Airfield festival in Gatow

A festival: not only for aviation enthusiasts!

The Military History Museum of the Bundeswehr Berlin-Gatow Airfield (MHMBw) and the Association of Reservists in Berlin (VdRBw) invite you to the 12th Airfield Festival on the grounds of Gatow Airfield.

The exact date is the last holiday weekend in Berlin and Brandenburg:

• Saturday, 31 August, 10:00 am to 6:00 pm
• Sunday, 1 September, 10:00 am to 6:00 pm

Exclusively for the airfield festival, the museum is opening its depot in Hangar 7, which is otherwise not open to the public. The depot contains some of the 600,000 exhibits from the German Air Force that are kept by the MHMBw but are rarely or never exhibited. There are guided tours at 11.00 am, 1.00 pm, 2.00 pm, 3.00 pm and 4.00 pm. The new special exhibition Prinzip Held* in Hangar 5 and the permanent exhibition Zwischenlandung in Hangar 3 are regularly open to the public, where MHMBw stands provide information about the wide range of exhibitions and programmes on offer in Dresden, Königstein Fortress and Gatow.

Historic aircraft from the German Armed Forces, the National People's Army and the Allied Forces can be viewed on the airfield. The Tactical Air Force Squadron 51 "Immelmann" is on site with a mobile training cockpit of a "Tornado", which visitors can climb into under expert guidance. A C-160 "Transall" can also be viewed from the inside. Aviation organisations such as the "Gesellschaft zur Bewahrung von Stätten deutscher Luftfahrtgeschichte e.V. Berlin-Adlershof" and the "Freundeskreis Luftwaffe e.V." will be providing information about their programmes. A further 80 exhibitors, including the Allied Museum and the Berlin-Karlshorst Museum, will transform the runway into a huge family festival. In addition to a lavish entertainment, stage and culinary programme with a field kitchen, historic field bakery and sweet paradise, more than 20 vintage aircraft are expected to return to the museum airfield and, weather permitting, turn it into a lively take-off and landing site. The two special themes of 30 years of the handover of the site from the Royal Air Force to the German Armed Forces and 75 years of the Airlift show just how lively it was. Since the summer of 1994, the site has been available to the museum for one of the world's largest cross-block collections of Cold War-era air defence equipment. A new special exhibition with historical stamp motifs, the "Berlin Airlift Memorial in Faßberg" with an information stand and the permanent digital project "Remembering the Berlin Airlift - People, Places and Objects 75 Years Ago" by the MHMBw Berlin-Gatow Airfield honour the event.

As the Day of the Reservists, the 12th Airfield Festival is also a stage for citizens in uniform. Reservist organisations such as the Verband der Reservisten e.V., the Reservist Comradeship 06 Berlin Südwest, the Reservist Working Group Medical Service Berlin and the Home Guard Company Berlin will provide an insight into their voluntary work. The "Centre for Military History and Social Sciences of the Bundeswehr" (ZMSBw) from Potsdam, the German Armed Forces Association, the Bundeswehr Sozialwerk e.V., the Bundeswehr Career Truck, the newly created Bundeswehr Veterans' Office or the Special Field Post Office will also provide the opportunity to talk directly to the Bundeswehr or Bundeswehr-related organisations. "Blue light" organisations such as the Berlin Main Customs Office, the Berlin Police Publicity Office, the DLRG Berlin with its rescue dog squadron and the Federal Agency for Technical Relief (THW) are also looking forward to the traditionally great public interest in their work. Admission to the 12th Airfield Festival 2024 is free on both days. On-site payment can only be made in cash, not by debit card or digitally. Photography is permitted, drone flights are prohibited for safety reasons. Dogs are allowed on the airfield, but not in the buildings. A new digital map provides information on the location and range of all exhibitors, the stage and festival programme, the type designations of the pre-registered vintage aircraft and how to get there by public transport or car. The continuously updated digital map can be found as a QR code on the flyer, the poster or on the MHMBw Berlin-Gatow Airfield website at www.mhm-gatow.de. Press accreditation is not required. If you have any questions or requests during the festival weekend, please contact the MHMBw Flugplatz Berlin-Gatow information stand in Hangar 3 at any time.

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