Goch is a small town close to the German-Dutch border, and was apparently an RAF base for a time, initially known by the code B100. No airfield has been found in the area of Goch, but there is one further south at Weeze.

Home to:

174 (Mauritius) Squadron Mar 1945-8 Apr 1945 (1)
175 Squadron Mar 1945 (2)
184 Squadron (3)
245 (Northern Rhodesia) Squadron Mar 1945-Apr 1945 (4)

(1) Disbanded here 8 April 1945
(2) Believed to moved to Achmer in April 1956, and disbanded at B166 Flensburg 10 September 1945
(3) Said to be the first RAF Squadron to be based on German soil in WW2
(4) Believed to have moved to Achmer in April 1945, disbanded at B154 Schleswig 10th August 1945

This is the notice board outside the building that occupies the old Astra Cinema site at RAF Goch. As you can see the name has lived on!

This is the building that occupies the old Astra Cinema site. The new building is a children’s nursery. The original Cinema closed in 1983 and was demolished in the 1990s.

Fingers out of focus!!

A picture of Ostring and forms part of what was the Officers’ Quarters at RAF Goch.
There were 80 in all ranging from 3 bedroom type 5s to an 8 bedroom type 1 on the hill at a slightly remote location.The whole patch became part of RAF Laarbruch’s Families’ Quarter patch on the closure of RAF Goch in 1960. The site of RAF Goch became known as the Reichswald Kaserne.

This is the former main gate at RAF Goch, which in 1960(?) became the Reichswald Kaserne.
Goch was the first port of call in Germany for all RAF personnel. From there they were dispatched to one of the many RAF Stations across the country.

The old guardroom at the entrance to RAF Goch.

The main camp road looking towards the headquarters building.

A shot of Louisendorfer Str which was a street of 24 type 5 three bedroom quarters and two type 4 four bedroom quarters.

A photo taken along Louisendorfer Str type 5 quarters. The two type 4s were immediately to the right of where this photo was taken.

The name of this street was taken from the local village of Louisendorf which is where people from the Pfalz area of Germany were stopped on their way down the Rhein during one of the Dutch-Spanish wars and were forced to settle. They sent a delegation to Berlin to ask Queen Louise’s permission to occupy the land. She gave it so they named the village after her!

Photographs courtesy of Len Moscrop