East German balloon escape
The East German balloon escape
took place at approximately 2:00 a.m. on September 16, 1979. Two families, with
eight members in total, escaped the communist country of East Germany by
crossing the border to West Germany in a homemade hot air balloon. The plot to
accomplish this was carried out over a period of one and a half years,
including an unsuccessful attempt, three different balloons, and various
modifications until the successful escape occurred. One failed crossing alerted
the government to the plot, but the police were not able to identify the suspects
before their flight to freedom. The
communist country of East Germany was separated with a border fortified with
watchtowers, land mines, armed soldiers, and various other measures to prevent
its citizens from escaping to West Germany. The East German border patrols were
instructed by standing order to prevent border penetration by all means
including lethal force (Schießbefehl ("order to fire")). Peter
Strelzyk, (born 1942), an electrician and former East German Air Force
mechanic, and Günter Wetzel, (born 1955), a bricklayer by trade, were coworkers
at a local plastics factory who had been
friends for four years. They shared a desire to flee the country and began
discussing ways to cross the border. On March 7, 1978, they agreed to work to
plan an escape. They considered building a helicopter but quickly realized they
would not be able to acquire an engine capable of powering such a craft. Next,
they decided to investigate the idea of constructing a hot air balloon, having
been inspired by a television program about ballooning. An alternate account is
that they were given a magazine article about the International Balloon
Festival in Albuquerque, New Mexico by a relative.
Construction:
The pair began research into
balloons. Their plan was to escape with their wives and total of four children
(aged 2 to 15). They calculated the weight of the passengers and the craft
itself to be around 750 kilograms (1,650 lb). Subsequent calculations
determined a balloon capable of lifting this weight would need to hold 2,000
cubic meters (71,000 cu ft) heated to 100 °C (212 °F). The next calculation was
the amount of material needed for the balloon, estimated at 800 square meters
(8,600 sq ft). The pair lived in Pößneck, a small town of about 20,000 where
large quantities of cloth would not be available without raising attention.
They tried neighboring towns of Rudolstadt, Saalfeld, and Jena without success.
They traveled 30 miles (48 km) to Gera
where they purchased 1 meter (3 ft 3 in) wide rolls of cotton cloth totaling
850 meters (2,790 ft) in length at a department store after telling the
astonished clerk that they needed the large quantity of material to use as tent
lining for their camping club. Wetzel spent two weeks sewing the cloth into a
balloon shaped bag, 15 meters (49 ft) wide by 20 meters (66 ft) long, on a 40
year old manually-operated sewing machine. Strelzyk spent the time building the
gondola and burner assembly. The gondola was made from an iron frame, sheet
metal floor, and clothesline ran around the perimeter every 150 millimetres
(5.9 in) for the sides. The burner was made using two 11-kilogram (24 lb)
bottles of liquid propane household gas, hoses, water pipe, a nozzle, and a
piece of stove pipe.
Test:
The team was ready to test the
craft in April 1978. After days of searching, they found a suitable secluded
forest clearing near Ziegenrück, 10 kilometres (6.2 mi) from the border and 30
kilometres (19 mi) from Pößneck. After lighting the burner one night, they
failed to inflate the balloon. They thought the problem could be because they
laid the balloon out on the ground. After weeks of additional searching, they
found a 25-meter (82 ft) cliff at a rock quarry where they could suspend the
balloon vertically before inflation but that was also unsuccessful. Next they
decided to fill the bag first with cold air before using the burner to raise
the air temperature to provide lift. They constructed a blower with 14-hp 250
cubic centimetres (15 cu in) motorcycle engine, started with a Trabant
automobile starter power by jumper cables from Strelzyk's Moskvitch sedan. This
engine, quieted by a Trabant muffler, turned 1 meter (3 ft 3 in) long fan
blades to inflate the balloon. They also used a home-made flamethrower, similar
to the gondola's burner, to pre-heat the air faster. With these modifications
in place, they returned to the secluded clearing to try again but could still
not inflate the balloon. Using the blower did allow them to discover that the
cotton material with which they fashioned the balloon was too porous and leaked
massively. Their unsuccessful effort cost them 2,400 DDM. Strelyzk disposed of
the cloth by burning it in his furnace over several weeks.
