in
No. 4 Squadron RAF colours at
Luftwaffe Museum, Gatow-Berlin.|alt= of
No. 92 Squadron landing at
RAF Wildenrath in the mid-1980s.|alt= RAF Germany was established on , through the renaming of the
RAF's Second Tactical Air Force. The
command remained based at
RAF Rheindahlen with
Air Marshal Sir John Edwardes-Jones continuing as its
Air Officer Commanding. Flying operations were conducted from six
airfields; four of these:
Geilenkirchen,
Laarbruch,
Bruggen, and
Wildenrath, were the so-called 'clutch' airfields built earlier in the decade, with the other two,
Jever and
Gutersloh, having been occupied since the closing months of
World War II. The command's stock of aircraft included the
English Electric Canberra bomber,
Hawker Hunter fighter-bomber, and the
Supermarine Swift reconnaissance aircraft. The
command's number of airfields was reduced by one in 1961, when Jever was returned to the
West German federal authorities, followed by Geilenkirchen in 1968, and consolidating operations to four RAF stations. In between times, RAFG received a dedicated
interceptor force with the arrival of
19 and
92 Squadrons from the United Kingdom with their
English Electric Lightnings. From 1969, RAFG began receiving new equipment befitting its place on the frontline of the
Cold War, with the command also reorganising to support one aircraft type at each
airbase. Laarbruch became RAFG's home to the
Blackburn Buccaneer strike aircraft, operated by
XV and
16 Squadrons. Bruggen received the
McDonnell Douglas Phantom fighter-
bomber operated by
14,
17, and
31 Squadrons, with Wildenrath taking the
Hawker Siddeley Harrier and
3,
4, and
20 Squadrons. Gutersloh became home to the two Lightning
squadrons, where they were joined in 1970 by the
Westland Wessex helicopters of
18 Squadron, while
25 Squadron provided defence for the three clutch bases with the
Bloodhound SAM. The exception to this arrangement was
II Squadron, who operated their Phantoms in the
aerial reconnaissance role from Laarbruch. At this time, the command gained another further squadron when the Communications Flight adopted the identity of
60 Squadron which had recently disbanded in the Far East. The
Air Officer Commanding (AOC) of RAF Germany at this time was
Dambuster raid pilot Air Marshal
Harold 'Mick' Martin. Further change came with the arrival of the
SEPECAT Jaguar in 1975, with the three Bruggen squadrons all converting to the single-seat, twin-engined,
strike and ground attack aircraft, and was later joined there by 20 Squadron which moved over from the Harrier. II Squadron would also receive the Jaguar, albeit remaining at Laarbruch in its reconnaissance role. In 1977, Wildenrath and Gutersloh swapped roles as 19 and 92 Squadrons converted to the Phantom, now redeployed in the
air defence role, and moved to Wildenrath to take advantage of their new mounts longer range, with 3 and 4 Squadrons and their Harriers moving east to Gutersloh.
230 Squadron and their
Westland Puma helicopters arrived at Gutersloh in 1980 to replace 18 Squadron, who disbanded in preparation to receive the new
Boeing Chinook. After re-equipping, and seeing service in the
Falklands War, 18 returned in 1983 with both units providing support to the
British Army of the Rhine (BAOR). In 1983, a new shape emerged in the skies over western Europe with the arrival of the
Panavia Tornado multi-role strike-attack aircraft into RAF Germany. Entering service with XV Squadron, it was only intended to equip the three Laarbruch-based units, but ultimately replaced the Jaguar across the RAFG command, which also included 20 Squadron moving once more this time to Laarbruch. 1986 saw the arrival of
IX Squadron at Bruggen, as well as the end of the nuclear
Quick Response Alert duty that RAFG had carried out since its formation. The Jaguar finally left RAF Germany in 1988 when II Squadron replaced theirs with Tornado's fitted with the much-delayed 'Tornado Infra-Red Reconnaissance System' (TIRRS), while the following year 3 and 4 Squadrons began replacing their first-generation Harrier GR3s with the new
Harrier II. 25 Squadron disbanded that October, ending nearly twenty years of Bloodhound SAM operation in Germany, with the numberplate transferred the same day to a new
Tornado F3 unit at
RAF Leeming. The
fall of the Berlin Wall and the collapse of the
Warsaw Pact stimulated major changes in British defence policy, and RAF Germany was no exception. The
Options for Change paper announced a downsizing of the command; Wildenrath was to close and its Phantom squadrons disbanded, Gutersloh was to be transferred to the
British Army and its squadrons relocated to Laarbruch, which in turn would have its three strike-attack Tornado
squadrons disbanded. These proposals were quickly overtaken by events in the Gulf, following the
Iraqi invasion of Kuwait. RAF Germany provided the bulk of the Tornado force, with XV (
Wg Cdr John Broadbent), 16 (Wg Cdr Ian Travers-Smith), and 31 (Wg Cdr Jerry Witts) providing the main elements at
Muharraq,
Tabuk, and
Dhahran respectively, with personnel drawn from all eight RAFG Tornado squadrons. Three of those;
Squadron Leaders Garry Lennox and Kevin Weeks from 16 Squadron, and
Flight Lieutenant Steve Hicks from XV Squadron; were
killed in action, and the last of over one hundred aircrew lost in service with RAFG units. Despite the successful service in the Gulf, the Options for Change proposals were carried out. 92 Squadron at Wildenrath was the first to disband in July 1991, followed by 19 in January 1992, and the station itself that April. At Laarbruch, both XV and 16 Squadrons were disbanded during 1991, and II Squadron relocated to
RAF Marham. 20 Squadron remained, but disbanded in July 1992, before 3, 4, and 18 Squadrons relocated from Gutersloh later that year, while 230 Squadron had departed for
RAF Aldergrove in
Northern Ireland that April. RAF Germany itself came to an end on , when it was disbanded and redesignated as
No.2 Group of
Strike Command, with Air Marshal
Sandy Wilson as its last AOC. 2 Group was itself subsumed into
1 Group in 1996, with the final withdrawal of forces coming in 2002 following the closures of Laarbruch and Bruggen. ==RAFG structure and flying units in 1989==