RAF Gatow
RAF Gatow 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
Also on the site of the former
History
Luftwaffe use, 1934–1945
The airfield was originally constructed in 1934 and 1935 by the
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
UK Royal Air Force and Army Air Corps use
1945–1948
Late April 1945, towards the end of the
The first landing by a
Among the aircrew who flew in to RAF Gatow was the then RAF Navigator Errol Barrow. During his distinguished RAF career, Barrow was posted to the personal flight of the Commander-in-Chief of the British occupation zone in Germany, Sir Sholto Douglas, as his Navigator. Douglas and Barrow became friends, and Douglas made Barrow Godfather to his only child. Barrow went on to be instrumental in achieving Barbados' independence and was the first and third Prime Minister of Barbados.[2]
RAF Gatow was also used as a civilian airport for a limited time. In 1946, British European Airways (BEA) inaugurated an RAF Northolt – Hamburg – Gatow scheduled service at a frequency of six flights a week, using Douglas DC-3 ("Pionair" in BEA terminology) and Vickers VC.1 Viking piston-engined aircraft.[3]
Berlin Airlift, 1948–1949
The Station was modernised with a 2,000 yards (1,800 m) long concrete runway, using 794 German workers, in March 1947. Along with the
Alongside the Royal Air Force and various British civil aviation companies, the United States Air Force, the Royal Australian Air Force (RAAF), the Royal Canadian Air Force (RCAF), the Royal New Zealand Air Force (RNZAF) and the South African Air Force all flew supplies into RAF Gatow during the Airlift.
On 20 June 1980, the Royal Australian Air Force presented a
In November 1948, the latest RAF transport aircraft, the
RAF Gatow has the unique and unlikely distinction of being the base for the only known operational use of
The novel Air Bridge by Hammond Innes 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.
1949–1994
After the Berlin Blockade, RAF Gatow served as an airfield for the British Army's Berlin Infantry Brigade, and was prepared to revert to its role as a supply base, if another Berlin Airlift to West Berlin ever became necessary.
BEA moved to
The RAF Gatow Station Flight used two de Havilland Canada DHC-1 Chipmunk T.10s, one of which is now owned by the Alliiertenmuseum, to maintain and exercise the British legal right under the Potsdam Agreement to use the airspace over both West and East Berlin, as well as the air corridors to and from West Germany to the city.
In the 1950s the base was also an important centre for intelligence gathering by Royal Air Force Linguists monitoring on a 24/7 basis Soviet air traffic broadcasts from its bases all over Eastern Europe.
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 Germany, commonly known as BRIXMIS. 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 Center (BASC), a quadripartite organisation responsible for authorising all flights in the three 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.[10]
After the fall of the Berlin Wall, Chipmunk reconnaissance flights soon ceased and the two Chipmunks were flown to
RAF Gatow was from 1970 also used by the UK's Army Air Corps, 7 Aviation Flight AAC, later renamed No. 7 Flight AAC being based at the station initially flying four Westland Sioux (UK-built Bell 47) and later three Westland Gazelle AH.1 helicopters. A Signals Unit (26SU) was also based at RAF Gatow and on the
Escapes to Gatow from East Germany
At least three successful escapes were made from East Germany to RAF Gatow.
On 9 April 1978 the two
On 24 June 1979 an East German glider landed at RAF Gatow, its pilot seeking political asylum. The glider was handed back to East Germany at the Glienicke Bridge four days later. The flying control surface lock for the rudder bore the message "remove before the next escape".[12]
On 15 July 1987, a young
East German invasion plans
The closest military neighbour to RAF Gatow was a tank unit of the
Closure
Following the
The airfield was kept operational 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 Allied Museum.
1989 RAF Garrison
Below is the RAF's garrison of the station in 1989:[15]
- RAF Gatow Headquarters
- Gatow Station Service Squadron
- RAF Gatow Station Flight
- Air Traffic Control
- Catering Squadron
- Security Squadron
- No. 26 Signals Unit RAF
- Berlin Detachment RAF Provost & Security Services (Germany)
Current use by the German Air Force 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
The General-Steinhoff Kaserne is also home to the
Accidents and incidents
- On 18 March 1947, a Berlin-Kladow less than a mile away from RAF Gatow. The pilot survived.[16]
- On 5 April 1948, a pilot 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.[17]
- On 15 March 1949, a Skyways Avro 685 York I freighter (registration: G-AHFI) crashed on approach to RAF Gatow, as a result of losing its port wing. This caused the aircraft to dive into the ground, killing all three crew members.[18]
See also
- West Berlin
- Berlin Airlift
- Berlin Wall
- Ernst Sagebiel
References
- ^ Schultz, Sigrid (2 November 1935). "Germany Opens School to Train Flyers for War". Chicago Tribune.
- ^ "Errol Barrow – Statesman, Prime Minister of Barbados, RAF Navigator World War II". www.bajanthings.com. 12 March 2019. Retrieved 17 February 2021.
- ^ a b Berlin Airport Company - Airline Portrait - British Airways, February 1975 Monthly Timetable Booklet for Berlin Tempelhof and Berlin Tegel Airports, Berlin Airport Company, West Berlin, 1975
- ^ "The Home Of Eagle" ... — Berlin Airlift commemorative stamp depicting Handley Page 61 Halifax 8 G-ALEF Red Eagle (c/n 1399)
- ^ "The end of the Boat in BOAC service – Aquila Airways". Airliner Classics: 63. December 2010.
