RAF Gatow | |||||||||
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| Gatow, Berlin in Germany | |||||||||
 The main gate of RAF Gatow in August 1983. | |||||||||
  RAF Gatow Shown within Berlin  RAF Gatow RAF Gatow (Germany) | |||||||||
| Coordinates | 52°28′28″N 13°08′17″E / 52.47444°N 13.13806°E | ||||||||
| Site information | |||||||||
| Owner | Ministry of Defence (UK) | ||||||||
| Operator | Royal Air Force | ||||||||
| Controlled by | Royal Air Force Germany | ||||||||
| Site history | |||||||||
| Built | 1935 | ||||||||
| In use | 1935-1995 | ||||||||
| Airfield information | |||||||||
| Identifiers | IATA: | ||||||||
| Elevation | 49 metres (161 ft) AMSL | ||||||||
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| Note | Luftwaffe airfield opened by Adolf Hitler in 1935.[1] | ||||||||
Royal Air Force Gatow, or more commonly RAF Gatow, was a British Royal Air Force station (military airbase) in the district of Gatow in south-western Berlin, west of the Havel river, in the borough of Spandau. It was the home for the only known operational use of flying boats in central Europe, and was later used for photographic reconnaissance missions by de Havilland Canada DHC-1 Chipmunks over East Germany. Part of the former airfield is now called General Steinhoff-Kaserne, and is home to the Luftwaffenmuseum der Bundeswehr, the German Air Force Museum.
Also on the site of the former Royal Air Force 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.
- ^ Schultz, Sigrid (2 November 1935). "Germany Opens School to Train Flyers for War". Chicago Tribune.