Known for most of its operational life as
Royal Air Force Station Gatow, or more commonly
RAF Gatow, this former
BritishThe United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern IrelandIn the United Kingdom and Dependencies, other languages have been officially recognised as legitimate autochthonous languages under the European Charter for Regional or Minority Languages...
Royal Air ForceThe Royal Air Force is the aerial warfare service branch of the British Armed Forces. Formed on 1 April 1918, it is the oldest independent air force in the world...
military airbase is in the district of
GatowGatow, a district of south-western Berlin is located west of the Havelsee lake and has forested areas within its boundaries. It is within the borough of Spandau. On 31 December 2002, it had 5,532 inhabitants.-History:...
in south-western
BerlinBerlin is the capital city of Germany and is one of the 16 states of Germany. With a population of 3.45 million people, Berlin is Germany's largest city. It is the second most populous city proper and the seventh most populous urban area in the European Union...
, west of the
HavelThe Havel is a river in north-eastern Germany, flowing through the German states of Mecklenburg-Vorpommern, Brandenburg, Berlin and Saxony-Anhalt. It is a right tributary of the Elbe river and in length...
river, in the borough of
SpandauSpandau is the fifth of the twelve boroughs of Berlin. It is the fourth largest and westernmost borough, situated at the confluence of the Havel and Spree rivers and along the western bank of the Havel, but the least populated.-Overview:...
. It was the base for the only known operational use of flying boats in
central EuropeCentral Europe or alternatively Middle Europe is a region of the European continent lying between the variously defined areas of Eastern and Western Europe...
, and was later used for photographic reconnaissance missions by de Havilland Chipmunks over East Germany. Part of the former airfield is now called
General Steinhoff-Kaserne, and is home to the
Luftwaffenmuseum der BundeswehrThe Luftwaffenmuseum der Bundeswehr , together with the Militärhistorisches Museum der Bundeswehr, is one of the major military history museums in Germany. The museum acts as an independent military department...
, the
LuftwaffeLuftwaffe is a generic German term for an air force. It is also the official name for two of the four historic German air forces, the Wehrmacht air arm founded in 1935 and disbanded in 1946; and the current Bundeswehr air arm founded in 1956....
Museum.
Also on the site of the former
Royal Air ForceThe Royal Air Force is the aerial warfare service branch of the British Armed Forces. Formed on 1 April 1918, it is the oldest independent air force in the world...
station, but not part of
General Steinhoff-Kaserne, is a school, the
Hans-Carossa-Gymnasium, as well as houses for government employees of the Federal Republic of Germany. This part of the former airfield has since 2003 been part of the district of Berlin-Kladow.
Luftwaffe use, 1934-1945
The airfield was originally constructed in 1934 and 1935 by the
LuftwaffeLuftwaffe is a generic German term for an air force. It is also the official name for two of the four historic German air forces, the Wehrmacht air arm founded in 1935 and disbanded in 1946; and the current Bundeswehr air arm founded in 1956....
as a staff and technical college,
Luftkriegsschule Berlin-Gatow, in imitation of the Royal Air Force College at
RAF CranwellRAF Cranwell is a Royal Air Force station in Lincolnshire close to the village of Cranwell, near Sleaford. It is currently commanded by Group Captain Dave Waddington...
. The initial personnel came partially from the naval officer college in Mürwick. Opened on 1 April 1936, the air force college was re-named
Luftkriegsschule 2 on 15 January 1940. Its satellite airfields were Güterfelde and
ReinsdorfReinsdorf may refer to:*Reinsdorf, Saxony-Anhalt, a municipality in the district Burgenlandkreis, Saxony-Anhalt, Germany*Reinsdorf, Saxony, a municipality in the district Zwickauer Land, Saxony, Germany...
. Airborne flying training ended in October 1944, due to fuel shortages. From 5 March 1945, aircrew officer cadets were retrained as paratroops, for ground operations which had very high casualties.
Clues to the airfield's original use survive in the barrack block accommodation, each block of which was named after a famous German airman of the First World War, with the airman's bust above the entrance door. The architect was
Ernst SagebielErnst Sagebiel was a German architect.- Life :Sagebiel was a sculptor's son, and after his Abitur in 1912, he began his studies in architecture in Braunschweig...
, an architect who worked full-time for the Luftwaffe and also designed
Tempelhof AirportBerlin Tempelhof Airport was an airport in Berlin, Germany, situated in the south-central borough of Tempelhof-Schöneberg. The airport ceased operating in 2008 in the process of establishing Schönefeld as the sole commercial airport for Berlin....
. Other surviving features during the entire period of the airfield's use as
RAF Gatow (1945–1994) included light bulbs in the main
hangarA hangar is a closed structure to hold aircraft or spacecraft in protective storage. Most hangars are built of metal, but other materials such as wood and concrete are also sometimes used...
s, many of which dated from the 1930s.
