Princess Royal Barracks | BAOR Locations

For more information on the name Princess Royal, click here.

Above is a picture of the opening ceremony for Gütersloh Airfield in 1937 taken with back to main gate. General Hans Helm, CO Luftwaffe Area VI salules the Ensign. The building in the background is currently HQ 102 Log Bde and where the saluting Officer is standing is now a wall with flagpoles in front. The grassed area still exists.

Courtesy of Christian Kuhlmann

From the book Britain’s Wonderful Fighting Forces by Captain Ellison Hawks

There are a couple of versions of the story about Hermann Göring in the Officers’ Mess at Gütersloh, but the most common one and most likely the true story is the following, which is extracted from the book Flugplatz Gütersloh 1937-1987 A Short History by Gerry Lewis:

The tower of the Officers’ Mess contains a room now known as Göring’s Room. Legend has it that Göring used this room to relive his wartime exploits with the new generation of flyers. Reportedly a favourite expression of his was “If I should lie, may the beam above my head crack”. In response to this a junior officer arranged that the beam be sawn through and, by a system of pulleys, that the beam should appear to crack in response to the Reichmarschall’s challenge. The restored mechanics still allow the ‘trick’ to be employed and we certainly know that the original pre-dates British occupancy. No evidence has yet established the veracity of the story but it certainly deserves to be true. Certainly the story was popular with the Luftwaffe officers of World War II. (Although an article appearing in the aviation magazine FLIGHT in 1946 has the same story with “an elderly station commander” featuring in the Göring role). From interviews with Luftwaffe personnel of the period, it appears that Göring made a number of visits to the station both before and during the war. A photograph of the Reichmarschall supposedly at Gütersloh is displayed in the Officers’ Mess.

I have seen the said beam for my own eyes on many occasion, it still works and is operated by a lever on the floor. I will endeavour to get some pictures for you of how it is today, although access is limited, and obviously we only get invited once per year for ‘Sgts to Offrs Mess games’. I will speak to my boss and see if he can take some photos for me. Hope this helps.

Smudger

Officers’ Mess Sketch