interested in what we wrote about other abandoned airports and airfields around Berlin, you will love to read about the Flugplatz Oranienburg, Flugplatz Rangsdorf, and Flugplatz Brand.