1945-1948
Late April 1945, towards the end of
World War IIWorld War II, or the Second World War , was a global conflict lasting from 1939 to 1945, involving most of the world's nations—including all of the great powers—eventually forming two opposing military alliances: the Allies and the Axis...
in
EuropeEurope is, by convention, one of the world's seven continents. Comprising the westernmost peninsula of Eurasia, Europe is generally 'divided' from Asia to its east by the watershed divides of the Ural and Caucasus Mountains, the Ural River, the Caspian and Black Seas, and the waterways connecting...
, the airfield was occupied by the advancing
Red ArmyThe Workers' and Peasants' Red Army started out as the Soviet Union's revolutionary communist combat groups during the Russian Civil War of 1918-1922. It grew into the national army of the Soviet Union. By the 1930s the Red Army was among the largest armies in history.The "Red Army" name refers to...
. Following the division of Berlin into four sectors,
SovietThe Soviet Union , officially the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics , was a constitutionally socialist state that existed in Eurasia between 1922 and 1991....
forces relinquished part of the airfield and access roads, the so called
Seeburger ZipfelThe Seeburger Zipfel , comprising Weinmeisterhöhe and part of Groß Glienicke, was part of an exchange of territory between Britain and the Soviet Union regarding West-Berlin...
to the
BritishThe United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern IrelandIn the United Kingdom and Dependencies, other languages have been officially recognised as legitimate autochthonous languages under the European Charter for Regional or Minority Languages...
after the
Potsdam ConferenceThe Potsdam Conference was held at Cecilienhof, the home of Crown Prince Wilhelm Hohenzollern, in Potsdam, occupied Germany, from 16 July to 2 August 1945. Participants were the Soviet Union, the United Kingdom, and the United States...
in exchange for West-Staaken on 30 August 1945. On 25 June 1945, 284 Field Squadron,
RAF RegimentThe Royal Air Force Regiment is a specialist airfield defence corps founded by Royal Warrant in 1942. After a 32 week trainee gunner course, its members are trained and equipped to prevent a successful enemy attack in the first instance; minimise the damage caused by a successful attack; and...
, arrived at Gatow by land via
MagdeburgMagdeburg , is the largest city and the capital city of the Bundesland of Saxony-Anhalt, Germany. Magdeburg is situated on the Elbe River and was one of the most important medieval cities of Europe....
. Their reception by Soviet troops was extremely hostile, the Soviets attempting to confine 284 Field Squadron behind barbed wire fences, as the Squadron was said to have arrived "too early". This set the pattern for relations, with Soviet checkpoints being set up beside the airfield manned by fully armed and unfriendly troops. RAF Regiment officers occasionally surveyed Soviet positions by air from
Avro AnsonThe Avro Anson is a British twin-engine, multi-role aircraft that served with the Royal Air Force, Fleet Air Arm and numerous other air forces prior to, during, and after the Second World War. Named for British Admiral George Anson, it was originally designed for maritime reconnaissance, but was...
s, and the tour of duty of RAF Regiment detachments at Gatow was limited to six months, because of the constant activity occasioned by the Soviet presence and the Berlin Airlift.
The first landing by a
Royal Air ForceThe Royal Air Force is the aerial warfare service branch of the British Armed Forces. Formed on 1 April 1918, it is the oldest independent air force in the world...
aircraft was by Avro Anson
serial numberIn the United Kingdom to identify individual aircraft, all military aircraft are allocated and display a unique serial number. A unified serial number system, maintained by the Air Ministry , and its successor the Ministry of Defence , is used for aircraft operated by the Royal Air Force , Fleet...
PW698 on 2 July 1945 at 11.55 hours. Initially, Gatow was called
Intermediate Landing Place No. 19, but on 19 August 1945 was renamed
Royal Air Force Station Gatow, or
RAF Gatow for short. The Station was given the
LatinLatin is an Italic language originally spoken in Latium and Ancient Rome. It, along with most European languages, is a descendant of the ancient Proto-Indo-European language. Although it is considered a dead language, a number of scholars and members of the Christian clergy speak it fluently, and...
motto
Pons Heri Pons Hodie, which may be translated as
A bridge yesterday, a bridge today.
RAF Gatow was also used as a civilian airport for a limited time. In 1946,
British European AirwaysBritish European Airways or British European Airways Corporation was a British airline which existed from 1946 until 1974. The airline operated European and North African routes from airports around the United Kingdom...
(BEA) inaugurated an
RAF NortholtRAF Northolt is a Royal Air Force station situated in South Ruislip, east by northeast of Uxbridge in the London Borough of Hillingdon, West London. Approximately north of London Heathrow Airport, the station also handles a large number of private civil flights...
–
Hamburg-History:The first historic name for the city was, according to Claudius Ptolemy's reports, Treva.But the city takes its modern name, Hamburg, from the first permanent building on the site, a castle whose construction was ordered by the Emperor Charlemagne in AD 808...
