The photograph shows the expansive apron of Tempelhof Airport, photographed from inside one of the characteristic semicircular hangars of the monumental terminal building. Several propeller aircraft are visible in the middle ground; on the right stands a civilian airplane with its boarding stairs deployed. In 1955, Tempelhof served simultaneously as a US military airfield and as West Berlin’s civilian air traffic hub — a symbol of Allied presence and the city’s strategic importance during the Cold War. Since the Berlin Airlift (1948/49), the airport had been closely linked to Western determination to maintain its position, and in 1955 it remained a central site of American military presence in the divided city.