@@NiklasVWWVhe falsely claimed that the german panzer museum sold a Tiger I to a collector and replaced the exhibit with a 1:1 replica. From what I recall, the museum had in fact loaned the Tiger from the collector and had to return it. I think u can do a quick search of something like "mark felton false claims" and it should come up.
@@NiklasVWWVHe claimed that Avro Lancasters, black ones, were ready to fly from the island of Tinian as backups for the atomic bombing missions of Hiroshima and Nagasaki, just in case something went wrong with the B-29. Greg's Airplanes and Automobiles did an over a 30 minute video detailing why that claim is bogus, and unlike Mark, he actually cites sources. A lot of them, in fact. ua-cam.com/video/gKB-oqdoduw/v-deo.htmlsi=IgdGBKawlsdqWsiK
As a student I flew from Schonefeld - East Berlin to Baghdad via Damascus in 1971. We travelled to west Berlin from London by train, then a bus across the wall from a secret rendevous. The flight in the Il-18 was comfortable with generous service from friendly crew. Surprisingly good memories. Airport seem relaxed and easy going
Hur-hur..."secret" rendezvous 🤣. Just as well you had the security clearance to have access to the information or you'd have missed the flight 🤔👍. Seriously though, did you walk through a checkpoint onto the bus, or was it a charter from Interflug with a "trusted" Stasi bus driver which came into West Berlin to pick you up from the "secret location" (🤣) 👍+1
As an impecunious student, Eastern Bloc airlines, particularly Interflug and Lot, opened up the wider world to me. As another non-German speaker, I much appreciate such accessible information about the DDR
I flew Interflug from London Gatwick to Dresden in December 1989 and back in January 1990. The flights were good and the service excellent. The food was very fresh and meals were prepared on the plane. It was a most interesting experience.
I have an Interflug in-flight magazine from 1990. In the presentation of the fleet, it is mentioned that several Boeing B737-500s are planned to be put into service, primarily in a lease system.
At the end of its operations, Interflug began modernizing its fleet by buying Western jets. Before it was shut down, the airline managed to get an Airbus A310 which after the fell of the Berlin Wall, the plane was acquired by the Luftwaffe as VIP transport carrying the Chancellor
@@Kuricang31 Yes, I know, in 1988, the three own A310s entered the fleet. Thus, there was a short period of time when it was still possible to buy a relatively cheap flight ticket to Cuba from the COMECON or CMEA countries with a Schönefeld transfer on board a Western type.
Thank goodness they didn't trade as InterFlug for much longer than that, then! 😳 I would *never* want to see an InterFlug engineer put through the living hell of having to maintain a Boeing aircraft... 😉
Mein Fluglehrer war ein ehemaliger Interflug-Captain. Einige haben aus kleinen Agrar-Flugplätzen Landeplätze für Hobbyflieger gemacht, andere sind Fluglehrer geworden. Vielen Dank für den guten Bericht!
Back in the late 70's I flew Interflug from Berlin to Vienna on a Tu-134. Very interesting from the moment a bus picked us up from a street corner in West Berlin to Schonenfeld Airport. Going thru immigration at the airport was kinda scary. You stepped in after a metal door opened (then closed), showed your documents to the border patrol officer and then another door opened to the departure area. It was filled and a lot of black people (African) in there also. The GDR had a lot of missions/training in the African continent at that time. There were a couple of border police with machine guns as we approched the aircraft so kinda scary. Found my seat and then a flight attendent placed a large suitcase in the the seat next to me and tied it down with the seatbelt. Interesting about not having a trolley on board as the flight attendent carried food boxes stacked on top of one another. Barely could see his face. All in all it was a good flight including one passenger accidently spilling his beer on a russian lady behind him. One thing though, I never saw a smile on anyones face from the police to the ticket counter to the flight attendents. Thank you for another great video.
@@DirtyRocha My only day in DDR East Berlin was in April 82, aged 21, with a German language student friend: Checkpoint Charlie (25 Ostmark for 25 DM each). Walk to Alexanderplatz, passing badly damaged historical architecture, then S-Bahn straight to Köpenick on a whim (we'd studied "Der Hauptmann Von Köpenick" at university). Just opposite Köpenick station was a big Kermes so we spent all our Ostmark eating Bratwurst and drinking beer all day, buying rounds for the FDJ girls. Bloody marvellous day 👍👍. Back to Checkpoint Charlie totally drunk just after sundown. We were well behaved but not as scared as in the morning. I exchanged a few letters with the prettiest girl but realised it might be harming her family, as all post would be read in both directions. 🤔
@@andrewrobinson2565 Seems you had a much better time, as for me I was about 8 years old, we flew Mexico-Havana-Berlin and then back, the experience we had with the VoPo's was mainly at Schönefeld, where those pesky passport controls seemed to be endless...... wouldn't be surprised if they even dared to asked the color of our underwear.....*sigh*
I was a kid, but, I vaguely remember Shonefeld airport as dark and grey. That's all I remember. I don't remember restaurants or coffee bars. It was also empty airport.
I remember once standing at a bus stop in East Berlin in 1983 and there was a railway bridge over the street with a big advert for Interflug on it. I asked myself how many of the people standing around me could ever hope to get onto one of those flights.
West Berliners using that GDR bus to Schönefeld were not very well received in West Berlin. People didn't tell anyone that they used it. Part of the problem in Berlin was that only flag carriers of the allies were allowed to land and take off in Berlin. So flying to somewhere from West Berlin always meant an expensive flight by Air France, British Airways or PanAm to Paris, London or Frankfurt - and from there the usual flight then. That added cost. In Schönefeld those Western tourists with western currency were put into special high class bars and waiting areas to pull even more Western currency and to prevent communication with normal GDR residents.
Add on: KLM was one of the few Western flag carriers (Netherlands) to land directly at Schönefeld. The terminal area for this flight to Amsterdam was secured like a prison. There were also Interflug flights to Sweden in the same area of the terminal. Sweden had some treaties and sold Volvos to high earners and the government in GDR. Cubana was also an exotic vacation flight to Cuba for Apparatschiks.