– Gatow scheduled service at a frequency of six flights a week, using
Douglas DC-3The Douglas DC-3 is an American fixed-wing propeller-driven aircraft whose speed and range revolutionized air transport in the 1930s and 1940s. Its lasting impact on the airline industry and World War II makes it one of the most significant transport aircraft ever made...
(
"Pionair" in BEA terminology) and
Vickers Viking-References:NotesBibliography* Andrews, C.F. and E.B. Morgan. Vickers Aircraft since 1908. London: Putnam, 1988. ISBN 0-85177-815-1.* London, Peter. British Flying Boats. Stroud, UK: Sutton Publishing, 2003. ISBN 0-7509-2695-3....
pistonA piston is a component of reciprocating engines, reciprocating pumps, gas compressors and pneumatic cylinders, among other similar mechanisms. It is the moving component that is contained by a cylinder and is made gas-tight by piston rings. In an engine, its purpose is to transfer force from...
-engined aircraft.
Berlin Airlift, 1948-1949
During the Berlin Airlift, the Station was modernised with a 2000 yards (1,828.8 m) long concrete runway, using 794 German workers, in March 1947. Along with the
AmericanThe United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...
airfield of
TempelhofBerlin Tempelhof Airport was an airport in Berlin, Germany, situated in the south-central borough of Tempelhof-Schöneberg. The airport ceased operating in 2008 in the process of establishing Schönefeld as the sole commercial airport for Berlin....
and the
FrenchThe French Republic , The French Republic , The French Republic , (commonly known as France , is a unitary semi-presidential republic in Western Europe with several overseas territories and islands located on other continents and in the Indian, Pacific, and Atlantic oceans. Metropolitan France...
airfield of Tegel, RAF Gatow played a key role in the
Berlin airliftThe Berlin Blockade was one of the first major international crises of the Cold War and the first resulting in casualties. During the multinational occupation of post-World War II Germany, the Soviet Union blocked the Western Allies' railway and road access to the sectors of Berlin under Allied...
of 1948. Initially, about 150 Douglas Dakotas and 40
Avro YorkThe Avro York was a British transport aircraft that was derived from the Second World War Lancaster heavy bomber, and used in both military and airliner roles between 1943 and 1964.-Design and development:...
s were used to fly supplies into Gatow. By 18 July 1948, the RAF was flying 995 tons of supplies per day into the airfield.
Alongside the
Royal Air ForceThe Royal Air Force is the aerial warfare service branch of the British Armed Forces. Formed on 1 April 1918, it is the oldest independent air force in the world...
and various British civil aviation companies, the
United States Air ForceThe United States Air Force is the aerial warfare service branch of the United States Armed Forces and one of the American uniformed services. Initially part of the United States Army, the USAF was formed as a separate branch of the military on September 18, 1947 under the National Security Act of...
, the
Royal Australian Air ForceThe Royal Australian Air Force is the air force branch of the Australian Defence Force. The RAAF was formed in March 1921. It continues the traditions of the Australian Flying Corps , which was formed on 22 October 1912. The RAAF has taken part in many of the 20th century's major conflicts...
(RAAF), the
Royal Canadian Air ForceThe history of the Royal Canadian Air Force begins in 1920, when the air force was created as the Canadian Air Force . In 1924 the CAF was renamed the Royal Canadian Air Force and granted royal sanction by King George V. The RCAF existed as an independent service until 1968...
(RCAF), the
Royal New Zealand Air ForceThe Royal New Zealand Air Force is the air arm of the New Zealand Defence Force...
(RNZAF) and the
South African Air ForceThe South African Air Force is the air force of South Africa, with headquarters in Pretoria. It is the world's second oldest independent air force, and its motto is Per Aspera Ad Astra...
all flew supplies into RAF Gatow during the Airlift.
On 20 June 1980, the Royal Australian Air Force presented a Douglas Dakota to RAF Gatow in commemoration of its role. Its aircrew included
Air MarshalAir marshal is a three-star air-officer rank which originated in and continues to be used by the Royal Air Force...
David Evans, an Australian airlift veteran. As only British, French and American aircraft were allowed under international law to fly inside the
Allied Air CorridorsDuring the Cold War era , the West Berlin Air Corridors comprised three regulated airways for civil and military air traffic of the Western Allies between West Berlin and West Germany passing over the former East Germany's territory. The corridors were under control of the all-Allied Berlin Air...
, the Dakota received the
RAF serial numberIn the United Kingdom to identify individual aircraft, all military aircraft are allocated and display a unique serial number. A unified serial number system, maintained by the Air Ministry , and its successor the Ministry of Defence , is used for aircraft operated by the Royal Air Force , Fleet...
