Royal Air Force , more commonly known as RAF ICAO EDUL (from 1 January 1995 ETUL) was a

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, a military airfield, located in

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 ...

on its border with the

Netherlands , Terminology of the Low Countries, informally Holland, is a country in Northwestern Europe, with Caribbean Netherlands, overseas territories in the Caribbean. It is the largest of the four constituent countries of the Kingdom of the Nether ...

. The Station's motto was . The site now operates as the civilian Weeze Airport, in the Lower Rhine region of Germany. The airport also happens to be less commonly known as Niederrhein Airport.

History

The British army built Advanced Landing Ground Goch (B-100) during the

Second World War World War II or the Second World War (1 September 1939 – 2 September 1945) was a World war, global conflict between two coalitions: the Allies of World War II, Allies and the Axis powers. World War II by country, Nearly all of the wo ...

in preparation for the final push across the

Rhine River The Rhine ( ) is one of the major rivers in Europe. The river begins in the Swiss canton of Graubünden in the southeastern Swiss Alps. It forms part of the Swiss-Liechtenstein border, then part of the Swiss-Austrian border. From Lake Cons ...

in early 1945. The infrastructure was straightforward and simple: a PSP runway with a parallel grass emergency runway, refuelling was done with

jerrycan A jerrycan or jerrican (also styled jerry can or jerri can) is a fuel container made from pressed steel (and more recently, high-density polyethylene, high density polyethylene). It was designed in Germany in the 1930s for military use to hol ...

s, and there was enough space for two complete Wings. It was only used between 4 March and late April. The first unit to fly from the airfield was No. 662 Squadron RAF operating

Taylorcraft Auster The Taylorcraft Auster was a British military liaison aircraft, liaison and observation aircraft produced by the Auster Aircraft, Taylorcraft Aeroplanes (England) Limited company during the Second World War. Design and development The Auster ...

, who remained at the airfield until 24 March. They were followed by the British 121 Wing (20 March), operating the

Hawker Typhoon The Hawker Typhoon was a British single-seat fighter-bomber, produced by Hawker Aircraft. It was intended to be a medium-high altitude interceptor aircraft, interceptor, as a replacement for the Hawker Hurricane, but several design problems we ...

. Ten days later the Canadian No. 143 Wing joined them. The Hawker Typhoons of 121 Wing were exchanged for the

Supermarine Spitfire The Supermarine Spitfire is a British single-seat fighter aircraft that was used by the Royal Air Force and other Allies of World War II, Allied countries before, during, and after World War II. It was the only British fighter produced conti ...

s of Canadian No. 127 Wing by mid-April, but by the end of that month all Wings had left. This ended the use of B-100 airfield. In 1954

Royal Air Force Germany Royal Air Force Germany, commonly known as RAF Germany, and abbreviated RAFG, was a List of Royal Air Force commands, command of the Royal Air Force (RAF) and part of British Forces Germany (BFG). It consisted of units located in Germany, init ...

(RAFG) rebuilt the Second World War airfield, with a runway, as RAF Laarbruch due to the outbreak of the

Cold War The Cold War was a period of global Geopolitics, geopolitical rivalry between the United States (US) and the Soviet Union (USSR) and their respective allies, the capitalist Western Bloc and communist Eastern Bloc, which lasted from 1947 unt ...

. Laarbruch was home to various first-line squadrons, including No. 2 Squadron RAF flying the McDonnell Douglas F-4 Phantom FGR.2 and later the SEPECAT Jaguars; and 15 and 16 Squadrons flying

Blackburn Buccaneer The Blackburn Buccaneer is a British aircraft carrier, carrier-capable attack aircraft designed in the 1950s for the Royal Navy (RN). Designed and initially produced by Blackburn Aircraft at Brough Aerodrome, Brough, it was later officially k ...