Though plenty did it, it was so cheap. DDR got a lot of hard currency that way. I got my ticket from the travel agent on US base. I was allowed to because I was out of the army when I flew
The GDR's provincial cities had flights to Soviet and Eastern European cities and vacation resorts. Dresden and Leipzig had flights by Interflug, Bulgarian, Hungarian and Soviet airlines. Erfurt had Interflug and Soviet Aeroflot. In the summer there could be 18 flights a day between Bulgaria and the GDR.
I have been eagerly awaiting this episode on Interflug. It was very interesting and enjoyable. Thank you for taking the time to put this together. The last time I was in Berlin I was amazed to find an old Interflug sign still being displayed in the village of Glasow. I was heading for Waßmannsdorf Station and came across the Kleingartenverein Interflug. Amazing what old East German remnants you come across when you least expect it!
Very interesting . When I came to live in Paris in 1987 the Interflug office was on the Champs Elysées . I used to visit it just to collect the flight schedules , as was my won't back then .
Travelled in 1986 with Interflug from Amsterdam via Berlin to Istanbul. Amazed by the high frequency of flight between Istanbul and Berlin. Interflug made a lot of money by bringing refugees from the middle east to east Berlin, who wanted to go to West Berlin.
This is only slightly connected to your video, but I think possibly interesting. When I was a student in Moscow in the late 1960s and later in the 1970s, I found myself a number of times in both the old and later the new Sheremetyevo airports, where I was struck by a particularly emetic way of announcing flight arrrivals and departures from certain countries. Flights to and from the GDR (both Interflug and Aeroflot) were always called “Friendship Flights”, e.g. - ‘Announcing the arrival of Interflug flight 123 Friendship Flight from Berlin…’. Flights to and from Cuba also received similar treatment in that the words Isle of Freedom (Остров свободы) was obligatorily included in the announcement. As with all things Soviet, it was simple enough to know the opposite was true.
In 2007, I flew in and out of Sheremetyevo on Lufthansa, and not much appeared to have changed. My journal at the time reads: "I arrived back at the Sheremetyevo airport early for my return, which wiped away the patina of bling-bling New Russia and brought one right back to CCCP Russia. I had a lunch at a restaurant decorated with signs advertising “hard liguor [sic] and cigarettes” where the menu included a full page of the cigarette selections longer than the available food. I ordered a tomato juice, and they brought out a glass of what appeared to be the result of two tomatoes placed in a Waring blender, which instantly separated into a two-toned science experiment. Yum. Everyone knows that they put terrible things in hot dogs and hamburgers worldwide, but the cheeseburger I ordered was one where you could taste all of them, even after slaking it with a gravy boat of ketchup clearly dating from the Yeltsin regime. The duty-free shop had something called “Kalashnikov Vodka” that came in a life-sized glass AK-47. I passed." I wonder what it’s like now.
An excellent video, Olaf. They get better and better. It's not easy to communicate a lot of technical information without it seeming dry, but your lively presentation skills and really excellent graphics mean there is no danger of that here.
Your videos are getting more and more professional and interesting! I flew an Interflug TU134 from Frankfurt operating for LH It was in 1990. Inteflug aircraft started operating FRA-LEJ Leipzig with a Lufthansa flight number after the Wall came down. I asked for "Bacardi and Coke" I got a black coffee. I was at the front. Walking down to the back - the noise of those rear-mounted turbine engines....wow!
"You can't be a real country unless you have a beer and an airline - it helps if you have some kind of football team, or some nuclear weapons, but in the very least you need a beer" - Frank Zappa
Olaf, thank you so much for this channel. I’m an American who shares your fascination with the DDR. I was lucky enough to visit the country in June 1989. (Detail: I went there by train from Amsterdam to West Berlin and transfered to the U-Bahn and arrived into East Berlin at Friedrichstraße.) Ever since when I return to that part of Germany I am always seeking sites to visit like you have profiled. It is delightful we can all find each other here!
What a wonderful video! I still remember these airplanes when I was in the GDR in 1986 and 1990. The MiG's and Su's of the LSK/LV and the beautiful aircraft of Interflug. And the smell... And the WW2 Autobahns. And...
Ah, the memories. As a kid in the first half of the '60s, I flew on IL-18-s several times from Budapest to London (and the other way) ... not Inteflug of course, Malév. Much later, in the second half of the '80-s I had to make several work trips from Hungary to West-Berlin. To save money, my institute had me flying Interflug from Budapest to Schönefeld and take the shuttle bus from there to West Berlin. (I don't remember where the stop was. I tried asking Chat-GPT, but it didn't know either). This was actually fast and convenient with minimal checks to get on the bus.
Well done!👍 Thank you so much. As I started my enthusiasm hobby of civil aviation INTERFLUG was my precious spot in East Berlin! Hours and hours I viewed the traffic in SXF (Flughafen Berlin Schönefeld). In 1978 I flew IL-18 first time. It was a bumpy flight but all further flight has gone smooth. The seats are simple but more comfy than some eco-seats nowadays. I flew Tu-134A and IL-62M as well and loved it! The destroying of INTERFLUG and certainly of BERLIN have political reasons and a decision to clear the market in my opinion. How could it be easier for other airlines to take slots and rights in other counties and airports for less money and awaiting millions of passengers. The people of the GDR wanted too visit the world soon after unification…. The books you recommended are interesting for sure! Thank you one more and good luck for your channel! All the best! Joerg
I assume it was economics. Businesspeople make decisions based on Business reasons, even though Lufthansa was government owned. Clear the market Im sure. Plus the govt didnt see need to or could afford overhead of extra personnel and old non IAEA sanctioned equipment. Yes too bad. Maybe it could've been s low cost alternate branch .
Several of Interflug’s TU-134 aircraft were sold to Vietnam Airlines after liquidation. Vietnam Airlines flew them until a major crash in Phnom Penh involving a TU-134 occurred in 1997, prompting the airline to ground and eventually retire its Soviet fleet in favor of Western-built equipment.
I flew from Singapore to Berlin with a refueling-stop in Dubai on an IL-62M. Then on a TU-134 to Copenhagen. This was back in May 1989, great flights and memories!
Thank you for another brilliant video. I don't speak German so my access to content about the DDR is limited. For this reason I especially appreciate your content.
I used to watch East Germany (DEFA?) made TV series (film) about their pilots and flight attendants in the 1980s on Mongolian TV. Handsome actors and beautiful actresses' play roles about problems of their lives and jobs, romance between them, flying to Cuba etc. I wish I knew the name of the TV series.