ZD215. The Dakota is still at Gatow, inside the
LuftwaffeLuftwaffe is a generic German term for an air force. It is also the official name for two of the four historic German air forces, the Wehrmacht air arm founded in 1935 and disbanded in 1946; and the current Bundeswehr air arm founded in 1956....
barracks.
In November 1948, the latest RAF transport aircraft, the
Handley Page HastingsThe Handley Page H.P.67 Hastings was a British troop-carrier and freight transport aircraft designed and built by Handley Page Aircraft Company for the Royal Air Force...
, was added to the squadrons flying into RAF Gatow and some aircrews and aircraft were redeployed to train replacement aircrews. Many of these were based at RAF Schleswigland, near
JagelJagel is a municipality in the district of Schleswig-Flensburg, in Schleswig-Holstein, Germany....
, which is currently used by the
LuftwaffeLuftwaffe is a generic German term for an air force. It is also the official name for two of the four historic German air forces, the Wehrmacht air arm founded in 1935 and disbanded in 1946; and the current Bundeswehr air arm founded in 1956....
and the
MarinefliegerThe Marineflieger is the naval air arm of the German Navy.-History:During the First World War, naval aviators were part of the Kaiserliche Marine...
. A Hastings aircraft, which served on the airlift and was later RAF Gatow's 'gate guardian' until the station's closure, is now preserved in the
Alliierten MuseumThe Allied Museum is a museum in Berlin. It documents the political history and the military commitments and roles of the Western Allies in Germany – particularly Berlin – between 1945 and 1994 and their contribution to liberty in Berlin.-Location: American Sector:The museum is located on the...
(see weblink at base of page). By mid-December, the RAF had landed 100,000 tons of supplies. In April 1949, commercial airline companies involved in the airlift were formed into a Civil Airlift Division (co-ordinated by British European Airways) to operate under RAF control. Apart from BEA itself, these included a number of
BritainThe United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern IrelandIn the United Kingdom and Dependencies, other languages have been officially recognised as legitimate autochthonous languages under the European Charter for Regional or Minority Languages...
's fledgling independent airlines as well, such as the late Sir Freddie Laker's
Air CharterAir charter is the business of renting an entire aircraft as opposed to individual aircraft seats...
, Harold Bamberg's Eagle Aviation and Skyways. By mid-April, the combined airlift of all nations operations managed to make 1,398 flights in 24 hours, carrying 12,940 tons (13,160 t) of goods, coal and machinery, beating their record of 8,246 (8,385 t) set only days earlier.
RAF Gatow has the unique and unlikely distinction of being the base for the only known operational use of flying boats in
central EuropeCentral Europe or alternatively Middle Europe is a region of the European continent lying between the variously defined areas of Eastern and Western Europe...
, during the Berlin Blockade, on the nearby
Großer WannseeWannsee is a locality in the southwestern Berlin borough of Steglitz-Zehlendorf, Germany. It is the westernmost locality of Berlin. In the quarter there are two lakes, the larger Großer Wannsee and the Kleiner Wannsee , are located on the river Havel and are separated only by the Wannsee bridge...
in the
HavelThe Havel is a river in north-eastern Germany, flowing through the German states of Mecklenburg-Vorpommern, Brandenburg, Berlin and Saxony-Anhalt. It is a right tributary of the Elbe river and in length...
river. On 6 July 1948, the RAF began using 10
Short SunderlandThe Short S.25 Sunderland was a British flying boat patrol bomber developed for the Royal Air Force by Short Brothers. It took its service name from the town and port of Sunderland in northeast England....
and 2
Short HytheThe Short S.25 Sunderland was a British flying boat patrol bomber developed for the Royal Air Force by Short Brothers. It took its service name from the town and port of Sunderland in northeast England....
flying boats, flying from
FinkenwerderFinkenwerder is a quarter of Hamburg, Germany in the borough Hamburg-Mitte. It is the location of a plant of Airbus and its airport...
on the
ElbeThe Elbe is one of the major rivers of Central Europe. It rises in the Krkonoše Mountains of the northwestern Czech Republic before traversing much of Bohemia , then Germany and flowing into the North Sea at Cuxhaven, 110 km northwest of Hamburg...
near
Hamburg-History:The first historic name for the city was, according to Claudius Ptolemy's reports, Treva.But the city takes its modern name, Hamburg, from the first permanent building on the site, a castle whose construction was ordered by the Emperor Charlemagne in AD 808...
to
BerlinBerlin is the capital city of Germany and is one of the 16 states of Germany. With a population of 3.45 million people, Berlin is Germany's largest city. It is the second most populous city proper and the seventh most populous urban area in the European Union...
. These were supplemented by the flying boat operations of
Aquila AirwaysAquila Airways was a Southampton, Hampshire based British independentindependent from government-owned corporations airline, formed on 18 May 1948.-Early operations:...
