RAF Laarbruch
| RAF Laarbruch Advanced Landing Ground (ALG) B-100 |
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 RAF Laarbruch
RAF Laarbruch (Germany)
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| Coordinates | 51°36′09″N 06°08′32″E / 51.60250°N 6.14222°E |
| Type | Military Airfield |
| Site history | |
| In use | 1934-1999 |
| Battles/wars | Western Front (World War II) |
The former Royal Air Force Station Laarbruch, more commonly known as RAF Laarbruch ICAO EDUL (from 1 January 1995 ETUL) was a Royal Air Force station, a military airfield, located in Germany on its border with the Netherlands. The Station's motto was Ein feste Burg ("A Mighty Fortress").
The site now operates as the civilian Airport Weeze.
The British army built Advanced Landing Ground Goch (B-100) during World War II in preparation for the final push across the Rhine River in early 1945. The infrastructure was straightforward and simple: a 3,600 feet (1,100 m) PSP runway with a parallel 3,000 feet (910 m) grass emergency runway, refuelling was done with jerrycans, and there was enough space for two complete Wings.
It was only used between 4 March and late April. The first unit to fly from the airfield was No. 662 Squadron RAF operating Taylorcraft Auster, who remained at the airfield until 24 March. They were followed by the British 121 Wing (20 March) operating Hawker Typhoon. Ten days later the Canadian No. 143 Wing joined them. The Hawker Typhoons of 121 Wing were exchanged for the Supermarine Spitfires of Canadian No. 127 Wing by mid-April, but by the end of that month all Wings had left. This ended the use of B-100 airfield.
In 1954 Royal Air Force Germany (RAFG) rebuilt the World War II airfield, with a 2,565 meters (8,415 ft) runway, as RAF Laarbruch due to the outbreak of the Cold War. Laarbruch was home to various first-line squadrons, including No. 2 Squadron RAF flying F-4 Phantom II; and 15 and 16 Squadrons flying BAe Buccaneers and 25 Squadron 'C' Flight with Bristol Bloodhound surface to air missiles in the 1970s, followed by Jaguars in the 1980s. These were replaced by Tornadoes with four squadrons (2, 15, 16,and 20) resident.
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