Another excellent video; thank you! I appreciate your research and accuracy. As a fan of airline history and aviation, especially Eastern Europe, I have always been a fan of Interflug. In the early 1970s, I wrote to them requesting a timetable and other information. I received a wonderful envelope filled with brochures and even a lapel pin with the Interflug logo. Interestingly, the envelope had been opened by someone en route. I still wonder on which side of the Atlantic that occured!
Interesting and informative, almost impeccable English and excellent German pronunciation. I had many experiences in the GDR but never flew on Interflug.
4:58 - Great shades of Elvis, that tailoring. The flight attendants' uniforms look OK, but what even are those trousers? They're not flares, but at the same time, somehow they're not _not_ flares. The gentleman fourth from the right, in particular, is a good 10 centimeters shorter than his pants were expecting him to be.
The A310s are interesting, that deal was mostly done by Franz Josef Strauss a passionate pilot, bavarian governor (so it's a good match that they named the new Munich airport to his honor) and chairman of the Airbus Corporation but also controversial, he was an anticommunist and had a bunch of corruption scandals. They needed this long-haul airplane for a flight route to Havanna on Cuba, before that they used IL-62s but these couldn't do that nonstop and they had to refuel in Gander, Newfoundland and on that occasion, the passengers could leave the plane and some didn't return, the Interflug A310 got an additional 7200-litre tank so they were able to fly the direct route to Havanna, but they also used it for Beijing and Singapore. The pilots got training (which was a little difficult because the planes they were flying until then had flight decks with 3-5 men, pilot, first officer, flight engineer, navigator and radio operator) but maintenance was scheduled to be done by Lufthansa Technik and they plumbed parts of the electronics. However these three were delivered between June and October 1989, just months/weeks before the peaceful revolution, in May 1991 the Air Force took them over and used these for government services, the last one got just recently retired in September 2021 - it doesn't get scrapped but is planned to be converted into a restaurant in the Serengeti Park.
During the 1980s, Interflug had a good reputation compared to Soviet, Polish or Romanian airlines. I spent a lot of time traveling during the 1980s, and it was always an option to use Interflug. The main problem was to go to and return from Berlin and having to travel from West-Berlin to Schönefeld and back. I think the airline also improved over time. As a "proletarian airline" they didn't have first class or business class 😉
Hello and thank you for your amazing content! Will there be a video about kampfgruppen der arbeiterklasse? It's a very interesting organisation and it's curious how it functioned
Every once in a while the UA-cam algorithm finds me an interesting new channel. Today it was this one! Looking forward to working through some of your earlier videos.
fantastic video! Thank you for making this, Interflug is such a fascinating company, I have seen many advertising posters for them that were beautiful! Thank you
A very enlightening and well informed video on Interflug, are you planning to do a video on the Deutsche Reichsbahn (East German Railways) at all? I think it would be a very interesting one. Keep up the good work😊
that is the best Chanel about GDR so far. I watched all videos a several times. Beside I visited Berlin multiple times, thanks to your Videos I found more interesting things to see according to Cold War. Thanks and keep going!
Great video as always ❤. You make learning about the GDR compelling and interesting. Mind if I ask, were you born in the GDR? If I had to guess your age I’d say you were probably around 10 years old when the wall fell. I’d love to know. Have a great day!
Thanks for the insightful Interflug overview! The Baade 152/Pirna 014 (the DDR jet aircraft and engine that never made it to mass production after USSR intervention) story is fascinating and so directly linked to Erich Apel's frustrations (as an engineer who became the key economic reformer in the early 60s) that it could be a video all on its own.
One of the biggest problems in the airline industry as a whole is aircraft types and spares. I witnessed an Il-69 sit on the ramp at Dulles airport for 3 weeks before the parts showed up for repairs. That's 21 days of parking fees .. older Soviet airframes were generally not welcomed at major US airports especially busy ones like LAX of NYC
Interflug Flight 742 must have been so horrific for its passengers. It is refreshing to see that the Ilyushin IL-62 was able to safely transport its passengers and also to see how many in the video comments have such positive remarks about the airline and the aircraft.
I’m very surprised you didn’t cover Interflug “Lady Agnes” Ilyushin Il-62. It was one of the most dramatic landings at Stölln/Rhinow on grass. There is a video on UA-cam of this landing and several of my family are in it. The pilot, Heinz-Dieter Kallbach, landed the plane on October 23, 1989. The grass strip was extremely short. My cousin said his father told him some people expected a crash. The plane is now a museum. It was a thrill for me to visit the the plane near my mothers home village
Interesting fun fact: Interflug couldn't fly to London Heathrow, as the Britain never recognised the GDR. LOT ran a service on their behalf to Warsaw via East Berlin at the time.
There were some Interflug flights to Heathrow in the early 1970s. There was a Liepzig Trade Fair in September(?) and the DDR would not allow western airlines to operate flight to that destination. So, Interflug were allowed to operate flights (for about 1 week, maybe 10 days?) to London-Heathrow. I think that these flights would now be considered as 'charter flights'. I cannot remember who handled them at Heathrow.
@@garethaethwy I stand to be corrected. DDR was recognised in 1973 it seems, but British military based in West Berlin, who crossed the border to East Germany never recognised DDR military men, and asked for a Soviet soldier if they were stopped by a DDR patrol, which was British Forces procedure. As for Interflugs scheduled flights, there were not allowed by the UK govt.
@@johnsbox Ah, now you're talking about something different completely... The 3 Western Powers never recognised East Berlin as part of the DDR, they considered it a city still under occupation, therefore only the Soviet military had any jurisdiction over Western service people, diplomats, officials, etc, hence there being special lanes for military traffic crossing the border at Checkpoints Alpha, Bravo, & Charlie. Apart from the autobahn between Checkpoints Alpha & Bravo which formed the transit route between BRD & West Berlin, the DDR authorities had jurisdiction. But then, I don't think Western officials etc were allowed to holiday etc to the DDR.
