Volkswagen Käfer "FOLLOW ME" Berlin-Tempelhof (Germany)

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Follow me!
 
Due to the increasing air traffic at the airports in the beginning of the 1950s, more and more “Follow-me” vehicles were in use at the airfields. This also applied to the airport Tempelhof in Berlin, where at least one Volkswagen Beetle regulated the traffic at the airfield.

The military airport Tempelhof was opened for the civil air traffic on the 1st of July 1950. Just one year later on 9 July 1951 the terminal for the civil air traffic was offically opened. It were primarly airlines of the occupying powers, which took off at Berlin Tempelhof – PanAm from the USA, Air France from France and British European Airways, short BEA, from Great Britain. How great the accepptance of these air connections was showed the increased number of passengers. Whereas the number of passenger movements was only 320,000 in 1951, that number was already 650,000 in 1954.

Due to the increased air traffic the little Volkswagen, which was not licensed for driving on puplic roads, was put into service in 1954. The year of production of the yellow beetle dates probably back to 1952 or earlier, as it had no sideways vent window. At the rear a large, illuminated “Follow-me” light bar and “Stop” light signal was professionally installed. To allow eye contact between the marshaller and the pilot of the following airplane the rear window of the Beetle extended far into the car roof. Unfortunately, it is not known, which company was responsible for the conversion and the paint job (the yellow varnish of the Volkswagen Beetle was not part of the Volkswagen color range) of the Volkswagen. Further facts just like the car itself have not survived to this day.