The record
An L-shaped element of the Grenzmauer 75, given to a Swiss aerobatic team as a thank-you for an air show and painted with their formation.
In June 2010 the organisers of the Berlin air show gave the Swiss air force's aerobatic team, the Patrouille Suisse, an unusual thank-you for their display and for Switzerland's role as partner country: an original L-element of the Grenzmauer 75, the fourth and final generation of the border fortifications. It weighs about 2.7 tonnes.
It had been painted by the Berlin artist Jakob Wagner, who called the work Formation in homage to the flying. The handover took place in the presence of the managing director of Messe Berlin, Raimund Hosch, the Swiss defence attaché Colonel Jörg Köhler, and the team with its ground crew from Emmen. The segment was first shown in the entrance hall of the Swiss embassy in Berlin, then shipped to Switzerland a few weeks later and set up in the spectators' area of the Emmen military airfield, the team's base. It was inaugurated on 23 July 2010 with Wagner, the publisher Jan Sötje and the crew present, and can be seen by the public.
By 2014 the painting had faded and Wagner came back and remade it. That is worth noting beside the records where the paint has simply been allowed to wash off: Wakefield keeps a ghost, Emmen keeps a picture, and the two choices are equally defensible.
The Luzerner Zeitung confirmed in January 2026 that the element still stands in the spectators' area of the airfield.
How did it get here?
A gift from the organisers of the ILA air show in Berlin to the Patrouille Suisse in June 2010, painted by Jakob Wagner and repainted by him in 2014.
Sources
Listed by the Federal Foundation as #153 and by the Berlin Wall Archive as #114.
Federal Foundation — Berlin Wall worldwide, site entry ↗
The June 2010 gift of an original L-element of the Grenzmauer 75 to the Patrouille Suisse, the handover party, Jakob Wagner's painting Formation, the display at the Swiss embassy in Berlin, the transport of the 2.7 tonne element to Emmen, the inauguration on 23 July 2010, and the repainting in 2014.
Inventory listingSource accessed 2026-09-17
Wieso steht dieses Stück Berliner Mauer beim Emmer Militärflugplatz? ↗
The Luzerner Zeitung, 4 January 2026: the 2.7 tonne L-element has stood in the spectators' area of the Emmen military airfield since 2010, a gift to the Patrouille Suisse; the rest of the report is behind a paywall.
Press reportSource accessed 2026-09-17
Federal Foundation — Berlin Wall worldwide ↗
The source lists this place as a Berlin Wall location. Coordinates, where supplied, are source-reported and may represent a general area. This is not independent verification of authenticity, current presence, or public access.
Inventory listingSource accessed 2026-09-17 · Source record 153
Berlin Wall Archive ↗
The source lists this place as a Berlin Wall location. Coordinates, where supplied, are source-reported and may represent a general area. This is not independent verification of authenticity, current presence, or public access.
Inventory listingSource accessed 2026-09-17 · Source record 114
Source-reported segments: 1. This is not a separately verified count.
No photograph of this one has been published. If you have taken one, or know when it arrived or who gave it, we would like to hear. Contribute to this record