Nonstop flight route between Celle, Germany and Berlin, Germany:

About this route:

A direct, nonstop flight between Celle Air Base (ZCN), Celle, Germany and Royal Air Force Station Gatow (GWW), Berlin, Germany would travel a Great Circle distance of 131 miles (or 211 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 relatively short distance between Celle Air Base and Royal Air Force Station Gatow, the route shown on this map most likely still appears to be a straight line.

Departure Airport Information:

Arrival Airport Information:

Facts about Celle Air Base (ZCN):

• In addition to being known as "Celle Air Base", other names for ZCN include "Heeresflugplatz Celle" and "(Advanced Landing Ground B-118)".
• Celle Air Base (ZCN) currently has only 1 runway.
• The furthest airport from Celle Air Base (ZCN) is Chatham Islands (CHT), which is located 11,761 miles (18,928 kilometers) away in Waitangi, Chatham Islands, New Zealand.
• Due to the tense situation during the building of the Berlin Wall a small unit of the National Guard of the United States was stationed at Celle Air Base in 1961 in case of a second Berlin Airlift.
• Celle Air Base can be approached by way of a connecting road to the Landesstraße 310 which is used as a spur route to the motorways A 7 and A 352.
• Because of Celle Air Base's relatively low elevation of 129 feet, planes can take off or land at Celle Air Base 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.
• At the same time, Celle residents began to complain about the so-called “Veronikas″, German women attracted to the well paid soldiers.
• The closest airport to Celle Air Base (ZCN) is Hannover Airport (HAJ), which is located only 17 miles (27 kilometers) WSW of ZCN.
• At the beginning of the airlift a total of 600 tons of freight were transported into the besieged city which increased to 1000 tons of coal and food each day in the spring of 1949.
• Although some production facilities for the Junker Ju-88 were placed in Hangar V, Celle Air Base played only a secondary role during World War II.

Facts about Royal Air Force Station Gatow (GWW):

• 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.
• Royal Air Force Station Gatow (GWW) currently has only 1 runway.
• 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 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.
• 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.
• RAF Gatow was from 1970 also used by the UKs Army Air Corps, 7 Aviation Flight AAC, later renamed 7 Flight AAC being based at the station initially flying four Westland Sioux and later three Aérospatiale Gazelle AH 1 helicopters.
• RAF Gatow was also used as a civilian airport for a limited time.
• 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 airfield is now called General-Steinhoff Kaserne.