"You Can't Miss Gatow"

The history of an airfield

Der Flugplatz Gatow erzählt viele Geschichten – von der geheimen Aufrüstung der nationalsozialistischen Luftwaffe über das Ende des Zweiten Weltkriegs und die Zeit des Kalten Kriegs bis hin zur Wiedervereinigung.

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Gatow Airfield tells many stories - from the secret rearmament of the National Socialist air force to the end of the Second World War and the Cold War period to reunification. It is an authentic German place of remembrance in which the traces of the eventful 20th century are etched.

The Bundeswehr Museum of Military History Airfield Berlin-Gatow (MHM Gatow) makes many of these traces visible in its new exhibition on the history of the site. This already begins with the time before the airfield was built, with the up-and-coming villa suburb of Kladow and the glider pilots on the Gatow windmill hill. In the mid-1930s, the National Socialists built a huge complex here for the training of Luftwaffe pilots and officers, but also for aerial warfare research. Towards the end of the Second World War, the Red Army conquered the site in April 1945. However, it only remains for a short time, because in the course of the division of the sectors, the entire site with the airfield falls to the British Royal Air Force, which is stationed here until 1994.

The airfield, located close to the border with the GDR, is an important theatre of the Cold War. Here, East and West eavesdropped on and watched each other through binoculars, radio interception and reconnaissance flights. This all took place in secret, but during the time of the Berlin blockade by the Soviet Union from June 1948 to May 1949, the public also looked at Gatow. Alongside Tempelhof and later Tegel, the air supply of Berlin's population was also largely handled by this airfield.

With reunification and the withdrawal of the Allied troops in 1994, the time of the British in Gatow came to an end. The Bundeswehr took over the site. Today, the Air Force Inspectorate has its headquarters here. The airfield and museum adjacent to the barracks are open to the public.

"You can't miss Gatow" - this statement, which referred to the installation of a modern air traffic control radar in Gatow in 1947, is still valid today, loosely based on the motto "You can't miss Gatow!"

Runtime: from May 2019

Takes place here:

• Militärhistorisches Museum - Flugplatz Berlin-Gatow