RAF Geilenkirchen

Former Royal Air Force station in North Rhine-Westphalia, Germany

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RAF Geilenkirchen

Geilenkirchen, North Rhine-Westphalia in Germany

RAF Geilenkirchen

Shown within Germany

Coordinates| 50°57′36.7″N 6°2′32.6″E﻿ / ﻿50.960194°N 6.042389°E﻿ / 50.960194; 6.042389
Type| Royal Air Force station
Site information
Owner| Ministry of Defence
Operator| Royal Air Force
Controlled by| RAF Second Tactical Air Force
Royal Air Force Germany
Site history
Built| 1952 (1952)/3
In use| May 1953 – 28 January 1968 (1968)
Airfield information
Identifiers| IATA: GKE, ICAO: ETNG
Elevation| 90 metres (295 ft) AMSL
| Runways

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

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### Geilenkirchen squadrons

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* 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

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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

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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

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

## References

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### Citations

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1. ^ Jefford 1988, p. 00.

### Bibliography

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* 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

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* 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

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