Thanks mate ❤. I lived in Berlin 1989 before wall came down and to this day is still pi ssed I never went out to schonefeld to fly interflug. It was a wonderful time of my life as an Aussie living in Berlin that time . Danke ❤ from downunder 😂
Very interesting video, I can't remember seeing any of their planes on the tarmac at Dubai int airport back in the day. But I had a picture of their aircraft, I think it was in my copy of 'Janes Civilian Aircraft'. As a follow up a video about the first DDR jet airliner would be good. That jetliner would have been designed and built by ex-Blohm&Voss/FockeWulf/Messershmitt/Donier/Jumo/BMW engineers and technicians. Some brilliant talent there. ✈
I got out of the US ARMY BERLIN in 1June 85. A week later I flew out of Schonefeld to Greece. Had to cross the border checkpoint and then walk to the airport. Place looked like a bus station lol. Flew on the big Interflug Soviet IL 62. Took off like a rocket. Three things I noticed- the overhead baggage racks had webbing and not doors, the windows crackled as we were ascending, and there were NO OXYGEN MASKS. But it was a great flight, and I took it instead of the other East Bloc airlines because despite it being communist, IT WAS GERMAN.
It's visible on the map at 12:36 but not mentioned that Schoenefeld Airport was built just outside Berlin's city limits so it could serve as Interflug's hub. The original Four-Power Agreements dictated that only the Allied nations' flag carriers could fly to or from Berlin, those being Pan Am, British (European) Airways, Air France and Aeroflot. That technically remained in force until reunification.
Gatow, Tegel and Templehof were to be replaced by an international airport outside Berlin, I think an expnded Schoenefeld. There have been major problems with this project, good subject for another presentation.
Still now in my collection Pillow cover tablets in flight magazine timetable and sticker Good items to remember from former if 2 letter IATA code Thks for posting❤
Am I correct, sir, that you have a Dutch rather than a German accent when you speak English? This video has corrected a visual error I've had for 40 years. I was waiting for you to get to Interflug's L1011... and waited, and waited... It was then I realized the L1011 belonged to LTU! Same reddish colour in the livery!
My German ex-girlfriend spoke to a Interflug crew on the runway at Hanoi Airport in 1984. They flew twice a week from East Berlin to Hanoi. Interflug had no money to pay for crew's accommodation in Hanoi, so the crew slept on the plane and washed their clothes in the hand basins in the plane. They hung a clothes line under the plane to dry their clothes.
My German ex-girlfriend plane was parked at the end of the runway next to an Interflug plane. No service vehicles approached the plane. Instead, 20 Vietnamese women with straw brooms on their shoulders and mounted on bicycles pedaled down the runway. When they reached her CSA plane, they leaned their bicycles against the wheels of the plane. They climbed into the plane and swept it out with their straw brooms.@@larrybxl5406
To be perfectly honest, when I saw first saw the red accented livery of Interflug, I thought that Interflug and Air Berlin (which also had a red accented livery) are related...but nope different airlines. But I am seeing a trend where airlines which are based in Berlin (Lufthansa is based in Frankfurt IIRC) are doomed to failure..... Anyway, great video...
I flew on Interflug IL-62. Berlin Shonefeld to Syria via Cyprus. It was like any other plane to be honest, and service was nice too. That's as much as I remember. As for Shonefeld airport, I don't remember much apart from the fact it was very dark and grey. On arrival to Syria airport, it had full of security and they were very paranoid at the time. I did not like Syria and was glad we left after a few days.
7:40 It actually needs a roof, not paint and brushes. I am just appalled at historic airplanes parked outside and decaying in horrendous conditions, not just here, but around the world.
The Mark Felton of East Germany, haha. Very good channel! I was born in GdR in 1978.
Poor comparison, Felton talks a lot of fake history bs, this guy is for real with his info.
@@Crabby303please name some false things Felton has said?
@@NiklasVWWVhe falsely claimed that the german panzer museum sold a Tiger I to a collector and replaced the exhibit with a 1:1 replica. From what I recall, the museum had in fact loaned the Tiger from the collector and had to return it. I think u can do a quick search of something like "mark felton false claims" and it should come up.
@@NiklasVWWVHe claimed that Avro Lancasters, black ones, were ready to fly from the island of Tinian as backups for the atomic bombing missions of Hiroshima and Nagasaki, just in case something went wrong with the B-29. Greg's Airplanes and Automobiles did an over a 30 minute video detailing why that claim is bogus, and unlike Mark, he actually cites sources. A lot of them, in fact. ua-cam.com/video/gKB-oqdoduw/v-deo.htmlsi=IgdGBKawlsdqWsiK
LOL! But Mark Felton blinks, right?
As a student I flew from Schonefeld - East Berlin to Baghdad via Damascus in 1971. We travelled to west Berlin from London by train, then a bus across the wall from a secret rendevous. The flight in the Il-18 was comfortable with generous service from friendly crew. Surprisingly good memories. Airport seem relaxed and easy going
The ZOB was a secret? And yes SXF (now BER) was relaxed because it was empty!
What an incredible experience ❤
@@erik_griswold
Yes, I do remember that it was empty Shonefeld
Hur-hur..."secret" rendezvous 🤣. Just as well you had the security clearance to have access to the information or you'd have missed the flight 🤔👍.
Seriously though, did you walk through a checkpoint onto the bus, or was it a charter from Interflug with a "trusted" Stasi bus driver which came into West Berlin to pick you up from the "secret location" (🤣) 👍+1
Can you remember what you had for dinner on the plane?
As an impecunious student, Eastern Bloc airlines, particularly Interflug and Lot, opened up the wider world to me. As another non-German speaker, I much appreciate such accessible information about the DDR
I flew Interflug from London Gatwick to Dresden in December 1989 and back in January 1990. The flights were good and the service excellent. The food was very fresh and meals were prepared on the plane. It was a most interesting experience.
I have an Interflug in-flight magazine from 1990. In the presentation of the fleet, it is mentioned that several Boeing B737-500s are planned to be put into service, primarily in a lease system.
At the end of its operations, Interflug began modernizing its fleet by buying Western jets. Before it was shut down, the airline managed to get an Airbus A310 which after the fell of the Berlin Wall, the plane was acquired by the Luftwaffe as VIP transport carrying the Chancellor
@@Kuricang31 Yes, I know, in 1988, the three own A310s entered the fleet. Thus, there was a short period of time when it was still possible to buy a relatively cheap flight ticket to Cuba from the COMECON or CMEA countries with a Schönefeld transfer on board a Western type.
