Rhein Main AFB
Frankfurt Germany

Rhine-Main The end of a proud era.
After nearly sixty years, Rhine-Main is no more.

On September 30th, 2005 Rhine-Main Air Base, the U. S. Air Force installation near the place where the Main River flows into the Rhine, was closed.

For many years, the runway and air traffic control facilities have been shared by the Germans and the Americans, and the air base and property near Frankfurt am Main, reverted back to the German government which has plans to use it for expansion of Frankfurt civil airport.

To those of us who served there, or were otherwise associated with Rhine-Main in those sixty years, it is truly the passing of an era. And for many hundreds of thousands of Americans—Air Force, Army, Navy and thousands of dependents who passed through the “Gateway to Europe,” or had some contact with Rhine-Main in one capacity or another, their time there will always be remembered.

From the small beginning after the end of WWII, Rhine-Main was the hub around which the military wheel in Europe turned, and it remained so through the

Airlift and the Cold War, and was there for the support of the Gulf War, Bosnia, and until closing, the Iraq war.

For many years, the 60th Troop Carrier Wing was based at Rhine-Main, flying C-47 and C-54 Aircraft. Then near the end of the Airlift in 1949, the C-82s appeared. The 60th flew the Packets out of Rhine-Main, doing the Combat Cargo-Troop Carrier work of their mission, in addition to the not so glamorous work of hauling freight until 1951 when the C-119s appeared. The 10th, 11th and 12th Troop Carrier Squadrons continued to fly from Rhine-Main until they were moved, lock, stock and barrel to Dreux/Senonches Air Base in France. Unfortunately, I was not stationed at Rhine-Main, but I did have the privilege of flying in there many times, and I came to love the place and the city of Frankfurt AM. I began to appreciate the complaints of my fellow airmen who were with the 12th at Rhine-Main and were forced to make the move to France. Understandably, they felt deprived of their tour in Germany.

On September 26th, 2005, a C-17 Globemaster III of the 172nd Air Wing, Mississippi Air National Guard lifted off past the new modern control tower, across the hallowed runway from the old tower we knew so well. I think it fitting that the last official flight out of Rhine-Main was made by a cargo aircraft.

Rhine-Main is no longer operational, but as long as we keep the memories alive, so will Rhine-Main remain alive.

CLL 10-17-05