Berlin's eerie Cold War aircraft cemetery

Warplanes from both sides of the Cold War stand guard under a blanket of snow outside Berlin's Bundeswehr Air Force Museum. Jets, helicopters, all a reminder of a battle that never took place.

Though the museum houses more than 150 aircraft dating back to World War I, it's the extensive collection of both NATO and Warsaw Pact Cold War-era aircraft that make up the museum's most fascinating and unique feature.

On one side of the field a MiG-23 sits serenely. Although this MiG's brothers never crossed the sky on a mission across the United States, they did see action in proxy battles across Central Asia and in the Middle East. Some are even currently being used by the Libyan Air Force against rebel positions.

On the other side's the advanced American Lockheed F-104 Starfighter — a supersonic fighter-bomber used by NATO countries — and a bright orange English Electric Canberra used to spy from high altitudes on airfields with some of the same aircraft it's parked next to.

This conglomeration of antagonistic aircraft of the period makes the exhibit unique, but it's appropriate given the airbase itself was first built for Hitler's Luftwaffe in the 1930s, then taken over by the Red Army during the siege of Berlin, then transferred to British forces in 1945 and rechristened Berlin-Gatow field and used by the Allies to overcome the Soviet blockade of the city during the airlift.

Now it's a museum showing planes from both sides of these matches, few of which saw action in Europe, Russia, or the United States. The wonderful photographers from formfrue.de captured the snow-bound aircraft enjoying a moment of peace.

(All photos courtesy of formfrue.de)