RAF Geilenkirchen

50°57′36.7″N 6°2′32.6″E / 50.960194°N 6.042389°E / 50.960194; 6.042389TypeRoyal Air Force stationSite informationOwnerMinistry of DefenceOperatorRoyal Air ForceControlled byRAF Second Tactical Air Force
Royal Air Force GermanySite historyBuilt1952 (1952)/3In useMay 1953 – 28 January 1968 (1968)Airfield informationIdentifiersIATA: GKE, ICAO: ETNGElevation90 metres (295 ft) AMSL

Runways
Direction	Length and surface
09/27	10,010 metres (32,841 ft) Concrete

MottoCeler Respondere

Royal Air Force Geilenkirchen more commonly known as RAF Geilenkirchen is a former 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 FR.9 and later the Supermarine Swift FR.5.^[1]
• 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 – 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 – 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 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, the main operating base for NATO's Airborne Early Warning and Control force, operating 14 Boeing E-3A Sentry aircraft.

See also

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

References

Citations

Bibliography

• Jefford, C.G. (1988). RAF Squadrons. A comprehensive record of the movement and equipment of all RAF squadrons and their antecedents since 1912. Shrewsbury: Airlife. ISBN 1-85310-053-6.

External links

• Silent Sentinel – brief history of 92 Sqn Lightning F2s Archived 2 November 2011 at the Wayback Machine
• "Miss Demeanour", a (now famous) former RAF Geilenkirchen Hunter F.4
• NATO AWACS Homepage