RAF Geilenkirchen

RAF Geilenkirchen
Active	May 1953 – 28 January 1968
Country	Germany
Allegiance	UK: British Armed Forces
Branch	Royal Air Force
Type	Flying station
Role	Fighters (Strike/Attack)
Part of	RAF Second Tactical Air Force, then Royal Air Force Germany
Located near	Geilenkirchen, North Rhine-Westphalia, Germany
Nickname(s)	"Geilenkirchen"
Motto	Celer Respondere
Royal Air Force Ensign
March	Royal Air Force March Past

RAF Geilenkirchen
IATA: GKE – ICAO: ETNG
Summary
Airport type	Military
Owner	formerly: Ministry of Defence, now: NATO
Operator	formerly: Royal Air Force, now: NATO
Location	Geilenkirchen, North Rhine-Westphalia, Germany
Elevation AMSL	296 ft / 90 m
Runways
Direction Length Surface ft m 09/27 10,009 3,051 Concrete

Royal Air Force Station Geilenkirchen, more commonly known as RAF Geilenkirchen, was a Royal Air Force station in the North Rhine-Westphalia region of Germany, 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 FR9 and later the Supermarine Swift FR5
• No. 3 Squadron RAF - 1953-1957 and 1959–1961, 1961-8; operated the Hawker Hunter F4, the Gloster Javelin FAW4 and the English Electric Canberra B(I)8 (61-68)
• No. 5 Squadron RAF - 1962-1965; operated the Gloster Javelin FAW9
• No. 11 Squadron RAF - 1959-1965; operated the Gloster Meteor NF11 and later the Gloster Javelin FAW4,FAW5,FAW9
• No. 59 Squadron RAF - 1957-1961; operated the Canberra B2 and B(I)8 (57-61)
• No. 92 Squadron RAF - 1965-1968; operated the English Electric Lightning F2,F2A
• No. 96 Squadron RAF - 1958-1959; operated the Gloster Javelin FAW4
• No. 234 Squadron RAF - 1954-1957; operated the North American Sabre F4 and later the Hawker Hunter F4
• No. 256 Squadron RAF - 1958-1958; operated the Gloster Meteor NF11

Post RAF history

The RAF handed over the station to German Luftwaffe in March 1968. The Germans used the airfield as home for a Surface-to-Surface Missile Wing equipped with Pershing missiles with support from the United States Army.

Current use

In 1980, the station became NATO Air Base Geilenkirchen, to house the main operating base for NATO Airborne Early Warning and Control Force (AWACS). This is a multinational organisation operating 17 NATO Boeing E-3A Sentry aircraft.

See also

• Royal Air Force station
• List of former Royal Air Force stations
• List of aircraft of the RAF

External links

• Silent Sentinel - brief history of 92 Sqn Lightning F2s
• Gallery of images from ServicePals.com
• "Miss Demeanour", a (now famous) former RAF Geilenkirchen Hunter F.4
• NATO AWACS Homepage
• NATO AWACS-Spotter Geilenkirchen Homepage