Military History Museum Berlin-Gatow Airfield

On the western edge of Berlin, between Kladow and the Havel, lies an airfield where no regular flight operations have taken place for over thirty years – and which is nevertheless full of aircraft. The Military History Museum Berlin-Gatow Airfield, still known to many as the Luftwaffe Museum of the Bundeswehr, shows the history of military aviation in Germany here. For spotters it is a double stroke of luck: the collection is large and varied, and the place itself has made aviation history – from the air warfare school through the Royal Air Force to the Berlin Airlift.

A Bundeswehr museum on historic ground

Unlike private collections such as the Flugausstellung Hermeskeil, Gatow belongs to the state. The operator is the Bundeswehr: since 2010 the museum has been the Berlin branch of the Bundeswehr Military History Museum, whose headquarters is in Dresden. It has carried its current name since October 2011. Before that, generations of visitors knew it as the Luftwaffe Museum.

The roots of the collection, however, lie not in Berlin but in Schleswig-Holstein. In 1957 the collector Fritz Helmut Jaeckel began gathering uniforms and objects on military aviation. The collection was first shown in Uetersen near Hamburg. In 1963 a board of trustees was formed, from which a friends’ association later emerged, and from 1967 the first large exhibits were added. In 1987 the Bundeswehr took over the collection.

The decisive step came with the end of the Cold War. When the Royal Air Force left Berlin in 1994, Gatow airfield became available – with hangars, a tower and aprons, as if made for an aviation museum. On September 23, 1995, the museum opened in Gatow, at first expressly as a “museum under construction.” Wikipedia gives around 60,000 visitors a year for 2017.

Gatow airfield: three eras on one site

Anyone visiting Gatow is standing on a piece of contemporary history. The museum expressly makes the place itself a subject – in the exhibition “You can’t miss Gatow,” but also through the buildings you pass on your tour.

Air warfare school and air war academy

Before the military came, glider pilots used the nearby hills. From 1934, as part of rearmament, the Luftwaffe built a large complex on the fields between Ritterfelddamm and the Helleberge: an air warfare school and air war academy for training pilots and officers in one place. At the end of 1935 the air base was opened. The hangars and the tower building from this period are listed today and shape the look of the grounds.

RAF Gatow and the Airlift

At the end of April 1945 the Red Army took the field. With Berlin divided into sectors, Gatow fell to the British in July 1945, and the air base became RAF Gatow. The Royal Air Force stayed here for almost five decades.

The airfield earned its firm place in history during the Berlin Blockade of 1948/49. Besides Tempelhof Airport in the American sector and the later-added Tegel Airport, Gatow was one of the Airlift’s landing fields. At the end of June 1948 the first British supply flights landed here. On the nearby Havel, British Short Sunderland flying boats even landed on the water at times – a model of one is in the exhibition. How the whole operation unfolded and which types took part is told in our article on the Berlin Airlift 1948/49.

Border airfield in the Cold War

In the following decades civil scheduled traffic in West Berlin was handled mainly by Tempelhof and later Tegel. Gatow remained a military airfield – and one right next to the GDR border. East and West watched each other here with binoculars, radio monitoring and reconnaissance flights. For decades the Royal Air Force stationed two Chipmunk trainers in Gatow that were used for observation flights; from 1970 a helicopter squadron of the British Army Air Corps was added.

One of the best-known episodes: in 1978 two brothers fled the GDR in a Zlín Z-42 and landed in Gatow. On June 30, 1994, flight operations ended for good, the British withdrew, and in September the Bundeswehr took over the site. Part of it remains the active General-Steinhoff Barracks to this day.

The exhibitions at a glance

The museum is divided into three large areas plus changing special exhibitions. Expect to spend most of your time outside.

“Zwischenlandung” in Hangar 3

The interim permanent exhibition tells the story of military aviation from the early biplanes to the Luftwaffe after 1990. Each era is marked by a container tower with a large-format image, and the large exhibits stand toward the center of the hangar. From the gallery you get a good view of a MiG-29 and a Tornado. Among the early pieces are a French Farman III and a CASA C-2.111B, a Spanish license-built version of the Heinkel He 111.

