RAF/RAF Regiment in Bavaria in 1945/46???

Private Number of posts : 3 Registration date : 2015-12-11

Good evening,

I am not ex-BAOR, not even British. I wonder if I can find help here. It is a question which is important in some family research.
In 1945 and 1946 a small unit of the RAF or the Airforce Regiment was stationed and billeted in Wassertrüdingen, a small provincial town in southern Germany, not far from Ansbach – both well outside of what became the British Sector and the territory guarded by the BOAR.
We have that from photos taken at the time and these clearly show RAF personnel. Nevertheless, we cannot find any trace on the net.

Near Wassertrüdingen, on the Hesselberg, the Germans had operated a radio beacon and the US forces later ran a DF and/or relay site there. The site itself was closed and razed from 1992. Today there is an important relay for TV, radio and everything else.

We are trying to find out, what British unit was there at the time. Maybe it was in the context of DF.
Would anybody be able and willing to help?

Many thanks in advance

Peter

Subject: Re: RAF/RAF Regiment in Bavaria in 1945/46??? 12/12/2015, 16:49

Peter

An intriguing question though I doubt anyone on this site will be able to give you an answer

As you said Frankenland was very much part of the American Zone of Occupation in 1945 and there definitely was no operational RAF air bases in Southern Germany. However there are two possible explanations linked to RAF communication systems. As you may know Austria was also occupied by the Allies in 1945 with the British Army based in the Klagenfurt area as well as a small presence in Vienna.. There could have therefore been a small detachment maintaining a Radio Relay Station on the Hesselberg. Alternatively the party might have been part of an exchange between RAF/USAF.

The only sensible suggestion I can make is that you contact the RAF Museum in London (there is a website) and seek their advice/help.

Good luck

Private Number of posts : 3 Registration date : 2015-12-11

Thank you so much. This is even after discussions we are having with former RAF officers the first plausible idea as to what the purpose of such a detachment there could have been. I shall indeed follow up with the museum (which I have visited many times when I lived in the area) and hope for a clue which unit it might have been.

Many thanks

Peter

Subject: Re: RAF/RAF Regiment in Bavaria in 1945/46??? 13/12/2015, 10:42

Glad to be of help. Do hope Hendon will be able to provide you with the information you seek.

Subject: Re: RAF/RAF Regiment in Bavaria in 1945/46??? 10/1/2016, 16:00

The RAF had the task of maintaining Radar emitter stations/beacons in the post war era - this included their own Signals Units (SU) and Maintenance Support Units (MSU). Elsewhere on this site there have been mentions of the organisation (which had been classified in early years - so few had a complete overview of what was going on). So more pieces in the puzzle can be found at:

https://bfg-locations.editboard.com/t1539p30-raf-radar-defences

and pictures at

http://www.flickr.com/photos/bellrockman2011/sets/72157632369678583/

other players include:

http://www.rafwinterberg.co.uk

People at the GEE/AMES site Hasselberg billetted elsewhere and probably admin from the SU at Hepberg, Ingolstadt

http://www.kemglen.talktalk.net/winterberg/letters.html

and extracted from 60 signals group fighter command royal air force
at
www.rquirk.com/cdnradar/cor/chapter12.pdf last page

centralized, Royal Air Force "new signals unit responsible for the chain". This unit, he .... No.72 Wing was re-activated (see Radar Navigation Aids).

There are surely still some experts out there who can join up the dots ?

Private Number of posts : 3 Registration date : 2015-12-11

Thank you all,

not all the information provided/linked is understandable to the uninitiated.

I now have reason to believe that the RAF site in question was "Master Hesselburg - AMES 7912", a GEE site probably operated by (a subunit of?) 60 signals group. It would also appear that (subunits of?) 2685 squadron and/or 2713 squadron of the RAF regiment where there to guard an protect it.

The thing is, that what German and American sources refer to as Hesselberg, English sources call Hesselburg....

My interest is in a former RAF Regiment Flying Officer with the service number 134788 (don´t want to put the name here) and whether or not he was there with one of those units in 1946.

Is there a way to find out (for someone who can not prove he is next of kin)?

Thanks in advance

Peter