Nonstop flight route between Berlin, Germany and Chicago / Waukegan, Illinois, United States:

About this route:

A direct, nonstop flight between Royal Air Force Station Gatow (GWW), Berlin, Germany and Waukegan National Airport (UGN), Chicago / Waukegan, Illinois, United States would travel a Great Circle distance of 4,374 miles (or 7,040 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 Waukegan National 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 Waukegan National 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):

• 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.
• 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.
• 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.
• On 20 June 1980, the Royal Australian Air Force presented a Douglas Dakota to RAF Gatow in commemoration of its role.
• 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.
• 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.
• Royal Air Force Station Gatow (GWW) currently has only 1 runway.
• The airfield is now called General-Steinhoff Kaserne.
• 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.

Facts about Waukegan National Airport (UGN):

• The closest airport to Waukegan National Airport (UGN) is Kenosha Regional Airport (ENW), which is located only 12 miles (20 kilometers) NNW of UGN.
• Waukegan Regional Airport covers an area of 600 acres at an elevation of 727 feet above mean sea level.
• Waukegan National Airport (UGN) has 2 runways.
• The furthest airport from Waukegan National Airport (UGN) is Margaret River Airport (MGV), which is located 11,064 miles (17,806 kilometers) away in Margaret River, Western Australia, Australia.
• Because of Waukegan National Airport's relatively low elevation of 727 feet, planes can take off or land at Waukegan National 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.
• According to the FAA's National Plan of Integrated Airport Systems for 2009-2013, it is categorized as a reliever airport for the Chicago O'Hare International Airport.