, an early post-
warWorld War II, or the Second World War , was a global conflict lasting from 1939 to 1945, involving most of the world's nations—including all of the great powers—eventually forming two opposing military alliances: the Allies and the Axis...
British independent airline that became an operating division of
British Aviation ServicesBritish Aviation Services Limited was an early post-World War II airline holding company and air transport operator that could trace its roots back to 1946. Its main activities included trooping, inclusive tour and worldwide passenger and freight charter services...
. The flying boats' specialty was transporting bulk salt, which would have been very corrosive to other aircraft, but was not as corrosive to the flying boats because of their anodised skins.
The novel
Air Bridge by
Hammond InnesRalph Hammond Innes was a British novelist who wrote over 30 novels, as well as children's and travel books....
is partially set in RAF Gatow at the time of the Berlin Airlift, and is notable for its accurate descriptions of the Station, including corridors and rooms within it. Some of the descriptions were still accurate some 40 years after the book's publication.
To commemorate Australian participation in the Airlift, the
Royal Australian Air ForceThe Royal Australian Air Force is the air force branch of the Australian Defence Force. The RAAF was formed in March 1921. It continues the traditions of the Australian Flying Corps , which was formed on 22 October 1912. The RAAF has taken part in many of the 20th century's major conflicts...
presented RAF Gatow with a retired Douglas Dakota in the 1980s, to use as a
gate guardianA gate guardian or gate guard is a withdrawn piece of equipment, often an aircraft, armoured vehicle, artillery piece or locomotive, mounted on a plinth and used as a static display near to and forming a symbolic display of "guarding" the main entrance to somewhere, especially a military base...
. The
Luftwaffenmuseum der BundeswehrThe Luftwaffenmuseum der Bundeswehr , together with the Militärhistorisches Museum der Bundeswehr, is one of the major military history museums in Germany. The museum acts as an independent military department...
preserves this aircraft on the airfield.
1949-1994
After the
Berlin BlockadeThe Berlin Blockade was one of the first major international crises of the Cold War and the first resulting in casualties. During the multinational occupation of post-World War II Germany, the Soviet Union blocked the Western Allies' railway and road access to the sectors of Berlin under Allied...
, RAF Gatow served as an airfield for the
British ArmyThe British Army is the land warfare branch of Her Majesty's Armed Forces in the United Kingdom. It came into being with the unification of the Kingdom of England and Scotland into the Kingdom of Great Britain in 1707. The new British Army incorporated Regiments that had already existed in England...
's Berlin Infantry Brigade, and was prepared to revert to its role as a supply base, if another Berlin Airlift to
West BerlinWest Berlin was a political exclave that existed between 1949 and 1990. It comprised the western regions of Berlin, which were bordered by East Berlin and parts of East Germany. West Berlin consisted of the American, British, and French occupation sectors, which had been established in 1945...
ever became necessary.
BEA moved to Tempelhof Airport in 1951, where most of West Berlin's commercial air transport operations were concentrated from then on. Gatow's non-military use after 1950 included several official visits by
Queen ElizabethElizabeth II is the constitutional monarch of 16 sovereign states known as the Commonwealth realms: the United Kingdom, Canada, Australia, New Zealand, Jamaica, Barbados, the Bahamas, Grenada, Papua New Guinea, the Solomon Islands, Tuvalu, Saint Lucia, Saint Vincent and the Grenadines, Belize,...
and other members of the
British Royal FamilyThe British Royal Family is the group of close relatives of the monarch of the United Kingdom. The term is also commonly applied to the same group of people as the relations of the monarch in her or his role as sovereign of any of the other Commonwealth realms, thus sometimes at variance with...
, which frequently took place over the years. The airport also handled trooping flights operated by British independent airlines such as British United Airways,
Britannia AirwaysBritannia Airways was the largest charter airline in the United Kingdom, rebranded as Thomsonfly in 2005. Its main bases were Gatwick, London Luton, Birmingham, Manchester, Newcastle and Glasgow...
and
Autair/Court LineCourt Line was a prominent British holiday charter airline during the early 1970s based at Luton Airport in Bedfordshire. It also provided bus services in Luton and surrounding areas....
under contract to the
MoDThe Ministry of Defence is the United Kingdom government department responsible for implementation of government defence policy and is the headquarters of the British Armed Forces....
.
The
RAF Gatow Station Flight used two De Havilland Chipmunk T10s, one of which is now in the
Alliiertenmuseum (see weblink at base of page), to maintain and exercise the British legal right under the
Potsdam AgreementThe Potsdam Agreement was the Allied plan of tripartite military occupation and reconstruction of Germany—referring to the German Reich with its pre-war 1937 borders including the former eastern territories—and the entire European Theatre of War territory...
to use the airspace over both
WestWest Berlin was a political exclave that existed between 1949 and 1990. It comprised the western regions of Berlin, which were bordered by East Berlin and parts of East Germany. West Berlin consisted of the American, British, and French occupation sectors, which had been established in 1945...
and
East BerlinEast Berlin was the name given to the eastern part of Berlin between 1949 and 1990. It consisted of the Soviet sector of Berlin that was established in 1945. The American, British and French sectors became West Berlin, a part strongly associated with West Germany but a free city...