Thank goodness they didn't trade as InterFlug for much longer than that, then! 😳
I would *never* want to see an InterFlug engineer put through the living hell of having to maintain a Boeing aircraft... 😉
Mein Fluglehrer war ein ehemaliger Interflug-Captain. Einige haben aus kleinen Agrar-Flugplätzen Landeplätze für Hobbyflieger gemacht, andere sind Fluglehrer geworden. Vielen Dank für den guten Bericht!
Back in the late 70's I flew Interflug from Berlin to Vienna on a Tu-134. Very interesting from the moment a bus picked us up from a street corner in West Berlin to Schonenfeld Airport. Going thru immigration at the airport was kinda scary. You stepped in after a metal door opened (then closed), showed your documents to the border patrol officer and then another door opened to the departure area. It was filled and a lot of black people (African) in there also. The GDR had a lot of missions/training in the African continent at that time.
There were a couple of border police with machine guns as we approched the aircraft so kinda scary. Found my seat and then a flight attendent placed a large suitcase in the the seat next to me and tied it down with the seatbelt. Interesting about not having a trolley on board as the flight attendent carried food boxes stacked on top of one another. Barely could see his face. All in all it was a good flight including one passenger accidently spilling his beer on a russian lady behind him. One thing though, I never saw a smile on anyones face from the police to the ticket counter to the flight attendents.
Thank you for another great video.
May I ask which Checkpoint did you exit West Berlin from? Amazing experience!
Same heree, the VoPo's were not exactly known for their friendly stance.
@@DirtyRocha My only day in DDR East Berlin was in April 82, aged 21, with a German language student friend: Checkpoint Charlie (25 Ostmark for 25 DM each). Walk to Alexanderplatz, passing badly damaged historical architecture, then S-Bahn straight to Köpenick on a whim (we'd studied "Der Hauptmann Von Köpenick" at university).
Just opposite Köpenick station was a big Kermes so we spent all our Ostmark eating Bratwurst and drinking beer all day, buying rounds for the FDJ girls.
Bloody marvellous day 👍👍. Back to Checkpoint Charlie totally drunk just after sundown. We were well behaved but not as scared as in the morning.
I exchanged a few letters with the prettiest girl but realised it might be harming her family, as all post would be read in both directions. 🤔
@@andrewrobinson2565 Seems you had a much better time, as for me I was about 8 years old, we flew Mexico-Havana-Berlin and then back, the experience we had with the VoPo's was mainly at Schönefeld, where those pesky passport controls seemed to be endless...... wouldn't be surprised if they even dared to asked the color of our underwear.....*sigh*
I was a kid, but, I vaguely remember Shonefeld airport as dark and grey. That's all I remember.
I don't remember restaurants or coffee bars. It was also empty airport.
I remember once standing at a bus stop in East Berlin in 1983 and there was a railway bridge over the street with a big advert for Interflug on it. I asked myself how many of the people standing around me could ever hope to get onto one of those flights.
As long as it was within East Bloc I thought Lots of vacations to Bulgaria I would assume.
@@clarencearnold2137 Who the hell wants to go to Bulgaria except for some cold war history etc?
@@michaelcraig9449 During the cold war, cities in the Bulgarian coast were one of the few tourist spots Warsaw pact citizens could afford
Love the channel. I feel like GDR is both the most overlooked and in many ways one of the most interesting eastern block countries
That title probably goes to communist Bulgaria
GDR overlooked? Next to the USSR, its probably the most covered eastern bloc country. I dont mind though, I find the GDR very interesting.
West Berliners using that GDR bus to Schönefeld were not very well received in West Berlin. People didn't tell anyone that they used it.
Part of the problem in Berlin was that only flag carriers of the allies were allowed to land and take off in Berlin. So flying to somewhere from West Berlin always meant an expensive flight by Air France, British Airways or PanAm to Paris, London or Frankfurt - and from there the usual flight then. That added cost.
In Schönefeld those Western tourists with western currency were put into special high class bars and waiting areas to pull even more Western currency and to prevent communication with normal GDR residents.
Add on: KLM was one of the few Western flag carriers (Netherlands) to land directly at Schönefeld. The terminal area for this flight to Amsterdam was secured like a prison. There were also Interflug flights to Sweden in the same area of the terminal. Sweden had some treaties and sold Volvos to high earners and the government in GDR. Cubana was also an exotic vacation flight to Cuba for Apparatschiks.
Though plenty did it, it was so cheap. DDR got a lot of hard currency that way. I got my ticket from the travel agent on US base. I was allowed to because I was out of the army when I flew
The GDR's provincial cities had flights to Soviet and Eastern European cities and vacation resorts. Dresden and Leipzig had flights by Interflug, Bulgarian, Hungarian and Soviet airlines. Erfurt had Interflug and Soviet Aeroflot.
In the summer there could be 18 flights a day between Bulgaria and the GDR.
I have been eagerly awaiting this episode on Interflug. It was very interesting and enjoyable. Thank you for taking the time to put this together.
The last time I was in Berlin I was amazed to find an old Interflug sign still being displayed in the village of Glasow. I was heading for Waßmannsdorf Station and came across the Kleingartenverein Interflug. Amazing what old East German remnants you come across when you least expect it!
Very interesting . When I came to live in Paris in 1987 the Interflug office was on the Champs Elysées . I used to visit it just to collect the flight schedules , as was my won't back then .
Sure the Stasi had pictures or video of you!
I do remember they had a small shop in Stockholm, Vasagatan. What I don’t remember is anyone being there. These days, the entire building is a hotel.
Travelled in 1986 with Interflug from Amsterdam via Berlin to Istanbul. Amazed by the high frequency of flight between Istanbul and Berlin. Interflug made a lot of money by bringing refugees from the middle east to east Berlin, who wanted to go to West Berlin.
This is only slightly connected to your video, but I think possibly interesting. When I was a student in Moscow in the late 1960s and later in the 1970s, I found myself a number of times in both the old and later the new Sheremetyevo airports, where I was struck by a particularly emetic way of announcing flight arrrivals and departures from certain countries. Flights to and from the GDR (both Interflug and Aeroflot) were always called “Friendship Flights”, e.g. - ‘Announcing the arrival of Interflug flight 123 Friendship Flight from Berlin…’. Flights to and from Cuba also received similar treatment in that the words Isle of Freedom (Остров свободы) was obligatorily included in the announcement. As with all things Soviet, it was simple enough to know the opposite was true.
