Flying finished at Gutersloh
 

https://www.gov.uk/government/news/e...ing-in-germany

Such a great station...

It was a great station - memories or Goering's Room and the Kellar Bar. What will happen to the station now?

More than that, seems this is the end of permanent British military flying in Germany.
Quite an event IMO!

OAP

Ah, the chairs in the Bruggen SHQ with swastikas... who got that set, I wonder.

Just finished reading the biography of AVM John Howe. 'Upward and Onward' by Bob Cossey.
AVM Howe was a one time Station Commander, RAF Gutersloh. It's a jolly good read.

You mean 19 and 92 Lightnings arent there any more ? :{

Great weekends tanking them on Friday and Monday, and ourselves Friday night to Sunday lunchtime :ok:

What a shame!! Had the best days there in the early 70's Loads of flying and drinking far too much beer!

Where will it all end?

Wonder if we can get back all the stuff we paid for after we broke them at dinner nights?:ok:

'twas even better during its Harrier era!

Best tour of my life - despite the odd moment which was not something to remember fondly.

Lovely Station - great flying - excellent social life.

I visited the place last year - and it really wasn't the same under Army control as it had been under RAF control.

Nostalgia isn't what it used to be! http://images.ibsrv.net/ibsrv/res/sr...ies/boohoo.gif

My brother was at Gutersloh tech'ing on the 4 Sqn Harriers; then as life's paths weave their way, I was there flying Gaz & Lynx.

Happy days for us both during our different 'Gutersloh days' :ok:

and the Met. presence has been reduced to a single adviser to the army until they put the lights out and throw away the key. My melancholy task in the 1990s was to pull our people out of Wildenrath, thin out JHQ and start the run down at Brueggen, Laarbruch and Detmold.

I KNOW we were a golden and very fortunate generation,

A Germany towline was a highly sought after sortie at Marham, it meant you had a weekend at Gutersloh. Managed several visits over my years on Victor tankers but without any doubt the best was the weekend we managed to be there for the summer ball. The Marham summer balls were fantastic but the Gutersloh ball was better, more like a Roman orgy of food wine and women.
Perhaps my memory is not as clear as it could be! I recall one Monday getting airborne to tank some lightnings but our frequency was in use by some USAF flight passing flight plan details to the controller. Having waited several minutes to get a break, our captain lost his patience and pressed the transmit to utter " Fu*k off Yank ". By return the ground station replied " station calling say again" Our man responded instantly with " You too cloggie" Silence fell for a few moments and we made contact with the fighters.

Sad to see the end of flying at Gut...

Did EX. BOLD GAUNTLET there when I was on F-4s and it was an excellent week. Flying was dull (apart from 'paying a visit' to the Eder and Möhne Dams on the 40th anniversary of OP. CHASTISE...:E), but the social life was generally excellent! On one occasion, a SSAFA sister took a shine to one of the FAF Mirage pilots with whom we were having a beer and flung her arms around him. He simply put down his beer, took his cigarette out of his mouth and placed it butt end down on the bar, then disappeared down to the Keller bar with her. A few minutes later, he re-appeared having clearly DCO'd, picked up his beer, replaced his cigarette and carried on his conversation... Quelle sang froid! Vive le sport!!

Several trips there in later years in the FunBus doing double IRTs and beer runs - always excellent.

There is no way it can have had the same life during pongo times - but I'm sure they enjoyed it too in their own way.

Sorry Bomber it was much much better in the Lightning days!!:ugh::ugh::ugh:

Apologies for my digression but does anybody have any idea when the Pongos move out and they finally lock the gates?

Considering a job there but I'd like to be assured there'd still be at least some semblance of life about the place, or whether I'm being sold a dead duck.

Cheers

Cooch

Gütersloh Princess Royal Barracks – to be vacated by the end of 2016.

http://www.sce-web.com/_files/users/...3605E578E6.pdf

Much appreciated BB :ok:

Talk about the wind of change...

As a young squaddie in 1978, I joined Pegasus GC at Gut.

Anyone remember Bob Bickers?

