Nonstop flight route between Berlin, Germany and Wilmington, Delaware, United States:

About this route:

A direct, nonstop flight between Royal Air Force Station Gatow (GWW), Berlin, Germany and Wilmington/Philadelphia Regional Airport (ILG), Wilmington, Delaware, United States would travel a Great Circle distance of 4,069 miles (or 6,549 kilometers).

A Great Circle is the shortest distance between 2 points on a sphere. Because most world maps are flat (but the Earth is round), the route of the shortest distance between 2 points on the Earth will often appear curved when viewed on a flat map, especially for long distances. If you were to simply draw a straight line on a flat map and measure a very long distance, it would likely be much further than if you were to lay a string between those two points on a globe. Because of the large distance between Royal Air Force Station Gatow and Wilmington/Philadelphia Regional Airport, the route shown on this map most likely appears curved because of this reason.

Try it at home! Get a globe and tightly lay a string between Royal Air Force Station Gatow and Wilmington/Philadelphia Regional Airport. You'll see that it will travel the same route of the red line on this map!

Departure Airport Information:

Arrival Airport Information:

Facts about Royal Air Force Station Gatow (GWW):

• The RAF Gatow Station Flight used two De Havilland Chipmunk T10s, one of which is now in the Alliiertenmuseum, 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 corridors to and from West Germany to the city.
• The closest airport to Royal Air Force Station Gatow (GWW) is Berlin Tegel Airport (TXL), which is located only 9 miles (14 kilometers) NE of GWW.
• 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.
• Because of Royal Air Force Station Gatow's relatively low elevation of 161 feet, planes can take off or land at Royal Air Force Station Gatow at a lower air speed than at airports located at a higher elevation. This is because the air density is higher closer to sea level than it would otherwise be at higher elevations.
• 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.
• The furthest airport from Royal Air Force Station Gatow (GWW) is Chatham Islands (CHT), which is located 11,694 miles (18,819 kilometers) away in Waitangi, Chatham Islands, New Zealand.
• Late April 1945, towards the end of World War II in Europe, the airfield was occupied by the advancing Red Army.
• 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.
• Royal Air Force Station Gatow (GWW) currently has only 1 runway.
• 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.

Facts about Wilmington/Philadelphia Regional Airport (ILG):

• Frontier Airlines, which calls the airport "Wilmington/Philadelphia", started service to the airport in July 2013.
• On March 8, 2008 Skybus Airlines began flights from Columbus, Ohio and Greensboro, North Carolina to Wilmington.
• The closest airport to Wilmington/Philadelphia Regional Airport (ILG) is Philadelphia Seaplane BaseChandler Field (PSQ), which is located 21 miles (33 kilometers) NE of ILG.
• Wilmington/Philadelphia Regional Airport (ILG) has 3 runways.
• United Airlines served Wilmington until 1991.
• The furthest airport from Wilmington/Philadelphia Regional Airport (ILG) is Margaret River Airport (MGV), which is located 11,724 miles (18,869 kilometers) away in Margaret River, Western Australia, Australia.
• Delaware's first airline flights were TWA and American at Wilmington in late 1947.
• Because of Wilmington/Philadelphia Regional Airport's relatively low elevation of 80 feet, planes can take off or land at Wilmington/Philadelphia Regional Airport at a lower air speed than at airports located at a higher elevation. This is because the air density is higher closer to sea level than it would otherwise be at higher elevations.
• After the war ended control of the airport was returned to civil authorities.