In 2007, I flew in and out of Sheremetyevo on Lufthansa, and not much appeared to have changed. My journal at the time reads: "I arrived back at the Sheremetyevo airport early for my return, which wiped away the patina of bling-bling New Russia and brought one right back to CCCP Russia. I had a lunch at a restaurant decorated with signs advertising “hard liguor [sic] and cigarettes” where the menu included a full page of the cigarette selections longer than the available food. I ordered a tomato juice, and they brought out a glass of what appeared to be the result of two tomatoes placed in a Waring blender, which instantly separated into a two-toned science experiment. Yum. Everyone knows that they put terrible things in hot dogs and hamburgers worldwide, but the cheeseburger I ordered was one where you could taste all of them, even after slaking it with a gravy boat of ketchup clearly dating from the Yeltsin regime. The duty-free shop had something called “Kalashnikov Vodka” that came in a life-sized glass AK-47. I passed."
I wonder what it’s like now.
An excellent video, Olaf. They get better and better. It's not easy to communicate a lot of technical information without it seeming dry, but your lively presentation skills and really excellent graphics mean there is no danger of that here.
where is the double like button... keep it up. love it
Your videos are getting more and more professional and interesting!
I flew an Interflug TU134 from Frankfurt operating for LH
It was in 1990. Inteflug aircraft started operating FRA-LEJ Leipzig with a Lufthansa flight number after the Wall came down. I asked for "Bacardi and Coke" I got a black coffee.
I was at the front. Walking down to the back - the noise of those rear-mounted turbine engines....wow!
"You can't be a real country unless you have a beer and an airline - it helps if you have some kind of football team, or some nuclear weapons, but in the very least you need a beer" - Frank Zappa
a suggestion: could you do a video on the electronics industry in the DDR? This is one of my favourite channels, prost!
Thanks! This topic certainly is on my list.
Olaf, thank you so much for this channel. I’m an American who shares your fascination with the DDR. I was lucky enough to visit the country in June 1989. (Detail: I went there by train from Amsterdam to West Berlin and transfered to the U-Bahn and arrived into East Berlin at Friedrichstraße.) Ever since when I return to that part of Germany I am always seeking sites to visit like you have profiled. It is delightful we can all find each other here!
What a wonderful video! I still remember these airplanes when I was in the GDR in 1986 and 1990. The MiG's and Su's of the LSK/LV and the beautiful aircraft of Interflug. And the smell... And the WW2 Autobahns. And...
Ah, the memories. As a kid in the first half of the '60s, I flew on IL-18-s several times from Budapest to London (and the other way) ... not Inteflug of course, Malév. Much later, in the second half of the '80-s I had to make several work trips from Hungary to West-Berlin. To save money, my institute had me flying Interflug from Budapest to Schönefeld and take the shuttle bus from there to West Berlin. (I don't remember where the stop was. I tried asking Chat-GPT, but it didn't know either). This was actually fast and convenient with minimal checks to get on the bus.
Well done!👍 Thank you so much. As I started my enthusiasm hobby of civil aviation INTERFLUG was my precious spot in East Berlin! Hours and hours I viewed the traffic in SXF (Flughafen Berlin Schönefeld). In 1978 I flew IL-18 first time. It was a bumpy flight but all further flight has gone smooth. The seats are simple but more comfy than some eco-seats nowadays. I flew Tu-134A and IL-62M as well and loved it!
The destroying of INTERFLUG and certainly of BERLIN have political reasons and a decision to clear the market in my opinion. How could it be easier for other airlines to take slots and rights in other counties and airports for less money and awaiting millions of passengers. The people of the GDR wanted too visit the world soon after unification….
The books you recommended are interesting for sure!
Thank you one more and good luck for your channel!
All the best!
Joerg
I assume it was economics. Businesspeople make decisions based on Business reasons, even though Lufthansa was government owned. Clear the market Im sure. Plus the govt didnt see need to or could afford overhead of extra personnel and old non IAEA sanctioned equipment. Yes too bad. Maybe it could've been s low cost alternate branch .
Finished the book in less than a week, a great read. Thank you for the recommendation!
Several of Interflug’s TU-134 aircraft were sold to Vietnam Airlines after liquidation. Vietnam Airlines flew them until a major crash in Phnom Penh involving a TU-134 occurred in 1997, prompting the airline to ground and eventually retire its Soviet fleet in favor of Western-built equipment.
I flew from Singapore to Berlin with a refueling-stop in Dubai on an IL-62M. Then on a TU-134 to Copenhagen. This was back in May 1989, great flights and memories!
Thank you for another brilliant video. I don't speak German so my access to content about the DDR is limited. For this reason I especially appreciate your content.
I used to watch East Germany (DEFA?) made TV series (film) about their pilots and flight attendants in the 1980s on Mongolian TV. Handsome actors and beautiful actresses' play roles about problems of their lives and jobs, romance between them, flying to Cuba etc. I wish I knew the name of the TV series.
You are 💯 right there must be preventative conservation
It's original german title was "Treffpunkt Flughafen" (= Airport Meeting Point), and the series has even an English language Wikipedia entry.
@@randuru thanks
Another excellent video; thank you! I appreciate your research and accuracy. As a fan of airline history and aviation, especially Eastern Europe, I have always been a fan of Interflug. In the early 1970s, I wrote to them requesting a timetable and other information. I received a wonderful envelope filled with brochures and even a lapel pin with the Interflug logo. Interestingly, the envelope had been opened by someone en route. I still wonder on which side of the Atlantic that occured!
Interesting and informative, almost impeccable English and excellent German pronunciation. I had many experiences in the GDR but never flew on Interflug.
4:58 - Great shades of Elvis, that tailoring. The flight attendants' uniforms look OK, but what even are those trousers? They're not flares, but at the same time, somehow they're not _not_ flares. The gentleman fourth from the right, in particular, is a good 10 centimeters shorter than his pants were expecting him to be.
The A310s are interesting, that deal was mostly done by Franz Josef Strauss a passionate pilot, bavarian governor (so it's a good match that they named the new Munich airport to his honor) and chairman of the Airbus Corporation but also controversial, he was an anticommunist and had a bunch of corruption scandals.
