Nonstop flight route between Berlin, Germany and Timika, Papua, Indonesia:

About this route:

A direct, nonstop flight between Royal Air Force Station Gatow (GWW), Berlin, Germany and Mozes Kilangin Airport (TIM), Timika, Papua, Indonesia would travel a Great Circle distance of 7,847 miles (or 12,629 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 Mozes Kilangin 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 Mozes Kilangin 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):

• Clues to the airfield's original use survive in the barrack block accommodation, each block of which was named after a famous German airman of the First World War, with the airman's bust above the entrance door.
• During the Berlin Airlift, the Station was modernised with a 2,000 yards long concrete runway, using 794 German workers, in March 1947.
• In November 1948, the latest RAF transport aircraft, the Handley Page Hastings, was added to the squadrons flying into RAF Gatow and some aircrews and aircraft were redeployed to train replacement aircrews.
• 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 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.
• 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.
• Royal Air Force Station Gatow (GWW) currently has only 1 runway.
• The closest military neighbour to RAF Gatow was a tank unit of the National People's Army of East Germany.
• After the fall of the Berlin Wall, Chipmunk reconnaissance flights soon ceased and the two Chipmunks were flown to RAF Laarbruch, in Western Germany to await disposal action.
• 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.
• On 20 June 1980, the Royal Australian Air Force presented a Douglas Dakota to RAF Gatow in commemoration of its role.

Facts about Mozes Kilangin Airport (TIM):

• On April 15, 1996 at about 5 a.m., Second Lieutenant Sanurip, 36, a member of Kopassus, who was assigned to take part at a military operation to secure the release of 11 hostages being held by the Free Papua Movement, began shooting indiscriminately with an automatic weapon at people near an army-run aircraft hangar.
• The furthest airport from Mozes Kilangin Airport (TIM) is Marechal Cunha Machado International Airport (Tirirical) (SLZ), which is located 11,939 miles (19,214 kilometers) away in São Luís, Brazil.
• The closest airport to Mozes Kilangin Airport (TIM) is Enarotali Airport (EWI), which is located 54 miles (88 kilometers) NW of TIM.
• In the ensuing shoot-out with military personnel, Sanurip killed a total of 16 people - 3 Kopassus officers, 8 ABRI soldiers and 5 civilians, one of them Airfast pilot Michael Findlay from New Zealand - and injured another 11, before he was wounded in the leg and subdued by fellow soldiers.