AIIRC, the huge open grass field allowed landings and takeoffs in any direction, always into the wind.
What will the City of Berlin do with all that real estate?
One of the little known footnotes about Tempelhof concerns the East German shepard. Shortly after the wall went up, and when there were still some gaps in its construction, an East German shepard escaped into West Berlin with some of his sheep. Without any open space to graze his flock he was given permission to put his sheep on the infield at Tempelhof. When I served there in the mid-80’s his flock had grown to about 100 sheep with a portable electric fence and a dog. To my knowledge, there was never a problem with his sheep getting loose on the airfield. Every year at Christmas the base would set up a lifesize Creech scene in front of the main building. The scene would also include several of the shepard’s sheep. It became a standing prank for the single GI’s to steal the sheep and let them loose to run up and down the hallways of the barracks. GI’s, you gotta love ‘em!