Army Air Corps in Germany

A submission in form of a link. Maybe Marcus Herbote’s article »Army Air Corps in Germany« is of interest for some of your readers as it contains at least some info on BAOR/ AAC locations: http://qra-magazin.de/en/army-air-corps-in-germany/ ... we are always looking for input or comments. The main reason for writing this article is the end of AAC operations in Germany which will come with the departure of 1Regiment AAC from Gütersloh in October 2013.

sgetuo

Welcome and thank you for the link

It is always good to have authoritive accurate details of BAOR based units and their locations to this site's data base.

Cuxhaven Steve and I are currentlly embarked (with contributions from other members of this site) into a major research of the early years of BAOR

Are you interested in details of the RAF controlled, but with mainly Gunner pilots, AOP Squadrons which were based in the northern part of the then British Zone of Occupation from Summer 1945 till Spring 1946/ Equipted with variants of the fixed wing Austers the Squadron numbers re emerged with the formation of the Army Air Corps in the 1960s.

The good old days, I was REME attached to 655 Sqn in 76.

JPW wrote:

Are you interested in details of the RAF controlled, but with mainly Gunner pilots, AOP Squadrons which were based in the northern part of the then British Zone of Occupation from Summer 1945 till Spring 1946/ Equipted with variants of the fixed wing Austers the Squadron numbers re emerged with the formation of the Army Air Corps in the 1960s.

Those infos would be great. At the beginning of his research for this article Marcus wanted to include this part of the history of AAC but it was not so easy to sort everything out.

Delighted to be of assistance

Will contact you privately by pm regarding the data I hold which is unsuitable for publishing on this site in its current format

Just curious JPW.
I notice, in the "Lost Trails" section of the British Legion magazine, that an ex-REME man was in LAD, 86 Anti-Tank Regt RA, in Nov 1945 and was in a place called Wenzendorf.
I can find no mention of such a place on this site, nor can I find it in my trusty "Grosser Auto Atlas",
(1976/77). I'm wondering if there has been a mis-spelling.

http://www.geschichtsspuren.de/artikel/luftfahrt-luftwaffe/128-flugzeugwerk-flugplatz-wenzendorf.html



Bitteschoen. 

Moin Brum and Shelldrake

Thanks for the "heads up" you have assisted JPW and myself in our joint project

86th (5th Battalion Devonshire Regiment) Anti-Tank Regiment RA from 2nd Army Troops – Wenzendorf south-west of Hamburg

Being in Kreis Harburg they would have been at that time command 100th Anti-Aircraft Brigade of 43rd (Wessex) Infantry Division

Many thanks and  
Steve
PS: More researchers required please

Brum

My apologies for not acknowledging your interesting query. As to be expected that distinguished Gunner, Sheldrake, has provided the definitive authoritive answer

As Steve has indicated you have added a previously unknown location to our list of barracks occupied by the British Army in the future Hamburg District in the immediate post war period.

The first post of this thread gives a link to the AAC in Germany, this publication is a spotters rough guide to aviation. Please do not take this as difinitive.

dandc

Thank you for the "health warning"

Steve and I are very fortunate that contributors such as yourself can audit such information from first hand experience of the relevent aspect of service life in Germany

steve wrote:

Moin Brum and Shelldrake

Thanks for the "heads up" you have assisted JPW and myself in our joint project

86th (5th Battalion Devonshire Regiment) Anti-Tank Regiment RA from 2nd Army Troops – Wenzendorf south-west of Hamburg

Being in Kreis Harburg they would have been at that time command 100th Anti-Aircraft Brigade of 43rd (Wessex) Infantry Division

Many thanks and  
Steve
PS: More researchers required please

Cheers.
To be fair though, I only spotted it in the Legion magazine.  

JPW wrote:

dandc

Thank you for the "health warning"

Steve and I are very fortunate that contributors such as yourself can audit such information from first hand experience of the relevent aspect of service life in Germany

s

The AAC is still a young corps (only 57 ) by some yard sticks, even from when I was a member, Regiments,squadrons and camps are being changed,droped or added to as the AAC evolves with the needs of todays modern Army.Sorry to say,you cant stop progress. 

