Gatow (), a district of south-western

Berlin Berlin ( , ) is the capital and largest city of Germany by both area and population. Its 3.7 million inhabitants make it the European Union's most populous city, according to population within city limits. One of Germany's sixteen constitu ...

is located west of the ''Havelsee'' lake and has forested areas within its boundaries. It is within the borough of

Spandau Spandau () is the westernmost of the 12 boroughs () of Berlin, situated at the confluence of the Havel and Spree rivers and extending along the western bank of the Havel. It is the smallest borough by population, but the fourth largest by land ...

. On 31 December 2002, it had 5,532 inhabitants.

History

Gatow's existence was first recorded in 1258 under the name of ''Gatho''. In 1558, the village of Gatow became part of

. Following the division of Berlin into four sectors at the end of the

Second World War World War II or the Second World War, often abbreviated as WWII or WW2, was a world war that lasted from 1939 to 1945. It involved the vast majority of the world's countries—including all of the great powers—forming two opposi ...

, Gatow became part of the British sector of

West Berlin West Berlin (german: Berlin (West) or , ) was a political enclave which comprised the western part of Berlin during the years of the Cold War. Although West Berlin was de jure not part of West Germany, lacked any sovereignty, and was under mi ...

in early July 1945.

Infrastructures

Today's General-Steinhoff-Kaserne was between 1934 and 1994 home to an airfield, first used by the

Luftwaffe The ''Luftwaffe'' () was the aerial-warfare branch of the German '' Wehrmacht'' before and during World War II. Germany's military air arms during World War I, the '' Luftstreitkräfte'' of the Imperial Army and the '' Marine-Fliegerabt ...

as a staff and technical college, ''Luftkriegsschule II'', and then by the

Royal Air Force The Royal Air Force (RAF) is the United Kingdom's air and space force. It was formed towards the end of the First World War on 1 April 1918, becoming the first independent air force in the world, by regrouping the Royal Flying Corps (RFC) an ...

and Army Air Corps as

RAF Gatow 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 onl ...

. RAF Gatow has the unlikely distinction of having been home during the

Berlin Airlift The Berlin Blockade (24 June 1948 – 12 May 1949) was one of the first major international crises of the Cold War. During the multinational occupation of post–World War II Germany, the Soviet Union blocked the Western Allies' railway, ro ...

to the only known operational use of

flying boats A flying boat is a type of fixed-winged seaplane with a hull, allowing it to land on water. It differs from a floatplane in that a flying boat's fuselage is purpose-designed for floatation and contains a hull, while floatplanes rely on fusel ...

within central Europe, when the RAF used

Short Sunderland The Short S.25 Sunderland is a British flying boat patrol bomber, developed and constructed by Short Brothers for the Royal Air Force (RAF). The aircraft took its service name from the town (latterly, city) and port of Sunderland in North Ea ...

s to transport salt from

Hamburg Hamburg (, ; nds, label=Hamburg German, Low Saxon, Hamborg ), officially the Free and Hanseatic City of Hamburg (german: Freie und Hansestadt Hamburg; nds, label=Low Saxon, Friee un Hansestadt Hamborg),. is the List of cities in Germany by popul ...

to Berlin, landing on the ''Havelsee'' lake. The airfield was handed back to the Luftwaffe on 7 September 1994 and was kept in use as an airfield for a very short time, being closed to air traffic in 1995. It is now called General-Steinhoff-Kaserne and is home to some non-flying Luftwaffe units, and the Luftwaffen Museum der Bundeswehr. This is the museum of the Luftwaffe 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 websit

The history of RAF Gatow and of western forces in Berlin from 1945 to 1994 is told in the ''Alliierten Museum'' ( Allied Museum

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 Germany,, officially the Federal Republic of Germany, is a country in Central Europe. It is the second most populous country in Europe after Russia, and the most populous member state of the European Union. Germany is situated between ...

. This has been from 2003 part of the district of Berlin-Kladow.

References

External links

Gatow page on www.berlin.de

Gatow Volunteer Fire Brigade (in German)

Website of the Gatow branch
of the Christian Democratic Union (in German)
Luftwaffen Museum der Bundeswehr (official website)

West Alliierte in Berlin e.V.

The Hans-Carossa-Gymnasium (in German)

* ttp://www.alliiertenmuseum.de/ Alliierten Museum (The Allied Museum) - museum of the history of western forces in Berlin and Germany from 1945 to 1994 {{Authority control Localities of Berlin *