Second attempt:
The pair purchased samples of
different fabrics in local stores, including umbrella material, various samples
of taffeta and nylon. They used an oven to test the material for heat
resistance and created a test rig from a vacuum cleaner and a water-filled
glass tube to determine through which material would the vacuum exert the most
suction on the water, revealing which material was densest. The umbrella
covering performed the best but was also the most expensive. They instead
selected a synthetic kind of taffeta.[5] To purchase a large quantity of fabric without
arousing too much suspicion, they again drove to a distant city. This time they
traveled over 160 kilometres (99 mi) to a department store in Leipzig. Their
cover story this time was that they were in a sailing club and needed the
material to make sails. The quantity they needed had to be ordered, and
although they feared the purchase may have been reported to East Germany's
State Security Service (Stasi), they returned the next day and picked up the
material without incident. They paid 4,800 DDM (US$720) for 800 meters (2,600
ft) of 1-meter-wide (3 ft 3 in) fabric.[5] On the way home, they also purchased
an electric motor to speed up the pedal-operated sewing machine they had been
using to sew the material into the desired balloon shape. Wetzel spent the next
week sewing the material into another balloon, accomplishing the task faster
the second time with the now-electric sewing machine. Soon after, they returned
to the forest clearing and had the bag inflated in about five minutes using the
blower and flame thrower. The bag arose and held air, but the burner on the
gondola was not powerful enough to create the heat needed for lift. They
continued experimenting for months, doubling the number of propane tanks and trying
different mixtures of fuels. Disappointed with the result, Wetzel decided to
abandon the project and instead started to pursue the idea of building a small
gasoline engine-powered light airplane or a glider. Strelzyk continued trying to improve the
burner. In June 1979, he discovered that with the propane tank inverted,
additional pressure caused the liquid propane to gassify which would create a
bigger flame. He modified the gondola to mount the propane tanks upside down,
and returned to the test site where he found the new configuration produced a
40 feet (12 m) long flame. Strelzyk was ready to attempt an escape.
First escape attempt:
On July 3, 1979, the weather and
wind conditions were favorable. The entire Strelzyk family lifted from the
clearing at 1:30am and climbed at a rate of 4 meters (13 ft) per second. They
reached an altitude of 6,600 feet (2,000 m) according to an altimeter Strelzyk
had made by modifying a barometer. A moderate wind was blowing them towards the
border and freedom in West Germany. The balloon entered a cloud, atmospheric
water vapor condensed on the balloon and the added weight of the water caused
the balloon to descend. They landed safely approximately 180 meters (590 ft)
from the border at the edge of the heavily mined border zone. Unsure of where
they were, Strelzyk explored until he found a piece of litter – a bread bag
from a bakery in Wernigerode, an East German town. The family spent nine hours
carefully extricating themselves from the 500 meters (1,600 ft) wide border
zone to avoid detection. They also had to travel unnoticed through a 5
kilometres (3.1 mi) restricted zone before hiking back a total of 14 kilometers
(8.7 mi) to their car and all the launch paraphernalia they left there.[5] They
made it home just in time to report absent due to sickness from work and school.
The balloon was left where it landed and discovered later that morning. Strelzyk
destroyed everything remaining and sold his car fearing that could connect him
to the balloon. On August 14, 1979, the Stasi advertised for help finding the
"perpetrator of a serious offence" and listed in detail all the items
left at the crash site. He felt that the Stasi would eventually trace the
balloon to him and the Wetzels. Strelzyk conferred with Wetzel and they agreed
their best chance was to quickly build another balloon and get out fast.
Successful escape:
The pair decided to double the
balloon's size to 4,000 cubic meters (140,000 cu ft) in volume, 20 meters (66
ft) in diameters, and 25 meters (82 ft) in height. They needed 1,250 square
meters (13,500 sq ft) of taffeta, and purchased the material, in various colors
and patterns, all over the county to escape suspicion. Wetzel sewed a third
balloon, using over 6 kilometers (3.7 mi) of thread and Strelzyk rebuilt
everything else as before. They were ready in six weeks with a 180-kilogram (400
lb) balloon, and a payload of 550 kilograms (1,210 lb), including the gondola,
equipment, and cargo (the two families). Confident in their calculations, they
found weather conditions right on September 15 when a violent thunderstorm
created the correct winds and set off for the clearing in Strelzyk's
replacement car (a Wartburg) and a moped. Arriving at 1:30 am, they needed just
ten minutes to inflate the balloon and three to heat the air. They lifted off
just after 2:00 am and, due to not cutting the tethers holding the gondola to
the ground synchronously, it tilted sending the flame towards the fabric which
caught fire. After the fire was put out with an extinguisher they had brought
for just such an emergency, the balloon climbed to 2,000 meters (6,600 ft) in
nine minutes, drifting towards West Germany at 30 kilometres per hour (19 mph).