Was on the Puma and Chinook servicing flight (PCSF) 1982-83 and deployed with 230 Sqn great times been back to visit a few times but as previously said not the the same, just the memories.

Ahh, Goering's Room.

We had a number of great events in that small room but....

On one occasion, the MD of Boeing Helicopters was visiting 18 Sqn. We decided to have a lunch in Goering's Room, to show him how well preserved it was. He entered the room, looked around, and promptly walked out again! During the Second World War, the MD had flown B17s over Germany, and had lost hundreds of colleagues at the hands of Goering's pilots. He was outraged that Goering's Room was kept as a shrine to a war criminal, and would not enter it again.

It just goes to prove - one man's preservation of history is another man's disrespect to the dead.

VictorNavRad:

:D:D:D

IIRC AVM John Howe was Staish in '73 when I first arrived there.

Atom
Bob Bickers is still going strong & can be seen at Lasham I believe.

Does the VIP “loo “in the TWR merit a mentioning?!

RAF Gutersloh
 

Great little video about the airfield today - rather sad to see it in its present decay as I spent many happy hours there (in the Malcolm club :ok:)

it is on Youtube so if you search for Inside The British Forces Germany Base Closed To The Public For Decades
you should find it..

have one on me ....

Let's not forget Bruggen 14 Sqn Jag.....Bomb Dump,,,,,, and 17 Jag sites

QRA and 20 Jag

What an utter waste!

Nutloose:-
Why? These bases kept the peace in the Cold War and by their very presence prevented it becoming a Hot War. They proved also that the UK is a good friend of Europe and will remain so whatever the future of the EU might be. Their fate is far less of an utter waste to this country than the RAF Stations that closed in the UK, in my case; RAFs Oakington, Thorney Island, Colerne, Lyneham, and Fairford.

Chug I mean as in not repurposed.

Güt in the early eighties, CMC of the Sgts mess (my boss) declares that he intends to sell 50,000 tickets , at DM1 each, for the christmas draw, which he does, selling the last ticket on the night. Prizes included the usual car, cruise, holiday and numerous white goods. Following year, no longer CMC he chairs the draw committee, and declares the target to be 60,000 tickets. Target met. 2 cars, cruise, inflatable boat/outboard, and the NAFFI manager moved most of his white goods stock into the mess for the night so as tickets were sold on the night another washer/dryer/dishwasher could be bought out as the tickets were sold.

Best mess ever, a wide spread of ages and experiences. Helped me to build a brilliant contacts book.

PM

Not so sure that they should be left to totally rot. Most FW combat aircraft still need substantial runways and decent hardened protection. Just having these bases available gives lots of options for short notice deployment. They don't need full upkeep, just enough to be usable. Keeping them usable gives any potential aggressor a whole headache of targets that need covering and, if most are empty, the headache gets worse. The same tactic would be wise to use here in UK but, seems that the logic is lost on the beancounters. Go on, who thinks that BZN would survive 5 mins into any serious confrontation and, if you don't think that is possible, why do we have any capability at all? :oh:

OAP

At 7388ft (2252m) Gütersloh was never a 'substantial' runway.

(Funny how you can remember pointless trivia after 30+ years) :)

Onceapilot ... I agree 100% with the concept, but sadly the Treasury wouldn't see it that way.

Was big enough for me! :ok:

OAP

Well, with our very expensive eggs in few baskets, they are wide open to easy targeting. Let's see, carrier/F-35-vulnerable to nuke due low collateral at sea, same low nuke collateral, possibly, for Coningsby, Marham, Lossie, and Kinloss.:oh: Brize, not hardened, soft targets all squeezed-in for blast/frag missiles. Also vulnerable to SF. :\

OAP

OAP, again I agree. My time as Wg Cdr STO in MB was spent in trying to address such issues. Getting anyone upstairs interested in spending money on potential solutions was a major obstacle!

Oops, we may have spoken in haste. With the INF Treaty now being fed into the shredder it looks as if a return to the good ole days is on the cards. Time perhaps to consider dispersing our assets once again. Now let's see, oh....wait....

I'm sure I have an NBC suit somewhere in the Attic. :)