(Transfer from foreign media. At the end of 2019, the 30th anniversary of the fall of the Berlin Wall)
The movie Ballon just happened to be re-released in the past few days. I went to watch it in the afternoon and added some wiki supplements to sort out a story of East German plastic brothers flowers.
Little P, Little G, and PG work together in the same East German plastic factory. Little P has always dreamed of flying because of his experience as an aircraft mechanic. Little G is steadfast and willing to work, but he also wants to do something. One day, the PG group suddenly decided that they can no longer live like this and must be a big news. Climb the wall.
Xiao P said, but the gang of running, digging holes and jumping over the wall are too unskilled. After all, I am a tech house. Little G said oops, I think you're very right. Could it be that you want to build... Little P said helicopters. Little G quickly swallowed the submarine that almost blurted out. This day is March 1978. A few days later, the PG group found that it was too difficult to build a helicopter. After seeing a hot air balloon program on TV, they immediately changed the target to a hot air balloon.
There is also a theory that a relative of the two of them gave them a hot air balloon magazine, but the author thinks this claim is not tenable, and the reason is the following what they did: After theoretical calculations, they calculated the takeoff of the balloon The weight is about 750kg, including four adults and four children, heater and basket. So how much heat does a balloon need? The answer is about 2000 cubic meters, so how much fabric would such a balloon need? 800 square meters. Buying 800 square meters of fabric can not be explained by saying "I have many children", and under the East German planned economic system, buying a large amount of fabric is likely to be suspicious. The PG combination used their ingenuity to purchase goods from different places, and finally bought the 800 square meters that the balloon desperately needed: cotton. That's why I think they haven't read professional magazines. Cotton, good ventilation.
However, the PG group still deceived the supply and marketing cooperative in the name of buying cloth as a tent, and started working.
Xiao P said that I would mechanically work on spider plants and fuel. Little G said that I would endure hardship. I used a pedal sewing machine to seal 800 square meters of fabric and sew it into a beautiful balloon that was 15 meters wide and 20 meters long. No problem.
On the one hand, Xiao P is in charge of the technology; he uses iron racks and clotheslines to make spider plants, and uses gas as fuel. On the one hand, Little G was in charge of physical strength; stepping on the sewing machine pedal stepped on Mars.
In April 1978, they entered the first test flight phase. We call it Chang Mo.
Chang Mo, as its name suggests, is on fire. The PG combination was exhausted and did not let the balloon bulge. But in the process they have invented a series of little technologies, which will be very useful in the future. For example, air preheating, such as adding a large fan to quickly inflate the balloon, etc. This fully shows that failure is the mother of success, and money is the father of success. Changmo's thrashing cost the PG group 2,400 marks. But just come back with money.
The two finally realized that Little G's sewing machine had been stepped on in vain. The sparks that are stepped on by the sewing machine cannot start a prairie prairie. Cotton, either too heavy or leaking. Material science is the ladder for the advancement of technology. They began to try various waterproof materials, including umbrella fabrics, nylon and so on. In the end they settled on taffy.
Purchasing is naturally another effort. This time, their reason is that the sailing club wants to buy sails, but fortunately, they have also cheated.
Little P saw the mountains of taffy at home, and felt that what he saw was not taffy, but clouds in the sky. The cloud will take him to Minzhu, swim on his own, and buy as many bananas as he wants.
At this time, Little G shook his legs and pushed him and said to Little P: "Brother, look at the paint on the pedals of my sewing machine. Do you want to upgrade my equipment?" So soon, Xiao G owned the first electric sewing machine in his life.
Soon, the second version of the balloon was completed.
This version we call it Chang Russia, which means fighting like Russia.
But the problem of the Chang Russia was soon exposed: insufficient lift. The burning of natural gas can only make the balloon stand up, but not enough for the hot air balloon to generate lift with a load off the ground.
After trying a variety of fuels, Xiao G felt that the old cold leg was guilty, so he quit the combination and turned to study light aircraft. Little P got on with the Burning Mao this time. Damn it, it cost 4800 marks. How can I give up.
We say that failure is the mother of success, and money is the father of success. So spending money and failing is a successful obstetrician. Little P succeeded. He found that turning the propane bottle upside down increased the pressure of the combustion, producing flames as high as 12 meters.
Chang Russia, winter is coming.
In March 1979, one year after the establishment of the project, the first flight of the balloon over the wall plan was successful.
The Chang Russia reached a height of 2,000 meters at an ascending rate of 4 meters per second. Above is a happy family of four from Xiao P's family. They all feel that the homeless pig and the pineapples they want to buy are close at hand.
The wind is also good, the balloons are also good, and the mood is good.
Often times like this, yes, and then they're in a rain cloud. Rain clouds weighed the balloons, and they landed 180 meters from the German border. There is a mine field in front of me. Come on, let's go back.