They needed this long-haul airplane for a flight route to Havanna on Cuba, before that they used IL-62s but these couldn't do that nonstop and they had to refuel in Gander, Newfoundland and on that occasion, the passengers could leave the plane and some didn't return, the Interflug A310 got an additional 7200-litre tank so they were able to fly the direct route to Havanna, but they also used it for Beijing and Singapore.
The pilots got training (which was a little difficult because the planes they were flying until then had flight decks with 3-5 men, pilot, first officer, flight engineer, navigator and radio operator) but maintenance was scheduled to be done by Lufthansa Technik and they plumbed parts of the electronics.
However these three were delivered between June and October 1989, just months/weeks before the peaceful revolution, in May 1991 the Air Force took them over and used these for government services, the last one got just recently retired in September 2021 - it doesn't get scrapped but is planned to be converted into a restaurant in the Serengeti Park.
This channel is so damn good! Thanks!
Great video! Thanks for your work
During the 1980s, Interflug had a good reputation compared to Soviet, Polish or Romanian airlines. I spent a lot of time traveling during the 1980s, and it was always an option to use Interflug. The main problem was to go to and return from Berlin and having to travel from West-Berlin to Schönefeld and back. I think the airline also improved over time. As a "proletarian airline" they didn't have first class or business class 😉
What a fascinating history - many thanks!
Hello and thank you for your amazing content! Will there be a video about kampfgruppen der arbeiterklasse? It's a very interesting organisation and it's curious how it functioned
Hi, I think that's a good idea. I will add it to the list.
Always remember the quite excellent Rotkäppchen Sekt on their flights. 🍾
This is a great channel and thank you for the videos, I have learned a lot on something I was already interested in. Kind regards.
Tôi dã làm thợ máy phục vụ mb IL18 và IL62 M của Interflug bay đến Hà nội
This channel is great, your work is highly appreciated!
Every once in a while the UA-cam algorithm finds me an interesting new channel. Today it was this one! Looking forward to working through some of your earlier videos.
That's so sad. For years, I just assumed Lufthansa absorbed Interflug! I'm feel sad for the crews. Hope they were all taken care of.
fantastic video! Thank you for making this, Interflug is such a fascinating company, I have seen many advertising posters for them that were beautiful! Thank you
As Interflug retired it’s fleet and stopped it’s operation, North Korea’s Air Koryo still used some Soviet fleets like IL-62
A very enlightening and well informed video on Interflug, are you planning to do a video on the Deutsche Reichsbahn (East German Railways) at all? I think it would be a very interesting one. Keep up the good work😊
Thanks! I have the Reichsbahn on the list of video ideas.
Thank you. I wish you had more info about routes flown and years flown. Again, this was interesting an I appreciate the work you did.
The A310s were kept by the German Government and used for executive flights.
Thank you for this of course.
Remember the GDR years very well. Always seemed to win everything at the Olympics. Yeah, they were on 'stuff', but so was everyone else back then.
They were ahead of the times when it came to gender fluidity too!
Soviet female shotputter? Yeah right!
However, the former were more often than not "on stuff" involuntarily versus the latter ua-cam.com/video/tRrf24MH2SU/v-deo.htmlsi=h_tJW2ojgVGkRddq .
that is the best Chanel about GDR so far. I watched all videos a several times. Beside I visited Berlin multiple times, thanks to your Videos I found more interesting things to see according to Cold War. Thanks and keep going!
The Baade 152 has always intrigued me.
Great video as always ❤. You make learning about the GDR compelling and interesting. Mind if I ask, were you born in the GDR? If I had to guess your age I’d say you were probably around 10 years old when the wall fell.
I’d love to know. Have a great day!
Dank je Olaf, weer een geweldig verhaal.
Il mio primo volo fu su un DC9 Alitalia, Milano Amsterdam...poi un TU134 Interflug, Amsterdam Berlino...avevo 17 anni...
Another great video. As always, thank you! The work and passion you put into every video are highly appreciated.
Love this channel!
Very interesting, thank you.
Starkes Video, Es war sehr Informativ, danke!
Really enjoying this book you recommended! There's even a chapter about trains
Wonderful! I LOVE this! Thank you!
Me encanta todo lo referido a la guerra fria, en especial Alemania del este. Gracias por mostrarnos como vivían! Saludos desde Argentina!
Thanks for the insightful Interflug overview!
The Baade 152/Pirna 014 (the DDR jet aircraft and engine that never made it to mass production after USSR intervention) story is fascinating and so directly linked to Erich Apel's frustrations (as an engineer who became the key economic reformer in the early 60s) that it could be a video all on its own.
I flew Mexico-Havana-Berlin and back once on IL-62MK
when was that?
@@larrybxl5406 in 1989, we were actually there during the week the wall came down.
Really love your content. Keep up the good work👏👏👍
Excellent research. Thank you!
Great work as always, so grateful for channels like this 🤲
One of the biggest problems in the airline industry as a whole is aircraft types and spares. I witnessed an Il-69 sit on the ramp at Dulles airport for 3 weeks before the parts showed up for repairs. That's 21 days of parking fees .. older Soviet airframes were generally not welcomed at major US airports especially busy ones like LAX of NYC
Er, there never was an aircraft called the IL-69.
@@AtheistOrphan Perhaps it was the Il-62 the poster meant. Remember, it's easy to make an error or two when typing out words to screen.
Interflug Flight 742 must have been so horrific for its passengers. It is refreshing to see that the Ilyushin IL-62 was able to safely transport its passengers and also to see how many in the video comments have such positive remarks about the airline and the aircraft.
I’m very surprised you didn’t cover Interflug “Lady Agnes” Ilyushin Il-62. It was one of the most dramatic landings at Stölln/Rhinow on grass. There is a video on UA-cam of this landing and several of my family are in it. The pilot, Heinz-Dieter Kallbach, landed the plane on October 23, 1989. The grass strip was extremely short. My cousin said his father told him some people expected a crash. The plane is now a museum. It was a thrill for me to visit the the plane near my mothers home village
This channel is absolutely superb. Excellent topics delivered well backed up with accurate research. 🙏 thanks.
I remember the ‘exotic’ aircraft of Interflug at Nicosia airport in the late sixties - early seventies.