, as well as the
air corridorDuring the Cold War era , the West Berlin Air Corridors comprised three regulated airways for civil and military air traffic of the Western Allies between West Berlin and West Germany passing over the former East Germany's territory. The corridors were under control of the all-Allied Berlin Air...
s to and from
West GermanyWest Germany is the common English, but not official, name for the Federal Republic of Germany or FRG in the period between its creation in May 1949 to German reunification on 3 October 1990....
to the city.
These aircraft were also used for reconnaissance missions in co-operation with
The British Commander-in-Chief's Mission to the Soviet Forces of Occupation in GermanyThe Group of Soviet Forces in Germany , also known as the Group of Soviet Occupation Forces in Germany and the Western Group of Forces were the troops of the Soviet Army in East Germany....
, commonly known as
BRIXMISThe British Commanders'-in-Chief Mission to the Soviet Forces in Germany was set up on 16 September 1946 under the Robertson-Malinin Agreement between the chiefs of staff of the British and Soviet forces in occupied Germany....
(see weblink at base of page to the BRIXMIS Association). Known from 1956 as
Operation Schooner and then
Operation Nylon, they were authorised, at the highest level, on an irregular basis to carry out covert photographic reconnaissance flights. All flights had to be notified to the
Berlin Air Safety CenterThe Berlin Air Safety Centre was established by the Allied Control Authority Coordinating Committee on the 12 December 1945. Operations began in February 1946 under quadripartite flight rules Paragraph 4...
(BASC), a quadripartite organisation responsible for authorising all flights in the 3 Air Corridors and the Berlin Control Zone (BCZ). All the Chipmunk Flight Notification Cards in the BASC were stamped by the Soviets “Safety of Flight Not Guaranteed” due to their interpretation of the 1946 Agreement as excluding flights outside West Berlin. Within the BCZ were many Soviet and East German military airfields and other installations.
After the fall of the Berlin Wall, Chipmunk reconnaissance flights soon ceased and the two Chipmunks were flown to
RAF LaarbruchThe former Royal Air Force Station Laarbruch, more commonly known as RAF Laarbruch ICAO EDUL was a Royal Air Force station, a military airbase, located in Germany on its border with the Netherlands...
, in Western Germany to await disposal action. Chipmunk WB466 was flown back to Berlin and was donated to the
AlliiertenmuseumThe Allied Museum is a museum in Berlin. It documents the political history and the military commitments and roles of the Western Allies in Germany – particularly Berlin – between 1945 and 1994 and their contribution to liberty in Berlin.-Location: American Sector:The museum is located on the...
in Berlin, where it remains on display today. WG486 is still in RAF service with the
Battle of Britain Memorial FlightThe Battle of Britain Memorial Flight is a Royal Air Force flight which provides an aerial display group comprising an Avro Lancaster, a Supermarine Spitfire and a Hawker Hurricane...
(see weblink at base of page).
RAF Gatow was from 1970 also used by the UKs Army Air Corps,
7 Flight being based at the station initially flying three Westland Sioux (UK-built
Bell 47The Bell 47 is a two-bladed, single engine, light helicopter manufactured by Bell Helicopter. Based on the third Model 30 prototype, Bell's first helicopter designed by Arthur M. Young, the Bell 47 became the first helicopter certified for civilian use on 8 March 1946...
) and later
Aérospatiale GazelleThe Aérospatiale Gazelle is a five-seat light helicopter, powered by a single turbine engine. It was designed and manufactured in France by Sud Aviation . It was also manufactured under licence by Westland Aircraft in the United Kingdom , by SOKO in Yugoslavia and ABHCO in Egypt...
AH 1 helicopters.
A Signals Unit (26SU) was also based at RAF Gatow and on the
TeufelsbergThe Teufelsberg is a hill in Berlin, Germany, in former West Berlin. It rises about 80 meters above the surrounding Brandenburg plain, more precisely the north of Berlin's Grunewald forest....
in the
GrunewaldGrunewald is a locality within the Berliner borough of Charlottenburg-Wilmersdorf. Famous for the homonymous forest, until 2001 administrative reform it was part of the former district of Wilmersdorf.-Geography:The locality is situated in the western side of the city and is separated from...
