RAF Geilenkirchen

Royal Air Force Geilenkirchen more commonly known as RAF Geilenkirchen is a former Royal Air Force List of former [Royal Air Force stations|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

No [2 Squadron RAF] – 1955–1957; operated the Gloster Meteor FR.9 and later the Supermarine Swift FR.5.
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.
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.8.
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.

The RAF handed over the station to the West 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.

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.