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Europe · from 1953

Ramstein Air Base

US Air Force base in Rhineland-Palatinate, Germany.

History

Ramstein Air Base (IATA: RMS, ICAO: ETAR) (before 1958 Ramstein–Landstuhl) is a United States Air Force installation located in Rhineland-Palatinate, southwestern Germany. It serves as the headquarters for the United States Air Forces in Europe – Air Forces Africa (USAFE-AFAFRICA) and NATO Allied Air Command (AIRCOM). The base plays a key role in supporting forward military operations, particularly those deploying to Eastern Europe and Africa.

Designed in 1949 by the French Army and built by German contractors between 1951 and 1953, the Ramstein Air Base hosts over 16,200 military personnel, U.S. civilians, and contractors. The base is located near the town of Ramstein-Miesenbach, with the east gate about 16 km (10 mi; 9 nmi) from Kaiserslautern, commonly known as "K-Town" among Americans. Other nearby towns include Landstuhl, located 5 km (3 mi; 3 nmi) from the base's west gate.

Ramstein AB is part of the larger Kaiserslautern Military Community (KMC), which houses around 54,000 American service members and over 5,400 U.S. civilian employees. Additionally, more than 6,200 German workers are employed within the KMC. Air Force units in the KMC employ nearly 9,800 military personnel, supported by approximately 11,100 family members.

Text from Wikipedia: Ramstein Air Base, CC BY-SA 4.0, lightly trimmed.

Key dates

  1. 1940
    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.
  2. 1953
    The French took control of the underground bunker after World War II, and USAFE assumed control in 1953.
  3. 1957
    On 1 December 1957, the two bases were consolidated into the largest NATO-controlled air base in service on the continent.
  4. 1966
    As a result, the 26th Tactical Reconnaissance Wing, based at Toul-Rosieres Air Base, France, and two of its squadrons, the 38th and 32d, equipped with the RF-4C Phantom II, were relocated to Ramstein on 5 October 1966.
  5. 1973
    On 31 January 1973, several headquarters were relocated into and out of Ramstein, when Seventeenth AF moved to Sembach Air Base to make room for the expected move of HQ USAFE to Ramstein.
  6. 1976
    On 14 August 1976, the Strategic Air Command 306th Strategic Wing was activated at Ramstein with a KC-135 air refueling and an RC-135 reconnaissance mission.
  7. 1981
    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.
  8. 2004
    On 24 May 2004, the 38th Combat Support Wing was activated to enhance support to USAFE geographically separated units.
  9. 2022
    On 26 April 2022, Ramstein Air Base hosted a meeting of the International Advisory Group on Ukraine's Defense and Counteraction to Russia, convened by US Secretary of Defense Lloyd Austin to synchronize and coordinate Ukraine's military assistance in the war with Russia.

Dates and events quoted from the same Wikipedia article (CC BY-SA 4.0).

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