Did you know that Berlin’s Gatow Airport handled more than one-third of all Berlin Airlift flights? The credit usually goes to Tempelhof Airport alone, but in fact, three airports were involved in the Berlin Airlift: Berlin-Tempelhof in the American sector, Berlin-Gatow in the British sector and Berlin-Tegel in the French Sector.
Militaer Historisches Museum – Berlin Gatow, Photo © J. Elke Ertle, 2019. www.walled-in-berlin.com
Reason for the Berlin Airlift
At the end of World War II, Germany and Berlin were divided into four occupation sectors: American, British, French and Russian. Berlin ended up deep within the Soviet zone. As part of the 1945 Potsdam Agreement, the three western Allies had negotiated free access from their West German occupation zones to their respective sectors of Berlin. In 1948, contrary to this agreement, the Soviets blocked all land and water access to West Berlin. The three Western Allies continued to support West Berlin and flew in all coal, food, and medications. The operation was known as the Berlin Airlift. Soon, an Allied plane landed every three minutes. Eleven months later, the Soviets called off the Berlin Blockade.
Gatow Airport’s Role During the Berlin Airlift
The very first planes to fly supplies into West Berlin landed at Gatow Airport, starting on 18 June 1948. Flights landed at Tempelhof Airport starting on 26 June 1948, and flights to Tegel Airport started on 5 November 1948. Both, Gatow and Tempelhof were high-tech airfields and among the first in the world to be equipped with a radar system to support ground-controlled approaches. At the time the Berlin Airlift started, two of Gatow’s runways were already in operation. A third one would be constructed shortly. Altogether, Gatow Airport handled more than 115,000 airlift flights out of a total of almost 278,000 flight to all three West Berlin airports combined.
History of Gatow Airfield
The Gatow airfield was originally constructed in 1934 and 1935 by the Luftwaffe, the German Air Force. Towards the end of World War II, advancing Red Army troops occupied the airport. Following the division of Berlin, the Soviet forces relinquished the field to the British forces in exchange for a locality at the western edge of Berlin.
Many different types of aircraft landed at Gatow Airport. Conventional transport aircraft brought coal, food and other goods. Bomber aircraft converted into tankers delivered fuels. The nearby Havel River was used as runway for flying boats. On their return flights some planes took passengers aboard. Almost 7,500 sick and undernourished children were flown from Gatow to West Germany via these flying boats.
Escapes to Gatow from East Germany
At least three successful escapes were made from East Germany to Gatow: On 7 April 1978 and 15 July 1987, a total of three East Germans defected by flying light aircrafts. Both planes were dismantled and returned to East Germany. On 24 June 1979, an East German pilot defected in a glider and landed at Gatow. The sailplane was handed back to East Germany at the Glienicke Bridge, the bridge of spies.
Today’s Use of the Airfield
Following German reunification, the British Royal Air Force stopped using Gatow Airport and handed it back to the German Armed Forces in 1994. Thereafter, the airfield was closed and the runways were cut in half. The western half became home to a housing project, and the eastern half houses the Militaer Historisches Museum, a branch of the German Armed Forces Military Museum.
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Walled-In is my story of growing up in Berlin during the Cold War. Juxtaposing the events that engulfed Berlin during the Berlin Blockade, the Berlin Airlift, the Berlin Wall and Kennedy’s Berlin visit with the struggle against my equally insurmountable parental walls, Walled-In is about freedom vs. conformity, conflict vs. harmony, domination vs. submission, loyalty vs. betrayal.
