RAF Gatow Known for most of its operational life as Royal Air Force Station Gatow , or more commonly RAF Gatow , this former British Royal Air Force military airbase is in the district of Gatow in south - western Berlin , west of the Havel river , in the borough of Spandau . It was the base for the only known operational use of flying boats in central Europe , and was later used for photographic reconnaissance missions by de Havilland Chipmunk s 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 . History . Luftwaffe use , 1934 - 1945 . The airfield was originally constructed in 1934 and 1935 by the Luftwaffe as a staff and technical college , " Luftkriegsschule Berlin - Gatow " , in imitation of the Royal Air Force College at RAF Cranwell . The initial personnel came partially from the naval officer college in Mürwick . Opened on 1 April 1936 , the air force college was renamed " Luftkriegsschule 2 " on 15 January 1940 . Its satellite airfields were Güterfelde and Reinsdorf . 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 Sagebiel , an architect who worked full - time for the Luftwaffe and also designed Tempelhof Airport . Other surviving features during the entire period of the airfield ' s use as RAF Gatow ( 1945 – 1994 ) included light bulbs in the main hangars , many of which dated from the 1930s . UK Royal Air Force and Army Air Corps use . 1945 - 1948 . Late April 1945 , towards the end of World War II in Europe , the airfield was occupied by the advancing Red Army . Following the division of Berlin into four sectors , Soviet forces relinquished part of the airfield and access roads , the so - called Seeburger Zipfel to the British after the Potsdam Conference in exchange for West - Staaken on 30 August 1945 . On 25 June 1945 , 284 Field Squadron , RAF Regiment , arrived at Gatow by land via Magdeburg . 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 Anson 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 Force aircraft was by Avro Anson serial number " 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 Latin 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 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 Viking piston - engined aircraft . Berlin Airlift , 1948 - 1949 . During the Berlin Airlift , the Station was modernised with a long concrete runway , using 794 German workers , in March 1947 . Along with the American airfield of Tempelhof and the French airfield of Tegel , RAF Gatow played a key role in the Berlin airlift of 1948 . Initially , about 150 Douglas Dakota s and 40 Avro York 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 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 Douglas Dakota to RAF Gatow in commemoration of its role . Its aircrew included Air Marshal David Evans , an Australian airlift veteran . As only British , French and American aircraft were allowed under international law to fly inside the Allied Air Corridors , the Dakota received the RAF serial number ZD215 . The Dakota is still at Gatow , inside the German Air Force barracks . In November 1948 , the latest RAF transport aircraft , the Handley Page Hastings , 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 Jagel , which is currently used by the German Air Force and the Marineflieger . 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 Museum " ( 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 Britain ' s fledgling independent airlines as well , such as the late Sir Freddie Laker ' s Air Charter , 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 Europe , during the Berlin Blockade , on the nearby " Großer Wannsee " in the Havel river . On 6 July 1948 , the RAF began using 10 Short Sunderland and 2 Short Hythe flying boats , flying from Finkenwerder on the Elbe near Hamburg to Berlin . These were supplemented by the flying boat operations of Aquila Airways , an early post - war British independent airline that became an operating division of British Aviation 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 anodise d skins . 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 . To commemorate Australian participation in the Airlift , the Royal Australian Air Force presented RAF Gatow with a retired Douglas Dakota in the 1980s , to use as a gate guardian . The aircraft was flown into Berlin with RAF markings to comply with the four power agreement and took part in the upcoming air day . The aircraft was then handed over to RAF personnel who then inhibited ( mothballed ) the still serviceable engines . The Luftwaffenmuseum der Bundeswehr preserves this aircraft on the airfield . 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 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 Elizabeth and other members of the British Royal Family , which frequently took place over the years . The airport also handled trooping flights operated by British independent airlines such as British United Airways , Britannia Airways and Autair / Court Line under contract to the MoD . 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 Agreement to use the airspace over both West and East Berlin , as well as the air corridor s to and from West Germany 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 Germany " , commonly known as " BRIXMIS " ( 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 Center ( 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 Laarbruch , in Western Germany to await disposal action . Chipmunk WG466 was flown back to Berlin and was donated to the " Alliiertenmuseum " in Berlin , where it remains on display today . WG486 is still in RAF service with the Battle of Britain Memorial Flight ( see weblink at base of page ) . RAF Gatow was from 1970 also used by the UKs Army Air Corps , " 7 Aviation Flight AAC , later renamed 7 Flight AAC " being based at the station initially flying four Westland Sioux ( UK - built Bell 47 ) and later three Aérospatiale Gazelle AH 1 helicopters . A Signals Unit ( 26SU ) was also based at RAF Gatow and on the Teufelsberg in the Grunewald . 26SU was a specialist Signals Intelligence unit operated by the RAF on behalf of GCHQ Cheltenham tasked with monitoring Warsaw Pact 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 Schönhagen near Trebbin , in the Teltow - Fläming district of Brandenburg . His first words to the RAF Police were a request for political asylum . He was handed over to the civil authorities and received West German citizenship . 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 - EWOH . East German invasion plans . The closest military neighbour to RAF Gatow was a tank unit of the " National People ' s Army " ( " NVA " ) of East Germany . This was located immediately opposite the airfield , behind the section of the Berlin Wall 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 German Air Force 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 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 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 Bundeswehr , the museum of the Air Force 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 < http : / / www . luftwaffenmuseum . de > . The museum , which is run by the Air Force , is under the technical and administrative chain of command of the " Militärgeschichtliches Forschungsamt " or " MGFA " ( Military History Research Institute ) .