On the morning of 26 Apr//1945 two Junker 52s loaded

with tank ammunition managed to land in the center of belea-

guered Berlin on a makeshift runway constructed from a city

road. Russian artillery was pounding the city hard. and with-

in a few days it would be the end of the Third Reich and Hitler

would be &ad by his own hand.

The Junkers were not the only planes to land that way.

That same day Luftwaffe General Ritter yon Greim flew in to

Berlin in a Fieseler Storch. occompanied by air ace Hannah

Reitsch. Von Greim became badly wounded, however, and

Reitsch took over and managed to land the plane on East West

Avenue near the Brandenburger Tor. Von Greim. promoted

to field marshal, left again the following day in an Arado pilot－

ed b3 Reitsch.

There are reports of many other light aircraft at that time

leaving Berlin using streets as runways. Legend has it that

Martin Bormann himself the most powerful man in

Germany next to Hitler. escaped to Norway that way to join

a U-boat bound for South America.

And there is another legend one even more extraordinary:

the story of SS Sturmbahnfahrer Baron Max von Berger, who

escaped in a Fieseler Storch taking off from East Wes)

Avenue shortly after the Fuhrer s marrmge m Eva Braun and

carrying with him Hitler s most enduring legacy