. 26SU was a specialist Signals Intelligence unit operated by the RAF on behalf of GCHQ Cheltenham tasked with monitoring
Warsaw PactThe Warsaw Treaty Organization of Friendship, Cooperation, and Mutual Assistance , or more commonly referred to as the Warsaw Pact, was a mutual defense treaty subscribed to by eight communist states in Eastern Europe...
military communications over E.Germany and Poland. On 15 July 1987, a young East German, Thomas Krüger, defected by flying a
Zlin Z-42M light aircraft of the
Gesellschaft für Sport und Technik (
GST – an East German paramilitary training organisation) to RAF Gatow from
SchönhagenThere are communes and places that have the name Schönhagen in Germany:*Schönhagen, Thuringia, in the Eichsfeld district, Thuringia*A locality in Trebbin in the Teltow-Fläming district, Brandenburg...
near
TrebbinTrebbin is a town in the Teltow-Fläming district of Brandenburg, Germany. It is situated on the river Nuthe, 14 km north of Luckenwalde, and 36 km southwest of Berlin ....
, in the
Teltow-FlämingTeltow-Fläming is a Kreis in the southwestern part of Brandenburg, Germany. Neighboring districts are Dahme-Spreewald, Elbe-Elster, the districts Wittenberg in Saxony-Anhalt, the district Potsdam-Mittelmark, and the Bundesland Berlin.-Geography:The district is named after the two main regions...
district of
BrandenburgBrandenburg is one of the sixteen federal-states of Germany. It lies in the east of the country and is one of the new federal states that were re-created in 1990 upon the reunification of the former West Germany and East Germany. The capital is Potsdam...
. His first words to the RAF Police were a request for political asylum. He was handed over to the civil authorities and received
West GermanWest Germany is the common English, but not official, name for the Federal Republic of Germany or FRG in the period between its creation in May 1949 to German reunification on 3 October 1990....
citizenshipCitizenship is the state of being a citizen of a particular social, political, national, or human resource community. Citizenship status, under social contract theory, carries with it both rights and responsibilities...
. His aircraft, registration DDR-WOH, was dismantled and returned to the East Germans (by road) by RAF station flight personnel, complete with humorous slogans painted on by RAF Airman such as "Wish you were here", "Come back soon" and the flying control surfaces lock bore the message "remove before the next escape". DDR-WOH is still flying today, but since 1991 under the different registration
D-EWOHD-EWOH is a Zlin Z 42M General Aviation aircraft. Prior to its registration to its current German tail number in 1991, it was registered in the German Democratic Republic as DDR-WOH...
.
East German invasion plans
The closest military neighbour to RAF Gatow was a tank unit of the
National People's ArmyThe National People’s Army were the armed forces of the German Democratic Republic .The NVA was established in 1956 and disestablished in 1990. There were frequent reports of East German advisors with Communist African countries during the Cold War...
(
NVA) of East Germany. This was located immediately opposite the airfield, behind the section of the
Berlin WallThe Berlin Wall was a barrier constructed by the German Democratic Republic starting on 13 August 1961, that completely cut off West Berlin from surrounding East Germany and from East Berlin...
which ran along the western side of the airfield, and was clearly visible from RAF Gatow's control tower. The Berlin Wall section opposite Gatow was not in fact a wall, but a wire fence. East Germany claimed that this was a "military courtesy", but nobody at RAF Gatow believed this, thinking that it was instead intended to make a military invasion easier. This surmise was confirmed after the reunification of Germany, when the East German invasion plans for West Berlin, codenamed "Operation CENTRE" were found.
Grenzregiment 34 "Hanno Günther" of the
Grenztruppen der DDR was allocated the task of attacking and occupying RAF Gatow. The invasion plans were continually updated, even in 1990 when it was clear that East Germany would soon cease to exist.
RAF Gatow: post-German reunification
Following the reunification of Germany, the British ceded control of Gatow Airport on 18 June 1994, and it was handed back to the
LuftwaffeLuftwaffe is a generic German term for an air force. It is also the official name for two of the four historic German air forces, the Wehrmacht air arm founded in 1935 and disbanded in 1946; and the current Bundeswehr air arm founded in 1956....
on 7 September 1994. It was kept in use as an airfield for a very short time, and then closed to air traffic in 1995. The western end of the two runways was later removed to make way for housing, leaving only the eastern portions, cut mid-field on a diagonal line. The remaining portions are used for the outdoor aircraft display.
The history of RAF Gatow and of western forces in Berlin from 1945 to 1994 is told in the
Alliiertenmuseum, or the
Allied Museum (see weblink at base of page).
Current use by the Luftwaffe and the Hans-Carossa-Gymnasium
The airfield is now called
General-Steinhoff Kaserne. Units now based there are
Bw Fachschule Berlin-Gatow,
Fernmeldeaufklärungsabschnitt 921,
Luftwaffenunterstützungskompanie Gatow,
Kommando 3 Luftwaffendivision,
Luftwaffenmusikkorps 4 and
Truppenambulanz Berlin-Gatow.
Also on the site of the former RAF station, but not part of
General-Steinhoff Kaserne, is a school, the
Hans-Carossa-Gymnasium, and houses for government employees of the Federal Republic of Germany. Since 2003, this has been part of the district of Berlin-Kladow.
