CFB Baden-Soellingen

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Canadian Forces Base Baden-Soellingen or CFB Baden-Soellingen was a Canadian Forces Base located near the farming community of Rheinmünster-Söllingen in the West German state of Baden-Württemberg. It is now a commercial area called Baden Airpark. Inside is also the regional airport called Flughafen Karsruhe/Baden-Baden (Code FKB).

1 History
2 Notable natives

[edit] History

Construction of an airfield at Baden-Soellingen began in December 1951 at a location between the Black Forest and the Rhine River under the supervision of France's Armée de l'Air (AA). The runway and associated facilities were completed by June 1952 and were intended to accommodate a brigade of the AA which arrived in August for the first operational use of the base. At that point, support buildings were under advanced construction.

[edit] RCAF Station Baden-Soellingen

In early 1953, NATO Headquarters determined that a new base under construction at Pferdsfeld would not be ready for arriving Royal Canadian Air Force squadrons and personnel later that summer. It was decided that France's units would transfer to another base to temporarily vacate their airfield at Baden-Soellingen since this base was almost complete. Sixty-two RCAF F-86 Sabre jets arrived in 3 squadrons at Baden on September 4, 1953. These squadrons were 414, 422, and 444. Several months after the RCAF units arrived, NATO HQ made the RCAF move to Baden permanent and the facility was named RCAF Station Baden-Soellingen (or 4 Wing). Dependents followed beginning in the spring of 1954.

Personnel at RCAF Station Baden-Soellingen worked quickly to make the base fully operational and integrate into RCAF operations within NATO for the defence of Western Europe. Other bases in operation at this time included RCAF Station Marville, or 1 Wing, RCAF Station Grostenquin, or 2 Wing, in France and RCAF Station Zweibrücken, or 3 Wing, in West Germany. These stations, or wings, were part of the RCAF's No. 1 Air Division.

NATO identified a shortage in all-weather fighter/interceptor aircraft in 1955 and the RCAF responded by providing the Air Division with 4 squadrons equipped with the CF-100 Canuck to supplement existing squadrons equipped with the F-86 Sabre. At Baden, 414 Squadron (Sabres) was replaced by 419 Squadron flying CF-100s. Air Division Sabre squadrons were converted to the CF-104 Starfighter beginning in 1962. The Canuck squadrons were disbanded by December 31 of that year. The Starfighter units changed the RCAF's original mission from fighter/interceptor to nuclear strike/reconnaissance.

In 1963 the Government of France announced that all nuclear weapons located on French soil (NATO or French) would be controlled by France itself. This was unacceptable to the RCAF (and other NATO units stationed in France), so the nuclear-capable 421 Squadron at 2 Wing was hastily moved in the fall of 1963 to Baden and the similarly equipped 430 Squadron at 2 Wing moved to Zweibrücken. Remaining non-nuclear armed units in France were repositioned to RCAF Station Marville.

In March 1966 the Government of France announced that it would be withdrawing its military forces from NATO and that current NATO units based in France must leave or fall under French military command. This forced the RCAF to look for a home in Western Europe for 1 Wing and 1 Air Division Headquarters. They settled on Base Arienne 139 Lahr which the Armée de l'Air was vacating as per the French government's announced withdrawal from NATO. RCAF personnel, aircraft and equipment was transferred to the new RCAF Station Lahr by March 1967 with dependents to follow later.

[edit] CFB Baden-Soellingen

On February 1, 1968 the RCAF merged with the Royal Canadian Navy (RCN) and Canadian Army to form the Canadian Armed Forces. RCAF Station Baden-Soellingen was renamed Canadian Forces Base Baden-Soellingen, or CFB Baden-Soellingen. As part of an effort to remove duplication and cut the defence budget following unification of the services, Zweibrücken was closed with its units consolidating at Lahr and Baden.

Further defence cuts and consolidation saw the Canadian Army (then renamed to Force Mobile Command) units based in Soest area of northern West Germany moved to CFB Lahr, with remaining air force units concentrated at CFB Baden-Soellingen as well as some remaining army units. The cuts resulted in a drawback of the air force from 6 squadrons to 3 which were reorganized under the new 1 Canadian Air Group banner.

The ramp-up in defence spending during renewed Cold War tensions in the late 1970s and 1980s saw CFB Baden-Soellingen receive much-needed new infrastructure, including updated quarters for its personnel and their dependents. The year 1984 saw squadrons at CFB Baden-Soellingen begin to re-equip from the CF-104 Starfighter to the CF-18 Hornet with 1986 being the close-out year for the Starfighter on base.

In October 1989 the Berlin Wall came down and by the end of the year Germany had reunited, thawing Cold War tensions and removing the role for Canada's active units stationed in Western Europe under NATO command.

[edit] Gulf War deployment

In September 1990 it was announced that an augmented 409 Squadron, and an infantry company from the Royal Canadian Regiment, 3rd Battalion would deploy from CFB Baden-Soellingen to a base in Qatar as part of Operation Desert Shield along with some airfield security personnel. In December it was announced that 439 Squadron would deploy from Baden Soellingen to replace 409 in Qatar. Aircraft from 439 Squadron were involved in air patrols and air-to-ground missions during Operation Desert Storm in January-February 1991, firing the first war shots by a Canadian military aircraft since the Korean War.

[edit] UNPROFOR deployment

The last major deployment from CFB Baden Soellingen occurred in April 1992, when infantry soldiers from November Company of the Royal Canadian Regiment were deployed to a United Nations peacekeeping mission in the disintegrating country of Yugoslavia. November Company's deployment was the first of many that the Canadian Forces would undertake to the nation under the banner of UNPROFOR (United Nations Protection Force). On the first night in Surac, Croatia, November Company came under direct artillery fire and was hit by 10-25 shells. In June of 1992, the company was re-located to Sector Sarajevo, and fell under the command of General MacKenzie. November Company was ordered to break through to and seize Sarajevo Airport for UNPROFOR to use for transporting food and supplies to civilians in the city.

The post-Cold War defence cuts of the early 1990s identified both CFB Baden-Soellingen and CFB Lahr for closure by 1994. The airfield at CFB Baden Soellingen closed on March 31, 1993 and several of its squadrons were disbanded with the aircraft mothballed in Canada. By summer 1993 most personnel had vacated CFB Baden-Soellingen with the base becoming a detachment of CFB Lahr, whose personnel had also largely vacated by August 31, 1993. During the final months, Baden-Soellingen operated largely as a detachment of CFB Lahr and was permanently closed on December 31, 1993. CFB Lahr would continue on until being officially closed 9 months later on August 31, 1994.

[edit] Notes

"Canadian Army units" mentioned were the English-speaking infantry battalion: Early 70s: 3 Mech Commando, late 70s-1984: 3 Battalion RCR (Royal Canadian Regiment), 1984-1988: 2 Battalion PPCLI (Princess Patricia's Canadian Light Infantry), 1988-closure: again 3 Battalion RCR. There was also a communications squadron, and after 1987, an air defence battery. A multi-force airfield repair unit formed in the late 80s to fix the runways if needed.

All Canadian military veterans who served in Germany were bestowed the Special Service Medal with the NATO Bar. The Government of Canada has designated this as a War Medal.