Photos of the Abandoned Airfield Schönwalde

The now abandoned military airfield Schönwalde is north of Berlin in Germany. After it's opening, it faced the same fate as many other structures around Berlin. It was occupied by the Red Army until it was abandoned in 1992 and its decay started.

I had the chance to see the abandoned airfield Schönwalde in 2024 and in this blog post, I’ll show you a few pictures I’ve taken there and let you know how you can photograph this abandoned airfield near Berlin.

Table of Contents

• Know before you go
  • How do I get into the area of the Schönwalde airfield?
  • What was the purpose of the Schönwalde airfield?
  • Why was the airport Schönwalde abandoned?
• What I saw at the abandoned airfield Schönwalde
• The tower
  • The hangars
  • Row of Shops
  • Treatment Room
  • Canteen
  • Residential area
  • The playground
• How I photographed ad the abandoned Airfield Schönwalde
• The verdict: Is visiting the abandoned Schönwalde airfield worth it?

Know before you go

How do I get into the Schönwalde airfield area?

The airfield, though abandoned, is private property, cordoned off and guarded. The only legal way to see and explore the huge abandoned airfield with its more than 50 decayed buildings and hangers is by booking a photo tour.

As always, I visited this lost place by booking a tour with my favorite operator, go2know.de (whose Website is in German).

What was the purpose of the Schönwalde airfield?

Opened in 1935, the airfield was mainly used as an education facility for pilots of the German Luftwaffe. Towards the end of World War II, In 1943, the now abandoned airfield was turned into an airport for supply flights.

Allegedly, the airfield Schönwalde was already built with the war in mind.

Why was the airport Schönwalde abandoned?

The Red Army occupied the airfield after World War II ended and used it until 1992 - but not as an airport. The runway was built for propeller aircraft, and the upcoming jets would have needed a longer runway. So, until 1965 it was used as a Soviet military airfield for helicopters before it was turned into a tank facility.

What I saw at the abandoned airfield Schönwalde

The abandoned airfield is unlike any other lost place I’ve explored. The area was not only an airport. It was a small town that did not only have barracks but also apartment buildings, a gym, a school and shops.

However, almost all the buildings were completely cleared out and there was not much left inside the buildings, except for a handful of rooms.

The tower

The older buildings at the airfield Schönwalde, like the tower, were all brick buildings. I’ve been into some of them, but they were not that spectacular. They were completely cleared out, and even the doors were missing in many buildings.

But there’s one thing that made this lost place interesting to photograph: small trees were growing on almost every single building - like the tower in the following photo.

The tower building also acted as a sort of parting line between the runway and the living area with barracks, the school and shops.

The hangars

Allegedly, the Schönewalde airfield contained 7 hangers. 4 huge ones and 3 smaller ones. From the 4 huge hangers, 3 still exist, but they’re decayed.

When I visited the airfield, it was windy, which made exploring the decayed hangars a bit spooky and dangerous. When there was a gust of wind, you could hear the metal parts squeaking loudly as if the hangars wanted to say “Get out, I’m tired and want to lay down”.

Row of Shops

In the middle of the abandoned airfield, you can find a row of shops. Unfortunately, I was unable to figure out what was sold in these shops, as I didn’t enter them.

Treatment Room

I’ve already mentioned that almost all buildings were cleared out. There were only a handful of rooms where you could guess what purpose they once served, like the one in the next photo.

Obviously, it was a medical treatment room

Canteen

As the abandoned airfield Schönwalde was also a small town, there was a huge canteen with two big kitchens. What’s left of both kitchens are the extractor hoods.

Residential area

The residential area at the airfield Schönwalde was built after World War II, when the airfield was occupied by the Red Army. Soldiers who had a corresponding rank were allowed to bring their families, which then lived in the buildings you can see behind the barrack in the following photo.

The playground

The houses in the residential area are formed in a U-shape and in the middle was a playground for children. This abandoned playground is already completely overgrown and it was impossible to explore it any further. So I just took a photo of the slide at the beginning of the playground.

How I photographed ad the abandoned Airfield Schönewalde

As I took the majority of the photos outside, I used the ProCamera App and took all photos in RAW format with my iPhone. On my way home, I developed the RAW photos using Adobe Lightroom mobile, which is on the best iPhone photo editing apps that I’ve been using for years and recommend.

The verdict: Is visiting the abandoned Schönewalde airfield worth it?

If you are eager to explore one of the largest lost places around Berlin, then you should definitely consider booking a photo tour with go2know and visiting the abandoned airfield Schönewalde. But you better hurry. As far as I’ve heard, the owner plans to level this lost place and build apartment buildings. Work should start at the end of 2024.

This is just one of the many lost places in Berlin that I have visited in recent years.