The Ghost of RAF Laarbruch
Wow that brings back memories! I was there 80-83. Little city, the christmas markets in Goch, going to Well lakes for picnics at the weekend, 30 hours in an S6 respirator. Bye the way their was a ghost there!
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an urban myth perhaps
Mind you, all that aside, it was a bloody good place for a party!!!!!
Foldie
Wonder whether Willys taxis survived - many a happy hour where Willys delivered chicken and chips for 20!! Wonderful days
A bit like the old 'Sons of Syd' we used to employ back in the '60s and '70s!
There is a stream running through the forest opposite the camp gates called the LAAR - it is the Laar-bruch (Brook)
(and no, I don't know what Laar means!)
Willy's Taxis are still going but greatly reduced to cope with the lack of his former regular NATO customers - and I dont think he's the same guy who was at Wild-Parts?
MATKAT - I used to spend loads of very dark winter evenings crouching in small cold holes around XV, listening to the telephone lines for the latest jokes ("Can ya send a rover over - over?") and clutching an SLR for warmth!
We'd probably only recognise each other if we wore S10's and Green suits!
Happy Days?
(and no, I don't know what Laar means!)
Willy's Taxis are still going but greatly reduced to cope with the lack of his former regular NATO customers - and I dont think he's the same guy who was at Wild-Parts?
MATKAT - I used to spend loads of very dark winter evenings crouching in small cold holes around XV, listening to the telephone lines for the latest jokes ("Can ya send a rover over - over?") and clutching an SLR for warmth!
We'd probably only recognise each other if we wore S10's and Green suits!
Happy Days?
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Spot on Rigga. I think Laar is "glade in the woods", or sumfink like that.
Was there for an airshow a few years ago and had a trip round the airfield. Very sad to see the MQs/OM abandoned. Very happy to have a good shufti round Bronze sector again.
Always was impressed by the station motto ... "Ein' Feste Burg", which you German speakers will know means "A Party Town!"
Some happy days Rigga!
Was there for an airshow a few years ago and had a trip round the airfield. Very sad to see the MQs/OM abandoned. Very happy to have a good shufti round Bronze sector again.
Always was impressed by the station motto ... "Ein' Feste Burg", which you German speakers will know means "A Party Town!"
Some happy days Rigga!
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If you want to see the most staggering change, check out this aerial shot of Wildenrath!
Wildenrath 41844 Wegberg, Heinsberg, Nordrhein-Westfalen, Germany - Google Maps
Wildenrath 41844 Wegberg, Heinsberg, Nordrhein-Westfalen, Germany - Google Maps
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The German word "bruch" has many meanings, most of them nouns relating to "break" - a break, a fracture, etc. It also means "quarry", as in hole in the ground. The local area is littered with shallow quarry workings; could this be the reason for the bruch part of the name? No idea what Laar means though - could be som German geezer's name.
I seem to remember from cycling around the locality (very flat, very easy) a hamlet called am Bruch; no pariculalrly noticeable stream, only the earth scrapings.
I seem to remember from cycling around the locality (very flat, very easy) a hamlet called am Bruch; no pariculalrly noticeable stream, only the earth scrapings.
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Further to my last, memories were revived, so a liitle more research done (I know, should have done it beforehand, but I' getting on and can't quite remember why I came here). There is a hamlet on the east edge of "boar woods", on the back cycle/walk route to Kevelaer named Laar (the aforementioned am Bruch is just south of Wemb). I can't see the stream being associated with Laar, as it passes through and around more significant settlements - which steers me toward the "quarry" option.