The museum deliberately understands technology as part of cultural history. Besides aircraft you therefore find objects showing what air warfare meant for people on the ground – from a piece of rubble from a Rotterdam orphanage in 1940 to a prisoner uniform from V2 production at Mittelbau-Dora. The centerpiece is a “Room of Reflection” with eyewitness accounts.

According to Wikipedia (exhibit list as of 2018), Hangar 3 also holds or held genuine World War II rarities: an original Messerschmitt Me 163 of Jagdgeschwader 400 and a Focke-Wulf Fw 190 A-8. Because the exhibition is being rebuilt, individual pieces may move temporarily into storage or the restoration workshop.

The outdoor area: the Cold War under open sky

For most spotters the outdoor area is the main reason to visit. Heavy equipment from East and West stands here: nuclear-weapons carriers, transports, trainers, fighter-bombers, reconnaissance aircraft, electronic warfare aircraft, submarine hunters and target tugs. Add radar installations and surface-to-air missiles – from the World War II “Würzburg Giant” to the Patriot system.

A special piece is the Douglas C-47 “Dakota,” which the museum highlights as a gift from the Australian government. The history of the type, which also played a key role in the Airlift, is told in the article on the Douglas DC-3.

Spotter highlights with serials

For serial collectors Gatow is rewarding: many exhibits still carry their original Bundeswehr or NVA serials. The following selection comes from the exhibit list of the German-language Wikipedia (as of 2018). Locations and paint schemes may have changed through rebuilding and restoration.

The numeric serials with a plus sign are typical for the Bundeswehr: the first two digits roughly stand for the type or series, the last ones for the individual aircraft. How the system works exactly is explained in the article Bundeswehr aircraft serials.

The West: Starfighter, Phantom and Tornado

The F-104G Starfighter is something like the symbol of the early West German air force – technically fascinating and at the same time controversial because of its high loss rate. In Gatow you see it together with a launch booster – a rocket assist that let the jet take off even without a runway. The Phantom replaced the Starfighter in many roles and flew with the Luftwaffe until 2013. The Tornado, in turn, is the only one of the three you can still encounter in Luftwaffe flight operations today – in the museum you see it without a fence in between.

Especially exciting for fans of modern jets is the Eurofighter prototype DA5 with the serial 98+30. If you only know the Eurofighter Typhoon from flight operations, you can inspect an early development aircraft up close here. Where you can see the production aircraft in the air today is in the article Spotting the Eurofighter in Germany.

Transport aircraft are not neglected either: the Transall C-160 was the workhorse of the air transport wings for decades and has since been replaced by the A400M. The Breguet Atlantic, predecessor of today’s Atlantique 2, flew for the Marineflieger (German Naval Aviation) as a long-range maritime patrol aircraft.

The East: MiGs and Sukhois of the NVA

After reunification the Bundeswehr took over the air forces of the National People’s Army (NVA). Most types did not fit into NATO structures and were retired, and many ended up in museums. In Gatow you find, among others, the MiG-21, MiG-23, Su-22, Il-28, L-39 and the An-26.

The MiG-29 plays a special role: it was the only NVA fighter the Luftwaffe kept flying for years after 1990. Aircraft 29+03 therefore carries a Bundeswehr serial even though it was built in the Soviet Union. If you are interested in Interflug and civil GDR aviation, you will find the story in the article on Interflug.

Helicopters and air defense

If after your visit you want to go deeper into rotary-wing aircraft, the Helicopter Museum Bückeburg is the perfect complement. Gatow’s helicopter collection ranges from the Bell UH-1D “Huey” and the Bundeswehr’s Bo 105 through the Mil Mi-2, Mi-4, Mi-8 and Mi-24 from the East to the Saunders-Roe Skeeter and the Sikorsky H-34G. If you are specifically interested in rotorcraft, the article Recognizing helicopter types is worth reading as preparation.

The air defense section is also unusually broad: Nike Hercules, Hawk, Patriot, Roland and the Soviet systems S-75, S-125 and S-200 stand on the grounds. Even if your heart really beats for airliners – the scale of these missiles makes an impression.