Many a good memory. Remember the Why Not bar downtown? Air Traffic Control AAC Detmold 655 Sqn. 1975-1977. Air Trooper Vince Mullan. Shameful how the barracks look now.

I know this post relates to Army Air Corps in Germany, I wonder if the old 249 Signal Sqn(FARELF) were the only R Signals unit with their own Helicopter flight (Bell G47's).

THE STRANGE EVENT OF THE BURNING HELICOPTER.

I was on air traffic control tower duty the night those two lads burnt the Scout helicopter at the Detmold airfield. It was the one guy that did it - the other warned him not to. The guy that did it was called... well, let's call him Pat. He thought Avtag is like diesel and can't be set fire to. He held a lighter over the open fuel tank and Whoomp! up it went. Write off. I saw the fireball and hit the emergency button. The German fireman asked "What Quadrant is the problem?" I said "Drive out the door - can't miss it". Later, Pat was in the guard house when the camp commander of the day was posted out. I clearly remember him going up to Pat on the steps of the guard house and in front of the crowd of cheering guys giving him a box of matches.

Bars. I have many fond memories of the Why Not dance bar/Disco. What ever happened to it? I also remember a bar owned by an ex-Guardsman not too far away. I think his wife was called Renata - could be wrong. Don't remember the name of that place. It was one of the few that were soldier friendly.

For quite a while I lived in 2nd floor of that turret you see in the photos where the big Orange ball artwork is. The little helicopter was there. I call the location the back entrance of the barracks. I remember if looking out the window the MPs were down behind to the left with the medical bay and REME guys were billeted across the street.

I remember one July 4th an American flyer attached to 655 came in his #1s and hoisted the Stars and Stripes in place of the Union Jack where the little helicopter was. We played Yellow Rose of Texas for him as he hoisted the flag.

I remember a pilot in 655 who drove an E Type Jag. Blue? Lilac? . His plate was HE P1G. Don't remember his name.

I remember doing guard duty at the cinema. This was about 1975/76. The billboard over the entrance said "Music, The Sound Of".

We had a bar in the AAC accommodations. On Saturdays we bussed nurses in from Bielefeld and put on a disco. I remember a guy in 655 we called Mad Martin. Used to eat wine glasses and beer mugs to impress those girls. He kept a pet crocodile about 18" long in a tub for the longest time. I have no idea how he got away with that for as long as he did.

Good times. Simpler times.

Vmullan wrote:

THE STRANGE EVENT OF THE BURNING HELICOPTER.

I was on air traffic control tower duty the night those two lads burnt the Scout helicopter at the Detmold airfield. It was the one guy that did it - the other warned him not to. The guy that did it was called... well, let's call him Pat. He thought Avtag is like diesel and can't be set fire to. He held a lighter over the open fuel tank and Whoomp! up it went. Write off. I saw the fireball and hit the emergency button. The German fireman asked "What Quadrant is the problem?" I said "Drive out the door - can't miss it". Later, Pat was in the guard house when the camp commander of the day was posted out. I clearly remember him going up to Pat on the steps of the guard house and in front of the crowd of cheering guys giving him a box of matches.

Bars. I have many fond memories of the Why Not dance bar/Disco. What ever happened to it? I also remember a bar owned by an ex-Guardsman not too far away. I think his wife was called Renata - could be wrong. Don't remember the name of that place. It was one of the few that were soldier friendly.

For quite a while I lived in 2nd floor of that turret you see in the photos where the big Orange ball artwork is. The little helicopter was there. I call the location the back entrance of the barracks. I remember if looking out the window the MPs were down behind to the left with the medical bay and REME guys were billeted across the street.

I remember one July 4th an American flyer attached to 655 came in his #1s and hoisted the Stars and Stripes in place of the Union Jack where the little helicopter was. We played Yellow Rose of Texas for him as he hoisted the flag.

