Ramstein Air Base
Ramstein Air Base or Ramstein AB (IATA: RMS, ICAO: ETAR) is a United States Air Force base in Rhineland-Palatinate, a state in southwestern Germany. It serves as headquarters for the United States Air Forces in Europe – Air Forces Africa (USAFE-AFAFRICA) and also for NATO Allied Air Command (AIRCOM). Ramstein is located near the town of Ramstein-Miesenbach, which stands outside the base's west gate, in the rural district of Kaiserslautern. The base supports forward elements deploying to Eastern Europe and Africa.
Ramstein Air Base
US Air Force base
1,400 ha (3,500 acres)
Operational
1949–1953
1953–present
Brigadier General Otis C. Jones
- 37th Airlift Squadron
- 76th Airlift Squadron
- See Based units section for full list.
238 metres (781 ft) AMSL
The construction of the air base was a project designed and undertaken by the French Army and the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers from 1949 to 1952.
Ramstein AB is part of the Kaiserslautern Military Community (KMC), where more than 54,000 American service members and more than 5,400 US civilian employees live and work. U.S. organizations in the KMC also employ the services of more than 6,200 German workers. Air Force units in the KMC alone employ almost 9,800 military members, bringing with them nearly 11,100 family members. There are more than 16,200 military, U.S. civilian, and U.S. contractors assigned to Ramstein AB alone.
The east gate of Ramstein Air Base is approximately 16 kilometres (10 mi) from Kaiserslautern (locally referred to by Americans as "K-Town").[2][3] Other nearby civilian communities include Landstuhl, some 5 kilometres (3 mi) from the west gate.
History[edit]
Development and establishment[edit]
In 1940, construction of today's Bundesautobahn 6 was stopped when a bridge that was being built across the Rhine River near Mannheim collapsed, leaving a section of autobahn that could not be used. A part of the unused autobahn to the west of Mannheim, near Kaiserslautern, was used as an airstrip by the Luftwaffe. The airstrip was also used by the advancing U.S. Army Air Forces during the final months of World War II. The old autobahn section is still used as the access road to the east and west gates of the base and the A6 was rebuilt south of the air base after the war.
During the initial postwar era, the USAAF repaired several former Luftwaffe airfields in Bavaria, part of the American occupation zone of Germany. With the advent of the Berlin Blockade and the chilling of relations with the Soviet Union, by 1948, it became obvious to United States Air Force planners that these bases were tactically untenable because of their proximity to the East German and Czechoslovakian borders.
With the creation of NATO in response to Cold War tensions in Europe in 1949, USAFE wanted its vulnerable fighter units in West Germany moved west of the Rhine River to provide greater air defense warning time. France agreed to provide air base sites within their zone of occupation in the Rhineland-Palatinate as part of the NATO expansion program.
Construction of the modern USAF base near Kaiserslautern began in April 1948 under the provisions of a Franco-American reciprocal agreement. Two separate, but adjoining bases were designed. A headquarters base for Twelfth Air Force, along with several NATO organizations, designated as Ramstein Air Station; and an operational fighter base, designated as Landstuhl Air Base. What is today known as Kisling Memorial Drive would separate the two facilities.
The area was a swamp that had to be built up by two meters (six feet). A train line was laid out from Einsiedlerhof-Kaiserslautern in a yoke shape around to the current base and back down to the Landstuhl spur in 1948, by agreement of the U.S. and French Occupational Forces. Trainloads of earth were moved over the line and spread over the base's current area to raise it to its current level. Once the ground was level, construction work began. Two bases were laid out. Landstuhl Air Base on the south side and Ramstein Air Station (station, no airstrip) on the north. From 1948 to the opening of the bases in 1953, it was the largest one spot construction site in Europe employing over 270,000 workers at one time.[4]
Enough construction was completed in mid-1952 that Landstuhl AB was opened on 5 August. Its facilities included a runway, dispersal hardstands, a control tower, ramps, and other flight-related facilities and the associated flying and support units. On 1 February 1952, Det 1, 86th Fighter-Bomber Wing arrived at Landstuhl AB from Neubiberg Air Base near Munich.
On 1 June 1953, Ramstein Air Station was opened. Ramstein was the location of headquarters, Twelfth Air Force, and supported family housing, base exchange, commissary, dependents' schools and other administrative offices for the WAFs (Women's Air Force). The barracks that were built at Ramstein AS were used to house WAFs and single women that worked as U.S. Government employees at both Ramstein AS and Landstuhl AB. On 27 April 1953, Headquarters, Twelfth Air Force was activated on Ramstein Air Base, having moved from its joint facilities with HQ USAFE at Wiesbaden AB. What was not generally known at the time and not made public until after the end of the Cold War in 1993, was the desire to have HQ Twelfth Air Force in close proximity to the Air Defense Operations Center (ADOC) — Kindsbach, a.k.a. 'Kindsbach Cave' — the site of NATO's underground combat operations center.
Facilities[edit]
Airfield[edit]
Ramstein Air Base consists of two runways — 09/27 and 08/26 — two large aprons, one near a hangar north of Runways 27 and 26, and one to the north of 09 and 08. The north-western apron also has a small passenger terminal with two jetways. This means the air base is capable of joint-use operations, although currently there are no scheduled airlines running flights to and from Ramstein.
Schools[edit]
There are four schools at Ramstein Air Base: Ramstein Elementary School (grades PreK–2), Ramstein Intermediate School (grades 3–5), Ramstein American Middle School (grades 6–8), and Ramstein High School (grades 9–12). All of these schools are run by DoDDS, a component of DoDEA.
Accidents and incidents[edit]
Red Army Faction car bombing, 31 August 1981[edit]
The U.S. Air Forces in Europe (USAFE) headquarters became the target of a bombing attack at 07:21 on 31 August 1981, carried out by a Red Army Faction commando called 'Sigurd Debus'. A total of 20 victims were injured, some seriously. [39]
Ramstein air show disaster, 28 August 1988[edit]
The Ramstein air show disaster was a mid-air collision that occurred during the Flugtag '88 air show on Sunday, 28 August 1988, killing 70 people.[40]
C-5 crash, 29 August 1990[edit]
On 29 August 1990, a C-5 Galaxy Transport plane was carrying U.S. servicemen to the Persian Gulf when the thrust reverser on one of the engines of the large jet suddenly deployed, causing it to crash shortly after takeoff, killing 13 people and injuring 4 others.
Environmental scandal[edit]
In 2014, it was revealed that poisonous extinguishing foams (PFCs) were used on Ramstein Air Base and other U.S. air bases in the region. These are now contaminating lakes, rivers and the ground water in the region. In one river, the contamination was 7700 times higher than the safety limit set by the European Union.[41] These contaminations are linked to cancer and birth defects.[42]