RAF Butzweilerhof was a Royal Air Force station in Germany situated in the northern suburbs of Cologne (Köln). It was closed down in 1967. The few civilian employees remaining at the beginning of 1967 were required to leave by the end of the month of January, whereupon the station reverted to the Bundeswehr.

In 1960 it was the base for 5 Signals Wing, The Band of RAF Germany and 420 Recovery & Salvage Squadron.

Although part of the old airfield still remains in the hands of the German Bundeswehr (not in use), the rest of the land has been re-developed into film studios (MMC). On the film studio lot, a renovated hangar still bears the inscription of the Belgium Army who were stationed at Butzweiler. The remaining land has now been divided up for residential and office re-development. The Butzweilerhof main airport terminal building, opened in 1926 is protected as a listed building and is undergoing renovations. To find out more click here.

I was there in December 2007 and found the following. Virtually all of the remaining RAF buildings were about to be demolished. A huge IKEA store is to be built there. The restoration of the main terminal building is pretty well complete. Photographs (old and new) can be found here (German).

NATO 10th Anniversary Parade in Mainz

This was held on 4 Apr 1959. I was a member of the 36-man RAF Butzweilerhof Guard of Honour. I include a couple of photographs, one of which was the rehearsal beforehand, at the US Army Barracks in Wiesbaden where we stayed.

Colin Noad

NATO Rehearsal – Wiesbaden

NATO 10th Anniversary Parade