After walking 14 kilometers, Xiao P's family, who had been devastated by the Chang'e, finally returned to the take-off point, where they had their car.
All the way home, although it was a little late, I still put it off on the grounds that the child was sick and the house was leaking. Looking back, P quickly sold his car and destroyed other evidence. The Stasi discovered their balloon a few days later and reported to the newspapers for clues. Xiao P panicked and went to find an electric sewing machine and Xiao G.
The PG group reunited again, and they were separated from each other by the corpse of the Chang Russia published in the two desktop newspapers. The two unanimously decided to escape as soon as possible, and the No. 3 balloon started work immediately. The new balloon is 20 meters in diameter and 25 meters high, and looks like the father of the original balloon. The fabric requirement this time is: 1250 square meters. At this point, the author can't help but have a deep respect for the family wealth of the two.
The new balloon was completed in just 6 weeks, and we call her Chang'e.
On September 15, 1979, the balloon took off smoothly and climbed to 2,000 meters with two families of eight. After 28 minutes, they landed in West Germany. The only one injured on the landing was Little G. Yes, you guessed it right, it's always his leg that gets hurt.
Back in time before they took off. At about 1:30 pm on September 15, 1979, the PG group finally waited for a suitable shower. The rain will produce the right desired wind direction and they feel ready to take off. It is impossible for all 8 people to use the same car, and they have to tow balloons and spider plants. Two people on scooters and six people (three children) by car to take off.
This time everything went surprisingly well, they filled the balloon in 10 minutes and heated the air in 3 minutes. If it weren't for the 25-meter tall guy standing in the air, people would think they were going to have a BBQ.
Take off at 2pm. The balloon was partially ignited by tilting because the slashing of the cable was not done synchronously. Fortunately, everyone was an old man over the wall. They put out the fire with a fire extinguisher, and the loss was not heavy. The balloon rose to 2000 meters in 9 minutes.
The temperature at 2000 meters is minus 8 degrees. In order to reduce the take-off weight, everyone did not bring particularly thick clothes. Fortunately, the balloon flew smoothly, and they flew to West Germany at a speed of 30 kilometers per hour. Then the problem reappeared. The burner piping was designed to be too long and the flame was too high, which resulted in high pressure inside the balloon. Although it was sewn by an electric sewing machine this time, the balloon was still, leaking.
If it is said that the air leak can be used for a while, then the chain reaction caused by the air leak will make everyone crazy: the heater will put out the fire.
Who does the hard work and the hard work? By the way, little G.
The hard-working baby lit the extinguished heater with matches several times along the way, so that the Chang'e balloon could avoid the fate of falling. The balloon once rose to a height of 2,500 meters under the continuous life and blood of Little G. In fact, this altitude can already be detected by radar.
It turned out that they were indeed detected by radar in West Germany, but not identified; and they were also reported to be observed in East Germany: a night watchman who thought he saw a UFO. So the peace-loving East German border guards turned on air defense searchlights at relevant locations: this might be feasible during World War I. But the balloon was beyond the range of the searchlight.
Eventually they landed at 50°19'N 11°41'E.
When a person is at an altitude of 2000 meters without navigation and heating, all rely on the wind, and what is the first reaction when he falls to the ground?
where am I?
Although theoretically they flew across the border, they desperately needed additional evidence. First, they saw red and yellow lights, which were not common in East Germany; then they saw small, well-equipped villages, which were all large farms with poor equipment. Finally, they met the Bavarian Patrol.
Two Bavarian patrolmen found the fire in the sky, fearing that aliens had invaded the earth and rushed to the possible landing site. Sure enough, they met a few unkempt men who looked like they had just been taken out of the refrigerator, one of whom had a bad leg.
These people opened their mouths and asked: Is this West Germany? After getting an affirmative answer, they called the rest of the family out. Self-tour, Minzhu, unlimited watermelon.
Naila is the closest town to where they landed, and kind-hearted capitalist fellows provide them with food, clothing, jobs and housing. In the picture below, the locations with the heart added are: 1. The town of the PG combination 2. The take-off point 3. The landing point The take-off point has become a scenic spot called Ballonwiese.
Like many prince and princess stories, the story doesn't end there. After settling in Naila, Little G felt that he could no longer step on a sewing machine like this, so he found a job as an auto mechanic; Little P opened a TV repair department, specializing in repairing the TV that inspired them in the first place. In 1985, under the pressure of Stasi spies, the little P family moved to Switzerland; in 1990, when the two Germanys were reunited, the little P family moved back to Pößneck and moved back to their old house.
The East German side had a hard time, strengthened the protection of the border airspace, and banned the sale of crime tools from the source.
Xiao P's brother, sister and brother-in-law were implicated and sentenced to 2.5 years in prison. He was later released under the mediation of Amnesty International. Xiao P died in 2017. The picture below shows the little P family.
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