RAF Bruggen
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RAF Bruggen, Germany was until June 15, 2001 a major station of the Royal Air Force.
RAF Bruggen was situated next to the village of Elmpt, approximately 43 km west of Düsseldorf near the German-Netherlands border. The base was named after the village of Bruggen, the nearest rail depot. Construction began in mid-1952 which involved the clearing of dense forest and draining of marshland. The station became active in 1953 during the rapid expansion of NATO forces in Europe.
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[edit] 1953-1957 - Fighter role
The initial role of the base was air defence provided by four squadrons operating the Hawker Hunter, F-86 Sabre and for a short time the De Havilland Vampire.
[edit] 317 Supply & Transport Column
In 1953, the 317 Supply & Transport column arrived at R.A.F. Bruggen from Uetersen. This followed the decision to supply all R.A.F. stations in Germany through the port of Antwerp. In 1954 the unit was redesignated as a Transport Squadron and was responsible for equipping and supplying all R.A.F. stations in Germany and Holland. The unit remained at Bruggen until 1963 when it was amalgamated into the 431 Maintenance Unit which continued to operate until 1993. The demise of 317 M.T. Squadron marked the end of an era as it had been on the continent shortly after D Day under its previous title of 317 Supply & Transport Column. It had built itself an enviable reputation and following the cessation of hostilities carried out convoys to Prague, Warsaw and Moscow. In the Review of the Royal Air Force 1950, the unit was described as the Carter Paterson of the autobahns Throughout its life 317 carried out a number of humanitarian operations. The first being medical supplies to Bergen Belsen. This was followed in 1947 by operation 'Harvester' in which timber and peat was supplied to the civilian population of Northern Germany in one of the coldest winters on record. This was followed by the return of displaced persons and P.O.W.'s to their home towns and cities within the British Zone. They were called upon again at the start of the Berlin Airlift (Operation Plain Fare) and lastly in the winter of 1961 the Squadron took a convoy of Fuel trucks to the oil refineries in Rotterdam for heating oil which was delivered to hospitals in Germany during the great freeze when the canals were inoperable.
[edit] 1957-1998 - Strike/Attack role
The initial strike capability at RAF Bruggen was provided by the Canberra from the summer of 1957. From 1969 to 1975 the F-4 Phantom operated in the strike/attack role and were replaced by the SEPECAT Jaguar from 1975. The Jaguar squadrons were replaced by the Panavia Tornado GR1 beginning in 1984. With a height of each four GR1 squadrons Bruggen and its sister airbase Laarbruch formed the largest Tornado force in NATO.
[edit] 1998-2001 - Attack role
Following reunification of Germany the RAF announced plans to reduce its presence in the country by half. One major part of this was the reduction of Tornado squadrons at Bruggen from seven to four, No.17, No.IX, No.14 and No.31 squadrons. 9, 14 and 31 squadrons took part in the Gulf War and operated from the base during NATO's air operations in the Kosovo War, supported by VC10 tankers.
The decision to remove all of RAF assets from Germany was taken in 1996. As a result of the Strategic Defence Review No. 17 Squadron disbanded on March 31 1999 and began the gradual drawdown of the base. No. 14 Sqn relocated to RAF Lossiemouth in January 2001. A formal ceremony on June 15 officially ended a continuous RAF presence in Germany since World War II and all of the remaining Tornados had left for RAF Marham by September 4 2001.
The base was handed over to the British Army on February 28 2002 and is known as Elmpt Station.
