Royal Air Force Geilenkirchen more commonly known as RAF Geilenkirchen is a former

Royal Air Force The Royal Air Force (RAF) is the Air force, air and space force of the United Kingdom, British Overseas Territories and Crown Dependencies. It was formed towards the end of the World War I, First World War on 1 April 1918, on the merger of t ...

station in the

North Rhine-Westphalia North Rhine-Westphalia or North-Rhine/Westphalia, commonly shortened to NRW, is a States of Germany, state () in Old states of Germany, Western Germany. With more than 18 million inhabitants, it is the List of German states by population, most ...

region of

Germany Germany, officially the Federal Republic of Germany, is a country in Central Europe. It lies between the Baltic Sea and the North Sea to the north and the Alps to the south. Its sixteen States of Germany, constituent states have a total popu ...

, built by the British who used the facility mainly as an airfield for RAF fighter squadrons from May 1953 until 21 January 1968.

History

Geilenkirchen squadrons

* No 2 Squadron RAF – 1955–1957; operated the Gloster Meteor FR.9 and later the Supermarine Swift FR.5. * No. 3 Squadron RAF – 1953–1957 and 1959–1961, 1961–68; operated the Hawker Hunter F.4, the Gloster Javelin FAW.4 and the English Electric Canberra B(I).8 (1961–68). * No. 5 Squadron RAF – 1962–1965; operated the Gloster Javelin FAW.9. * No. 11 Squadron RAF – 1959–1965; operated the Gloster Meteor NF.11 and later the Gloster Javelin FAW.4, FAW.5, FAW.9. *

No. 59 Squadron RAF No. 59 Squadron was a squadron (aviation), squadron of the Royal Air Force, based in Norfolk, England. History No.59 Squadron was formed at Narborough, Norfolk, Narborough Airfield in Norfolk on 1 August 1916 as a squadron of the Royal Flyin ...

– 1957–1961; operated the Canberra B.2 and B(I).8 (1957–61). * No. 92 Squadron RAF – 1965–1968; operated the English Electric Lightning F.2, F.2A. *

No. 96 Squadron RAF No. 96 Squadron was a Royal Air Force squadron, formed as a training unit in the latter stages of the First World War. The squadron re-formed and served mainly as night fighter cover during the Second World War. In the aftermath of WWII it took ...

– 1958–1959; operated the Gloster Javelin FAW.4. * No. 234 Squadron RAF – 1954–1957; operated the Canadair Sabre F.4 and later the Hawker Hunter F.4. * No. 256 Squadron RAF – 1958-1958; operated the Gloster Meteor NF.11.

Post RAF history

The RAF handed over the station to the

West German West Germany was the common English name for the Federal Republic of Germany (FRG) from its formation on 23 May 1949 until its reunification with East Germany on 3 October 1990. It is sometimes known as the Bonn Republic after its capital c ...

Luftwaffe The Luftwaffe () was the aerial warfare, aerial-warfare branch of the before and during World War II. German Empire, Germany's military air arms during World War I, the of the Imperial German Army, Imperial Army and the of the Imperial Ge ...

in March 1968. The Germans used the airfield as home for a

surface-to-surface missile A surface-to-surface missile (SSM) is a missile designed to be launched from the ground or the sea and strike targets on land or at sea. They may be fired from hand-held or vehicle mounted devices, from fixed installations, or from a ship. They ar ...

wing equipped with Pershing missiles with support from the

United States Army The United States Army (USA) is the primary Land warfare, land service branch of the United States Department of Defense. It is designated as the Army of the United States in the United States Constitution.Article II, section 2, clause 1 of th ...

Current use

In 1980, the station became NATO Air Base Geilenkirchen, the main operating base for

NATO The North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO ; , OTAN), also called the North Atlantic Alliance, is an intergovernmental organization, intergovernmental Transnationalism, transnational military alliance of 32 Member states of NATO, member s ...

Airborne Early Warning and Control An airborne early warning and control (AEW&C) system is an airborne radar early warning system designed to detect aircraft, ships, vehicles, missiles and other incoming projectiles at long ranges, as well as performing command and control of the ...

force, operating 14 Boeing E-3A Sentry aircraft.

References

Citations

Bibliography

External links

Silent Sentinel – brief history of 92 Sqn Lightning F2s

"Miss Demeanour", a (now famous) former RAF Geilenkirchen Hunter F.4NATO AWACS Homepage
{{DEFAULTSORT:Geilenkirchen Military units and formations established in 1953 Royal Air Force stations in Germany Military units and formations disestablished in 1968 Airports in North Rhine-Westphalia