Was at Laarbruch 58' to 60' when 16 Sqn was revived as a BI8 unit from it's Venom predecessor at Celle. Took over 69s' hangar as they left for Malta with PR3s' and other Sqns' were 31 on PR7s' and 68 on NF11s'. (Re-numbered as 5' eventually with Javelins.) Ring road was one way even then. Record for one lap was held by a Fg.Off. "S" on the Sqn motor bike. It was rumoured the Eng Wing Hangars were ex U-Boat pre-fab. sheds from Hamburg or was it Bremen? Vast numbers of Magirus lorries stored for a theoretically mobile 2TAF and the then National Service airmen alledgedly "leaked" them over the porous Dutch border to be broken down as spares. Pay Parades a nightmare with Sterling, Marks, Guilders, and BAFs'.
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I was lucky enough to be OC Supply at RAF Laarbruch from 1987 to 1990, and it was a great tour. We lived in a large MQ in nearby Goch. The Supply Squadron was located next to 1 Sqn RAF Regiment, if memory serves, who lost two guys in an IRA attack.
The Supply guys had a big reunion there a couple of years back which was a huge success, and was handy to get to from Stanstead!
ERB
The Supply guys had a big reunion there a couple of years back which was a huge success, and was handy to get to from Stanstead!
ERB
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Nutt - You don't have to go on e-bay to get your Bratties/Frikadelen etc... Just get yourself down to Aldi. They sell top of the range Nierstiener there too at a good price.
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RAF Laarbruch today
I have just got back from a weekend in Weeze and a visit to former RAF Laarbruch.
The whole airfield was bought as a going concern, as handed over by the RAF, for 11 Million Euros, to some Dutch businessmen. After a slightly iffy start all is now going well. Ryanair have a base there and are adding another aircraft any day soon. They fly to 35 destinations from there. The old ASF hangar was stripped down to the skeleton and re-clad and floored to make a very pleasant terminal. They have even retained the mezzanine gallery where the admin offices used to be, they are now food outlets.
There are 4,100 parking spaces; 50 euros for 2 weeks in the long stay.
'The officer's quarters have been converted to gas central heating and are occupied by married Polish workers and the single accommodation is used by single Poles. They all work in Local industry across the border in Holland.
The officer's mess is abandoned and decaying fast. The AMQs are scheduled for demolition. A Dutch firm has taken over about 1/3rd of the domestic area (power station, swimming pool, Malcolm Club area etc) and are using it for emergency training for police and fire crews. They are using the Sgts Mess as their HQ and messing facility for the students and it is in excellent condition. The firm have built a short section of M Way and a railway line and can simulate major emergencies. They also set fire to some of the buildings to do fire rescue training.
I had a very interesting 2 hour tour, organised thru the Museum which is in the former C of E church next to the Astra. Got to the North side and visited the former Special Weapons store and a HAS with a privately owned F 104 in it. Excellent condition and appearance but no engine!
The Museum has an enormous amount of memorabilia and also has Bloodhound and Rapier missile, batteries, a ZPU2 AAA gun and Canberra and Buccaneer cockpits. They have access to a complete Jaguar airframe but lack the funds to move it Germany - any offers of help appreciated!
Nice to see the place is still alive but memories of Tacevals and all the RAF and military activity are fading fast. Nice pictures in the Terminal building and a very well run museum are all that there is to remind one of the 'old days'
Many places and watering holes in Weeze have closed, Mama's famous chickens are no more! The Goch quarters have been sold off and look good and well maintained as they are now privately owned. The Kasserne at Goch and has closed and is slowly rotting away, its function having been taken over and moved to a new facility at Kalkar
Anybody who needs further info and/or a very good British run pub with rooms in Weeze, please PM me for details.
PS. Both the Wilkinson PeaceSwords awarded to the station have 'disappeared' during the rundown/closure. Those who run the Museum would welcome information as to their whereabouts!
The whole airfield was bought as a going concern, as handed over by the RAF, for 11 Million Euros, to some Dutch businessmen. After a slightly iffy start all is now going well. Ryanair have a base there and are adding another aircraft any day soon. They fly to 35 destinations from there. The old ASF hangar was stripped down to the skeleton and re-clad and floored to make a very pleasant terminal. They have even retained the mezzanine gallery where the admin offices used to be, they are now food outlets.
