A family built a massive hot air balloon to float over the Berlin Wall in 1979
In a daring midnight escape, two families defied the Stasi by sewing a massive patchwork balloon from scrap fabric to carry eight people over the heavily guarded Berlin Wall.
On September 16, 1979, the Strelzyk and Wetzel families achieved the impossible by floating over the Iron Curtain in a handmade hot air balloon. Using over 1,000 square meters of nylon and taffeta stitched together on an old sewing machine, they ascended to 8,000 feet to cross from East to West Germany.
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