- ^ British United BAC One-Eleven 201AC G-ASJG at Berlin Gatow during October 1967 (picture) Archived 17 July 2011 at the Wayback Machine
- ^ Britannia Airways Boeing 737-204 G-AVRO at Berlin Gatow on 10 June 1969 (picture)
- ^ Autair BAC One-Eleven 416EK G-AWBL at Berlin Gatow on 10 June 1968 (picture)
- ^ Court Line BAC One-Eleven 518FG G-AXMJ at Berlin Gatow on 11 September 1973 (picture)
- ^ de Havilland Chipmunk Archived 26 February 2008 at the Wayback Machine The Spyflight Website
- ISBN 978-3897069015.
- ISBN 978-1857800340.
- ^ "Spürpanzer zu Kunstobjekten, 10.04.2007". Die Tageszeitung: Taz. 10 April 2007. p. 23. Retrieved 18 May 2020.
- ISBN 1-899808-06-X.
- ^ British Army of the Rhine & Royal Air Force (Germany): Organisation and Stationing of the British Armed Forces in Germany in 1989 (PDF). Alterfritz. 2018. Archived from the original (PDF) on 24 November 2021. Retrieved 4 April 2021.
- ^ Warrant Officer Angus Mackay Archived 17 March 2011 at the Wayback Machine The Hawker Tempest Page
- ^ ASN Aircraft accident description Vickers 610 Viking 1B G-AIVP — RAF Gatow, Berlin, Germany
- ^ ASN Aircraft accident description Avro 685 York I G-AHFI — RAF Gatow, Berlin, Germany
Bibliography
- Durie, William (2012). The British Garrison Berlin 1945 - 1994: nowhere to go ... a pictorial historiography of the British Military occupation / presence in Berlin. Berlin: Vergangenheitsverlag (OCLC 978161722.
- Kevin Wright and Peter Jefferies "Looking down the corridors-Allied aerial espionage over East Germany and Berlin 1945–1990",2015, ISBN 978-0-7509-7947-4.
Further reading
- Barker, Dudley, Berlin Airlift (HMSO, London, 1949)
- HQ Berlin Infantry Brigade, Berlin Bulletin Volume 45 Issue 36 (Berlin, 16 September 1994)
- Best, Peter B. & Gerlof, Andreas, Flugplatz Gatow (English edition Gatow Airfield) (Kai Homilius Verlag, Berlin, 1998)
- Corbett, Major-General Sir Robert, Berlin and the British Ally, 1945-1990, (Privately published by Sir Robert in Oerlinghausen, 1991)
- Geraghty, Tony, BRIXMIS (London 1996)
- Gibson, Steve, The Last Mission: Behind the Iron Curtain, (Sutton Publishing, 1997)
- Hall, Alan W., Berlin Airlift, article in Scale Aircraft Modelling, August 1998
- Innes, Hammond, Air Bridge, (London, 1951)
- Jeschonnek, Friedrich, Riedel, Dieter and Durie, William Alliierte in Berlin 1945–1994. Ein Handbuch zur Geschichte der militärischen Präsenz der Westmächte, (BWV, Berlin 2007)
- Marsden, Roy, Operation 'Schooner/Nylon': RAF flying in the Berlin control zone, Intelligence and National Security volume 13, no. 4 (Winter 1998), pp 178–193.
- Meek, Colonel AD, Operation CENTRE, article in British Army Review, August 1994
- Miller, RE, A Bridge Yesterday – The Story of Royal Air Force Gatow (Undated, in 3. Luftwaffendivision Archives)
- Wilson, Squadron Leader GD (edited by S/Ldr. PC Whitfield), History of Gatow (RAF Gatow, March 1971)
- Pearcy, Berlin Airlift (Airlife, Shrewsbury* Pearcy, Berlin Airlift, 1997) ISBN 1-85310-845-6
External links
- History and photos (in German) of the airfield from 1934 to 1945
- Photographs of aircraft at Gatow from 1965 onwards
- Gatow Airfield in the 1980s, photographs of Marco Criscoulo
- British Berlin Airlift Association
- RAF Gatow Station Commanders
- RAF Gatow Old Boys Association Archived 16 January 2009 at the Wayback Machine Their website was reported dark on 21 April 2014. RIP.
- The BRIXMIS Association
- BRIXMIS in the 1980s: The Cold War's 'Great Game', by Major General Peter Williams CMG OBE
- Reconnaissance missions from RAF Gatow by Chipmunks (article includes photos) Archived 26 February 2008 at the Wayback Machine
- Article on East German plans for the invasion and occupation of West Berlin[permanent dead link]
- Planeboys Spotters' page on Gatow
- Alliierten Museum (The Allied Museum) - museum of the history of western forces in Berlin and Germany from 1945 to 1994 (in German, English and French)
- Alliierte in Berlin e.V.
- The ex-RAF Gatow Chipmunk in the Battle of Britain Memorial Flight Archived 11 August 2007 at the Wayback Machine
- Western Allies Berlin: History of the US Army Berlin Brigade, British Berlin Infantry Brigade and Forces Françaises à Berlin
- West Alliierte in Berlin e.V. website run by former RAF Gatow civilian employees and others
- The Aviation Safety Foundation's list of aviation accidents at RAF Gatow
- The Luftwaffe's official website
- Luftwaffenmuseum der Bundeswehr - The Luftwaffe Museum's official website in English Archived 22 April 2014 at the Wayback Machine
- The Hans-Carossa-Gymnasium (in German)
- The history of Gatow Airfield in German - a project of the Hans-Carossa-Gymnasium
- 2003 photo of the Zlin Z-42M flown to RAF Gatow by an escaper from the GDR in 1987, now registered as D-EWOH
- RAF Schleswigland and RAF Gatow during the Berlin Airlift