S.2Bs. These squadrons all moved onto the

Panavia Tornado The Panavia Tornado is a family of twin-engine, variable-sweep wing multi-role combat aircraft, jointly developed and manufactured by Italy, the United Kingdom and Germany. There are three primary #Variants, Tornado variants: the Tornado IDS ...

with four squadrons (2, 15, 16, and 20) resident. 25 Squadron's 'C' Flight was also located at Laarbruch, equipped with the Bristol Bloodhound surface to air missile system. After the first Gulf War, many of the squadrons were relocated, No. 2 Sqn going back to RAF Marham; and 15, 16, and 20 becoming reserve squadrons. When RAF Gütersloh closed, the British Aerospace Harrier GR.5 of No. 3 Squadron RAF and No. 4 Squadron RAF squadrons moved in along with the helicopters of 18(B) Squadron. Laarbruch was also home to 1 and 26 Squadron

RAF Regiment The Royal Air Force Regiment (RAF Regiment) is part of the Royal Air Force and functions as a specialist corps. Founded by Royal Warrant in 1942, the Corps carries-out security tasks relating to the protection of assets and personnel dedicated ...

. 18 Squadron returned to

RAF Odiham Royal Air Force Odiham or more simply RAF Odiham is a Royal Air Force List of Royal Air Force stations, station situated a little to the south of the village of Odiham in Hampshire, England. It is the home of the Royal Air Force's heavy lift he ...

in 1997 with the remaining Harrier squadrons departing to RAF Cottesmore in 1999. After closing in 1999 the airfield found a new civilian lease of life as the budget

airline An airline is a company that provides civil aviation, air transport services for traveling passengers or freight (cargo). Airlines use aircraft to supply these services and may form partnerships or Airline alliance, alliances with other airlines ...

airport Flughafen Niederrhein (Lower Rhine Airport), now known as Weeze Airport after the nearest large settlement. Civil operations began in May 2003.

Laarbruch squadrons

* No. 2 Squadron RAF; flying Phantom FGR.2 up to 1976 and the SEPECAT Jaguar GR.1A/T.2A from 1976 until the 1980s, then the Panavia Tornado GR.1/1A from the late 1980s until the unit was re-located to RAF Marham in 1991. * No. 3 Squadron RAF; flying English Electric Canberra B(I).8 1968–72, from 1992 until 1999 with the BAe Harrier GR.5A, then Harrier GR.7 until the unit was re-located to RAF Cottesmore in 1999. * No 4 Squadron RAF; flying the BAE Harrier GR.7 version from 1992 until the unit was re-located to RAF Cottesmore in 1999. * No. 5 Squadron RAF; flying Gloster Javelin FAW.5 1959–62. * No. 15 Squadron RAF; flying the Blackburn Buccaneer S.2 from the 1970s until conversion to the Panavia Tornado GR.1/1A in 1983 until 1991. * No. 16 Squadron RAF; flying English Electric Canberra B(I).8 1958–72, Blackburn Buccaneer S.2 1972–83,

GR.1/A 1983–91 * No. 18 Squadron RAF; flying Boeing Chinook HC.1 helicopters 1992–97, HC.2 conversion started on 1 February 1994. * No. 20 Squadron RAF; flying Panavia Tornado GR.1/1A 1984–92 * No. 31 Squadron RAF; flying English Electric Canberra PR.7 1955–71 *

No. 68 Squadron RAF The name No. 68 Squadron has been used for two quite different units, only one of which was strictly a unit of the Royal Air Force. "No. 68 Squadron RFC" was for a time the official British military designation for No. 2 Squadron Australian Fly ...

; flying Gloster Meteor NF.11 (1957–59) until reformation as No.5 Squadron flying Gloster Javelin. * No. 69 Squadron RAF; flying English Electric Canberra PR.3 1954–58. * No. 79 Squadron RAF; flying Gloster Meteor FR.9 (54–55) * No. 80 Squadron RAF; flying English Electric Canberra PR.7 1955–57. * No. 25 Squadron RAF C Flight; Bristol Bloodhound II missiles * No. 1 Squadron RAF Regiment * No. 26 Squadron RAF Regiment with

Rapier A rapier () is a type of sword originally used in Spain (known as ' -) and Italy (known as '' spada da lato a striscia''). The name designates a sword with a straight, slender and sharply pointed two-edged long blade wielded in one hand. It wa ...

missiles * Security Squadron RAF Police supplied on and off station security and Policing duties. * L Troop, 220 Signal Squadron, 21st Signal Regiment (Air Support) * 10 Field Squadron RAF(G) Support Royal Engineers * 50 Field (Construction) Squadron Royal Engineers

References

Citations

Bibliography

RAF Laarbruch
* * * * Johnson, David C. (1988), U.S. Army Air Forces Continental Airfields (ETO), D-Day to V-E Day; Research Division, USAF Historical Research Center, Maxwell AFB, Alabama.

External links