Photography in Gatow

According to the museum’s FAQ, private, non-commercial photography is allowed, but without flash. For press and commercial shots you register in advance with the press office. Because the museum borders directly on the active General-Steinhoff Barracks, the rule is: photograph only in the publicly accessible areas and do not point the camera at military facilities outside the museum. Background is provided by the article Photographing military airfields.

Light gear is enough for a museum day: a standard zoom and a wide-angle lens cover almost everything. What else belongs in your bag is in the gear checklist.

Planning your visit

The museum is on the western edge of Berlin in the Spandau borough, Kladow district. According to the museum, the address is Am Flugplatz Gatow 33, 14089 Berlin.

• Opening hours: Tuesday to Sunday and on public holidays (also Mondays) from 10 a.m. to 6 p.m., normally closed on Mondays – as of October 2026.
• Admission: free. Public guided tour every Sunday at 2 p.m., meeting point in front of the tower building.
• Bus: BVG line 135 to Kurpromenade or Seekorso, then about ten minutes on foot.
• Car: Approach via the B 2, free car and bus parking on the grounds.
• Bike: From Wannsee, the BVG ferry F10 takes you across the Havel to Kladow.
• Food and drink: Snack and drink vending machines in Hangar 3; there is no café, so pack provisions.
• Dogs: allowed on a leash on the outdoor grounds, only assistance dogs in the exhibition rooms.

For families, “Zwischenlandung” has activity stations with the characters Pat, George and Dakota the dachshund – from sliding puzzles to a walk-in bunker. More ideas for outings with children are in the article Plane spotting with children.

Airfield festival: when Gatow becomes an airfield again

Once a year Gatow reminds you that it is an airfield. For the airfield festival, the two preserved runway sections of 830 meters each are used – in 2026 it took place on September 5 and 6. Further opportunities to see Luftwaffe equipment up close are collected in the article Bundeswehr Day and Luftwaffe open days. Some exhibits, by the way, came to the museum by air: according to Wikipedia, the Transall and the Canberra, for example, were flown to Gatow under their own power. Which other events of this kind exist in Germany is shown in the overview Airfield festivals in Germany.

Redesign: Gatow under reconstruction

The museum faces a major change. The permanent exhibition is being redesigned, with the new focus on a comparison of eras under the working title “Air forces – developments and contexts.” In parallel the Bundeswehr is renovating the listed buildings. The museum gives no fixed dates; until completion the current exhibition remains accessible. For the new exhibition the museum is looking for eyewitnesses who served in the Bundeswehr Luftwaffe or the air forces of the NVA.

On its home page, in connection with the redesign, the museum also brings up the former government A340-300 “Konrad Adenauer” with the serial 16+01. The aircraft flew for the air transport wing until 2023 and was dismantled for parts in Teruel, Spain, in 2025. In what form parts of it will come to Gatow is still open. More on the government jets is in the article Spotting government aircraft.

Combining the museum with live traffic

Apart from the airfield festival, nothing flies in Gatow itself. For current air traffic you cross the city to BER Airport. A good starting point is the observation deck at BER; further locations around the capital airport are collected in the guide Plane spotting at BER. Allow enough time for the trip from Kladow to Schönefeld, but a museum morning and a spotting afternoon are quite doable.

If you want even more aviation history on a Berlin weekend, combine Gatow with the German Museum of Technology in Kreuzberg and a walk across the Tempelhofer Feld. An overview of further museums in the country is given by the article Aviation museums in Germany; for East German military aviation the Flugplatzmuseum Cottbus is also a good option.

A separate spot profile with notes on vantage points on the grounds can be found at Luftwaffe Museum Berlin-Gatow.

Conclusion

The Military History Museum Berlin-Gatow Airfield is more than a collection of retired jets. It stands on an airfield that has experienced an air warfare school, a British garrison, the Airlift and a border location in the Cold War – and it is exactly this history that makes a visit special. For spotters, the outdoor area offers a rare chance to see Bundeswehr and NVA types with their original serials close together: Starfighter next to MiG-21, Phantom next to Su-22, Transall next to An-26.

Some exhibits show clear weathering, and the ongoing redesign brings changes. In return, admission is free, the opening hours are generous and combining it with a spotting afternoon at BER is an obvious choice.