RAF Geilenkirchen

Infobox Military Unit
unit_name = Royal Air Force Station Geilenkirchen


caption = Station crest
dates = May 1953 – 28 January 1968
country = Germany
allegiance = UK: British Armed Forces
branch = Royal Air Force
command_structure = RAF Second Tactical Air Force,
then Royal Air Force Germany
type = Flying station
role = Fighters (Strike/Attack)
size =
current_commander =
garrison = Geilenkirchen, North Rhine-Westphalia, Germany
garrison_label = Based near
ceremonial_chief =
ceremonial_chief_label =
colonel_of_the_regiment =
colonel_of_the_regiment_label =
nickname = "Geilenkirchen"
motto = "Celer Respondere"
colors =
colors_label = Royal Air Force Ensign
march = Royal Air Force March Past
mascot =
equipment =
battles =
notable_commanders =
identification_symbol =
identification_symbol_label = Station crest
anniversaries =

Infobox Airport
name = RAF Geilenkirchen
nativename =
nativename-a =
nativename-r =


image-width =
caption =
IATA = GKE
ICAO = ETNG
type = Military
owner = formerly: Ministry of Defence, now: NATO
operator = formerly: Royal Air Force, now: NATO
city-served =
location = Geilenkirchen, North Rhine-Westphalia, Germany
elevation-f = 296
elevation-m = 90
coordinates =
website =
metric-elev =
metric-rwy =
r1-number = 09/27
r1-length-f = 10,009
r1-length-m = 3,051
r1-surface = Concrete
r2-number =
r2-length-f =
r2-length-m =
r2-surface =
stat-year =
stat1-header =
stat1-data =
stat2-header =
stat2-data =
footnotes =

The former Royal Air Force Station Geilenkirchen, more commonly known as RAF Geilenkirchen, was a Royal Air Force airbase in the North Rhine-Westphalia region of Germany, built by the British who used the facility mainly as a base for RAF fighter squadrons from May 1953 until 21 January 1968.

Geilenkirchen squadrons

*No. 2 Squadron RAF - 1955-1957; operated the Gloster Meteor FR10 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 Air Force in March 1968. The Germans used the base as home for a Surface-to-Surface Missile Wing equipped with Pershing missiles with support from the United States Army.

In 1980 the base 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.

External links

* [http://www.airsceneuk.org.uk/oldstuff/2002/sentinel/sentinel.htm Silent Sentinel - brief history of 92 Sqn Lightning F2s]
* [http://www.servicepals.com/index.cfm//pcms/site.gallery.view_tag/tag/geilenkirchen/ Gallery of images] from [http://www.servicepals.com/ ServicePals.com]
* [http://www.heritageaviation.com/history/history.htm "Miss Demeanour", a (now famous) former RAF Geilenkirchen Hunter F.4]
* [http://www.e3a.nato.int/ NATO AWACS Homepage]
* [http://www.awacs-spotter.nl/ NATO AWACS-Spotter Geilenkirchen Homepage]

ee also

*Royal Air Force station
*List of RAF stations
*List of aircraft of the RAF