Interesting fun fact: Interflug couldn't fly to London Heathrow, as the Britain never recognised the GDR. LOT ran a service on their behalf to Warsaw via East Berlin at the time.
There were some Interflug flights to Heathrow in the early 1970s. There was a Liepzig Trade Fair in September(?) and the DDR would not allow western airlines to operate flight to that destination. So, Interflug were allowed to operate flights (for about 1 week, maybe 10 days?) to London-Heathrow. I think that these flights would now be considered as 'charter flights'. I cannot remember who handled them at Heathrow.
If the UK didn't recognise the DDR, how come there was an embassy in London?
@@garethaethwy I stand to be corrected. DDR was recognised in 1973 it seems, but British military based in West Berlin, who crossed the border to East Germany never recognised DDR military men, and asked for a Soviet soldier if they were stopped by a DDR patrol, which was British Forces procedure. As for Interflugs scheduled flights, there were not allowed by the UK govt.
@@johnsbox Ah, now you're talking about something different completely... The 3 Western Powers never recognised East Berlin as part of the DDR, they considered it a city still under occupation, therefore only the Soviet military had any jurisdiction over Western service people, diplomats, officials, etc, hence there being special lanes for military traffic crossing the border at Checkpoints Alpha, Bravo, & Charlie. Apart from the autobahn between Checkpoints Alpha & Bravo which formed the transit route between BRD & West Berlin, the DDR authorities had jurisdiction. But then, I don't think Western officials etc were allowed to holiday etc to the DDR.
Thanks for the information. You seem to be particularly well read.
Again a very detailed video, with lots of small and big things to know about the airline.Thanks from me ex Schiphol worker
I've spotted the English book on Interflug for sale at the automobile museum Mobilia in Finland.
Excellent. Thorough, informative and entertaining. Thanks.
Thanks mate ❤. I lived in Berlin 1989 before wall came down and to this day is still pi ssed I never went out to schonefeld to fly interflug. It was a wonderful time of my life as an Aussie living in Berlin that time . Danke ❤ from downunder 😂
Very interesting video, I can't remember seeing any of their planes on the tarmac at Dubai int airport back in the day. But I had a picture of their aircraft, I think it was in my copy of 'Janes Civilian Aircraft'. As a follow up a video about the first DDR jet airliner would be good. That jetliner would have been designed and built by ex-Blohm&Voss/FockeWulf/Messershmitt/Donier/Jumo/BMW engineers and technicians. Some brilliant talent there. ✈
I got out of the US ARMY BERLIN in 1June 85. A week later I flew out of Schonefeld to Greece.
Had to cross the border checkpoint and then walk to the airport. Place looked like a bus station lol.
Flew on the big Interflug Soviet IL 62. Took off like a rocket.
Three things I noticed- the overhead baggage racks had webbing and not doors, the windows crackled as we were ascending, and there were NO OXYGEN MASKS.
But it was a great flight, and I took it instead of the other East Bloc airlines because despite it being communist, IT WAS GERMAN.
It's visible on the map at 12:36 but not mentioned that Schoenefeld Airport was built just outside Berlin's city limits so it could serve as Interflug's hub. The original Four-Power Agreements dictated that only the Allied nations' flag carriers could fly to or from Berlin, those being Pan Am, British (European) Airways, Air France and Aeroflot. That technically remained in force until reunification.
Gatow, Tegel and Templehof were to be replaced by an international airport outside Berlin, I think an expnded Schoenefeld. There have been major problems with this project, good subject for another presentation.
Restaurant Regenbogen & IL 62 in Leipzig are closed unfortunately.
Good video 😊 I have the Interflug book, it’s excellent!
Still now in my collection
Pillow cover tablets in flight magazine timetable and sticker
Good items to remember from former if 2 letter IATA code
Thks for posting❤
Your channel is great and the videos keep getting better. Thanks for sharing it with us!
Great video, as always.
Am I correct, sir, that you have a Dutch rather than a German accent when you speak English? This video has corrected a visual error I've had for 40 years. I was waiting for you to get to Interflug's L1011... and waited, and waited... It was then I realized the L1011 belonged to LTU! Same reddish colour in the livery!
his accent is Dutch not German
I truly enjoy your reviews and insights of the former DDR.
My German ex-girlfriend spoke to a Interflug crew on the runway at Hanoi Airport in 1984. They flew twice a week from East Berlin to Hanoi. Interflug had no money to pay for crew's accommodation in Hanoi, so the crew slept on the plane and washed their clothes in the hand basins in the plane. They hung a clothes line under the plane to dry their clothes.
Things must have improved with time, when I was in Hanoi in 1989, the Interflug crews were staying at our hotel.
not true
On the RUNWAY?
@@juniatapark54 sounds a lot more likely
My German ex-girlfriend plane was parked at the end of the runway next to an Interflug plane. No service vehicles approached the plane. Instead, 20 Vietnamese women with straw brooms on their shoulders and mounted on bicycles pedaled down the runway. When they reached her CSA plane, they leaned their bicycles against the wheels of the plane. They climbed into the plane and swept it out with their straw brooms.@@larrybxl5406
awesome content! Thank you so much!
Nice video. Informative and nicely presented. Thank you.
To be perfectly honest, when I saw first saw the red accented livery of Interflug, I thought that Interflug and Air Berlin (which also had a red accented livery) are related...but nope different airlines.
But I am seeing a trend where airlines which are based in Berlin (Lufthansa is based in Frankfurt IIRC) are doomed to failure.....
Anyway, great video...
The 3 Interflug A310's ended up in the Luftwaffe as VIP/Troop transport.
I flew them in 1982 BUD-SXF-BUD, Tu-134 both flights 🙂
Another great video! Keep them coming, these are an instant click for me
Excellent and fascinating videos! Good job!
Interesting vid. Thanks for posting.
I flew on Interflug IL-62. Berlin Shonefeld to Syria via Cyprus.
It was like any other plane to be honest, and service was nice too. That's as much as I remember.
As for Shonefeld airport, I don't remember much apart from the fact it was very dark and grey.
On arrival to Syria airport, it had full of security and they were very paranoid at the time.
I did not like Syria and was glad we left after a few days.
7:40 It actually needs a roof, not paint and brushes. I am just appalled at historic airplanes parked outside and decaying in horrendous conditions, not just here, but around the world.