They flew for 28 minutes, with the temperature at −8 °C (18 °F) and no shelter
as the gondola was just a railing of clothesline. A design calculation resulted
in the burner stovepipe being too long, causing the flame to be too high in the
balloon creating excessive pressure which caused the balloon to split. Air
rushing out of the split extinguished the burner flame. Wetzel was able to
re-light the flame with a match and had to do so several more times before they
landed. At one point, they increased the flame to the maximum possible and rose
higher to 2,500 meters (8,200 ft). They later learned they had been high enough
to be detected, but not identified, on radar by West German air traffic
controllers.[5] They had also been detected on the East German side by a night
watchman at the district culture house in Bad Lobenstein. The report of a
unidentified flying object heading toward the border caused guards to activate search
lights, but the balloon was too high and out of reach of the lights. The tear
in the balloon meant they had to use the burner much more often and the
distance they could travel was greatly limited. Wetzel later said he thought
they could have traveled another 50 kilometers (31 mi) had the balloon remained
intact. They made out the border crossing at Rudolphstein on the A9 and saw the
search lights. When the propane ran out they descended quickly, landing near
the town of Naila, in the West German state of Bavaria and only six miles from
the border. No one was hurt, except Wetzel who broke his leg upon landing.[5]
They thought they had made it as they had seen red and yellow colored lights
which were not common in East Germany. They also saw small farms, different
than the large state-run operations in the east. Another clue was the modern
farm equipment that was unlike what was used in East Germany.[9] Two Bavarian
State Policemen saw the balloon's flickering light and headed to where they thought
it would land and found Strelzyk and Wetzel who first asked if they had made it
to the west, although they noticed the police car was an Audi – another sign
they were in West Germany. Upon learning they had, they called for their
families to join them.
Aftermath:
The families decided to initially
settle in Naila where they landed. Wetzel worked as an automobile mechanic and
Strelzyk opened a TV repair shop in Bad Kissingen. Due to pressure on them from
Stasi spies, the Strelzyks moved to Switzerland in 1985.[8] After the German
reunification in 1990, they returned to their hometown of Pößneck and to their
old home there. The Wetzels remained in
Bavaria. The German weekly magazine Stern paid Strelzyk and Wetzel for
exclusive right to the story. East Germany immediately increased border
security, closed all small airports close to the border and ordered the planes
kept farther inland. Propane gas tanks
became registered products and large quantities of fabric suitable for balloon
construction could no longer be purchased. Mail from East Germany to the
families was prohibited. Erich Strelzyk learned of his brother's escape on the
ZDF news and was arrested three hours after the landing in his Potsdam
apartment. The arrest of family members was normal procedure to deter others
from attempting escape. He was charged with "aiding and abetting
escape" as were Strelzyk's sister Maria and her husband who were sentenced
to 2½ years. The three were eventually released with the help of Amnesty
International. The escape has been portrayed in two films: Night Crossing
(1982) and Der Ballon (2018). The former, also called With the Wind to the West
- the English translation of the German title, was an English-language film
produced by Disney. The Strelzyks were reportedly "moved to tears" at
the screening of the movie at Rockefeller Center in New York City. The latter
was a German-language production which "both families welcomed [Director]
Herbig’s desire to, as he put it, 'make a German film for an international
audience.'" Herbig said in 2018 that both the Strelzeyk and Wetzel
families were dissatisfied with the Disney film. Peter Strelzyk died in 2017 at
age 74 after a long illness. In 2017, the balloon was put on permanent exhibition
at the Haus der Bayerischen Geschichte (Museum of Bavarian History).
Escapees:
The family members included:
Peter Strelzyk, age 37
Doris Strelzyk
Frank Strelzyk, age 15
Andreas Strelzyk, age 11
Günter Wetzel, 24
Petra Wetzel
Peter Wetzel, age 5
Andreas Wetzel, age 2
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/East_German_balloon_escape
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