There are 4,100 parking spaces; 50 euros for 2 weeks in the long stay.
'The officer's quarters have been converted to gas central heating and are occupied by married Polish workers and the single accommodation is used by single Poles. They all work in Local industry across the border in Holland.
The officer's mess is abandoned and decaying fast. The AMQs are scheduled for demolition. A Dutch firm has taken over about 1/3rd of the domestic area (power station, swimming pool, Malcolm Club area etc) and are using it for emergency training for police and fire crews. They are using the Sgts Mess as their HQ and messing facility for the students and it is in excellent condition. The firm have built a short section of M Way and a railway line and can simulate major emergencies. They also set fire to some of the buildings to do fire rescue training.
I had a very interesting 2 hour tour, organised thru the Museum which is in the former C of E church next to the Astra. Got to the North side and visited the former Special Weapons store and a HAS with a privately owned F 104 in it. Excellent condition and appearance but no engine!
The Museum has an enormous amount of memorabilia and also has Bloodhound and Rapier missile, batteries, a ZPU2 AAA gun and Canberra and Buccaneer cockpits. They have access to a complete Jaguar airframe but lack the funds to move it Germany - any offers of help appreciated!
Nice to see the place is still alive but memories of Tacevals and all the RAF and military activity are fading fast. Nice pictures in the Terminal building and a very well run museum are all that there is to remind one of the 'old days'
Many places and watering holes in Weeze have closed, Mama's famous chickens are no more! The Goch quarters have been sold off and look good and well maintained as they are now privately owned. The Kasserne at Goch and has closed and is slowly rotting away, its function having been taken over and moved to a new facility at Kalkar
Anybody who needs further info and/or a very good British run pub with rooms in Weeze, please PM me for details.
PS. Both the Wilkinson PeaceSwords awarded to the station have 'disappeared' during the rundown/closure. Those who run the Museum would welcome information as to their whereabouts!
Last edited by A2QFI; 17th Mar 2009 at 07:45.
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Originally Posted by A2QFI
The Goch quarters have been sold off and look good and well maintained as they are now privately owned.
Panoramio - Photo of Goch 2007 - alte Engländersiedlung
Top road is Niers Strasse, bottom road (at an angle) is Feld Strasse. Mine is (was!) the end of terrace house just to the right of the big tree at center, upper-right of the picture (grid ref 7,8
). No.9 Niers Strasse; ahhh, what a great 4 years from '86 - '90.Don't suppose they made any mention of the PAC (Protected Avionics Center), and what it's being used for nowadays, during your guided tour?
This site is worth a viewing for a bit of the old nostalgia:- SimpleViewer
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Laarbruch PAC
No mention was made of the present function of the PAC. I would have thought that it is incapable of easy or economic demolition! It is still there and in a part of the camp that one can legally access as a member of the public. It is confusingly tagged on some Google shots as a "Nuclear Bunker" - understandable bearing mind what it looks like! It would obviously make good secure storage but many people who want this facility are renting bunkers in the new, but never used, ammunition dump at Twisteden, just South of Laarbruch/Wemb.It was completed in the same week that the Berlin Wall came down and was never put into service.
Last edited by A2QFI; 24th Mar 2009 at 08:21.
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From its title, I thought this post was about the ghost of Laarbruch: Herman the German.
By the way, I'm not ex-military; I worked at Weeze a few years ago with LTU looking after V-Bird, a now-defunct Dutch low-cost operator.
The LTU guys mentioned Herman the German and ghostly goings-on on the far side of the field.
By the way, I'm not ex-military; I worked at Weeze a few years ago with LTU looking after V-Bird, a now-defunct Dutch low-cost operator.
The LTU guys mentioned Herman the German and ghostly goings-on on the far side of the field.
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..all is now going well. Ryanair have a base there..
Money Central - Times Online - WBLG: Twenty reasons never to fly Ryanair
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The AMQs are scheduled for demolition.