The
General-Steinhoff Kaserne is also home to the
Luftwaffenmuseum der BundeswehrThe Luftwaffenmuseum der Bundeswehr , together with the Militärhistorisches Museum der Bundeswehr, is one of the major military history museums in Germany. The museum acts as an independent military department...
, the museum of the
LuftwaffeLuftwaffe is a generic German term for an air force. It is also the official name for two of the four historic German air forces, the Wehrmacht air arm founded in 1935 and disbanded in 1946; and the current Bundeswehr air arm founded in 1956....
which has many displays (including historic aircraft) and much information on German military aviation and the history of the airfield. Admission to the museum is free, and full details of the museum and how to get there are on the museum's website
. The museum, which is run by the LuftwaffeLuftwaffe is a generic German term for an air force. It is also the official name for two of the four historic German air forces, the Wehrmacht air arm founded in 1935 and disbanded in 1946; and the current Bundeswehr air arm founded in 1956....
, is under the technical and administrative chain of command of the Militärgeschichtliches ForschungsamtThe German Armed Forces Military History Research Office is located at Potsdam, the capital of Brandenburg, Germany.-Mission:...
or MGFA (Military History Research Institute).
Accidents and incidents
- On 5 April 1948, a BEA Vickers 610 Viking 1B (registration: G-AIVP)
The 1948 Gatow air disaster occurred on Monday 5 April 1948 when a British European Airways Vickers VC.1B Viking airliner crashed near RAF Gatow, Berlin, Germany after a mid-air collision with a Soviet Air Force Yakovlev Yak-3 fighter. All ten passengers and four crew on board the Viking were...
operating that day's scheduled flight from Northolt via Hamburg to Berlin collided during its approach to RAF Gatow head-on with a Soviet Air ForceThe Soviet Air Force, officially known in Russian as Военно-воздушные силы or Voenno-Vozdushnye Sily and often abbreviated VVS was the official designation of one of the air forces of the Soviet Union. The other was the Soviet Air Defence Forces...
Yakovlev 3 fighterA fighter aircraft is a military aircraft designed primarily for air-to-air combat with other aircraft, as opposed to a bomber, which is designed primarily to attack ground targets...
, which was performing aerobaticsAerobatics is the practice of flying maneuvers involving aircraft attitudes that are not used in normal flight. Aerobatics are performed in airplanes and gliders for training, recreation, entertainment and sport...
in the area at that time. As a result of the collision, the Viking spiralled out of control and crashed 1.9 miles from the airport on East German territory with the loss of all 14 lives (four crew, ten passengers) on board the aircraft. The Soviet fighter pilotAn aviator is a person who flies an aircraft. The first recorded use of the term was in 1887, as a variation of 'aviation', from the Latin avis , coined in 1863 by G. de la Landelle in Aviation Ou Navigation Aérienne...
was killed in the accident as well. The subsequent investigation established the Soviet fighter pilot's action, which contravened all accepted rules of flying and the quadripartite flying rules to which Soviet authorities were parties, as the cause of the accident.
- On 15 March 1949, a Skyways Avro 685 York I
The Avro York was a British transport aircraft that was derived from the Second World War Lancaster heavy bomber, and used in both military and airliner roles between 1943 and 1964.-Design and development:...
freighter (registration: G-AHFI) crashed on approach to RAF Gatow, as a result of losing its port wingPort and starboard are nautical terms which refer to the left and right sides, respectively, of a ship or aircraft as perceived by a person on board facing the bow . At night, the port side of a vessel is indicated with a red navigation light and the starboard side with a green one.The starboard...
. This caused the aircraft to dive into the ground, killing all three crew members.
See also
- Gatow
Gatow, a district of south-western Berlin is located west of the Havelsee lake and has forested areas within its boundaries. It is within the borough of Spandau. On 31 December 2002, it had 5,532 inhabitants.-History:...
- district of south-western BerlinBerlin is the capital city of Germany and is one of the 16 states of Germany. With a population of 3.45 million people, Berlin is Germany's largest city. It is the second most populous city proper and the seventh most populous urban area in the European Union...
- West Berlin
West Berlin was a political exclave that existed between 1949 and 1990. It comprised the western regions of Berlin, which were bordered by East Berlin and parts of East Germany. West Berlin consisted of the American, British, and French occupation sectors, which had been established in 1945...
- Berlin Airlift
- Berlin Wall
The Berlin Wall was a barrier constructed by the German Democratic Republic starting on 13 August 1961, that completely cut off West Berlin from surrounding East Germany and from East Berlin...
- Ernst Sagebiel
Ernst Sagebiel was a German architect.- Life :Sagebiel was a sculptor's son, and after his Abitur in 1912, he began his studies in architecture in Braunschweig...
External links