I remember a pilot in 655 who drove an E Type Jag. Blue? Lilac? . His plate was HE P1G. Don't remember his name.

I remember doing guard duty at the cinema. This was about 1975/76. The billboard over the entrance said "Music, The Sound Of".

We had a bar in the AAC accommodations. On Saturdays we bussed nurses in from Bielefeld and put on a disco. I remember a guy in 655 we called Mad Martin. Used to eat wine glasses and beer mugs to impress those girls. He kept a pet crocodile about 18" long in a tub for the longest time. I have no idea how he got away with that for as long as he did.

Good times. Simpler times.

The club bar was in the basement of the building with the helicopter outside, it was called the blue berret club and I had a room on the ground floor. I was the REME clerk in 76 and also doubled as the Sqn clerk as there was a shortage of clerks in the AAC at this time.

The helicopter was a "Skeeter" it was put on the blocks outside the accomodation in 1973.Up untill 1974 the turreted part of 655 sqn block was the QMs downstairs,and the COs office upstairs. The REME on the other side of the road were 71ac workshops, things must have changed after mid 74 as I was posted to 666 sqn.

PS, by then the BBC club had moved into the attick.   

I got there in 74. I remember when the CO's office was in the tower. It moved to a building closer to the Guard house and a few of us got to pick new accommodations. I shared that ex-office with another guy. When we managed to smuggle girls in they thought we were VIPs! I remember the bar being in the basement and also in the attic I didn't remember which was first. The bar was rough stone with a wood top. I remember helping put beer bottles cemented into the stone and putting Christmas lights in the empty bottles. Great effect!

The BBC club started in the cellar.

dandc wrote:

The BBC club started in the cellar.

The BBC club was in the cellar when I was attached to them, so maybe it was before 76 maybe 74? My memory is not so good these days. I was with them when the French adventure training was on, canoing down the ardesh river.

That brings back memories. I went on the French Adventure. The vehicles had to be painted (blue and yellow ?) because the French wouldn't allow camo colours. Had to get civvie license plates too. The memory of finally arriving on the beach in Southern France was great. A beach fire at night with some local French girls and watching the sun come up over the ocean.

Vmullan wrote:

That brings back memories. I went on the French Adventure. The vehicles had to be painted (blue and yellow ?) because the French wouldn't allow camo colours. Had to get civvie license plates too. The memory of finally arriving on the beach in Southern France was great. A beach fire at night with some local French girls and watching the sun come up over the ocean.

It was a fun experience, especially the gauges part with the nudist colonies, and my partner in the canoe was a CPO, but his eyes were not on navigation LOL.

Good morning gents, unfortunatly things change. I still remember my first day with Army Aviation as if it were yesterday.

In june 1971 I was informed by my sqn ldr ( 15/19H ) that I was going ERE to BFPO 41, 655 sqn Army Aviation,found out by asking around that I was off to Detmold,The AAC were different those days as all their manpower was provided by all arms,there was no direct entry from civi st untill 1973,anyway 655 was in the change from RA personel to RAC.
I arrived at Detmold on a sunday afternoon in june and was duly squared away in the attic untill my quater was ready. On the monday morning just before first parade I made my way outside....not a sinner in sight,I hung around for 15 mins Nothing, at nearly 0830 I see a blue berret and asked him what time muster parade was, after giving me a wiered look he said " no parades here son just go down the cellar bar their all down there.That my introduction to the AAC, as I said I left 655 in 74,if you were both there after 74 you may know my very good friend Robert George ( paddy ) Church, and be careful what you say as I am still in contact with him a we meet quite often.

Hi dandc. I remember lots of faces but few names. Paul Cousins? Peter Hickenbotham? I got there 1974. Return to Middle Wallop 1978. Tour of BATU Suffield in middle. I met wife in Sin Bin (Assinaboya Inn) in Medicine Hat on that tour. Returned to Canada in 78 after leaving Forces and have been there since.