A Sad Note from the Air Force Association

September 30th, 2005, Rhein Main AFB is no more. It is a sad day for me, many others that have been stationed there, and countless hundreds of thousands that have processed through to get to their duty station. In fact, there are so many memories associated with Rhein Main AFB I think there are tons and tons of content that can fill numerous books!

For me there are several events that mark my days at Rhein Main AFB:

• A major fire on the first floor rotunda area that resulted in major damage - new furniture being stored is torched by a pyromaniac destroying everything and causing evacuation of the BAQ
• A Flying Tigers cargo plane has a pallet get loose on take-off, does a wheelie and slides off the runway into some mud - runway is down for about two days (I have photos I'll put here some day)
• 242 Marines (may they rest) are killed in Beirut, Lebanon and are processed by Rhein Main personnel - the whole base was shaken that day and there were some very mad US Military personnel for quite a long time (ok, I'm still pissed off!)
• During the Rhein Main AFB Air Show in May of 1983 a Canadian F-104 loses all hydraulics and crashes 10 miles from downtown Frankfurt, destroying a parking lot near an active soccer field, hitting one car killing the six occupants - the pilot stayed with it ALL THE WAY TO THE LAST 100 FT!!! to keep away from Frankfurt, punched out, and survived!
• More and more opportunity to work closely with the 7th SOS - a huge step up in mission and the beginnings of my contact with AWESOME (aircraft with extraordinary security ops mission expectations)
  

There are so many more events of which I cannot comment. Not to be flip - I just cannot.

Rhein Main AFB is where I had the opportunity to live on the German economy. I rented an apartment in Langen with two other guys (they were both in the Radar Shop). Two of us bought our first car - a Mercedes 180 with a sunroof. We drove that car into the ground. When that car died I bought a Motobecane 10-Speed and rode to work - even in the freezing rain - through the forest or along the roads near the "pits". I then rented a place on my own in Heusenstamm. I bought a Spitfire 1500 from one of the SSgts in my shop. That convertible that took me all over Germany, until I upgraded to a Dodge Charger 2.2 (sweet). My Charger took me all the way to West Berlin, Luxembourg, Netherlands, France, Switzerland, and all over Frankfurt. The autobahn ... yeah!!!

I remember the chow hall on Mids. I remember being able to ride my bike under the runway approach and watch 747s fly right over. I remember going to the "pits" to recuperate after a huge night in Sachsenhausen. I remember riding the "Troop Train" to Berlin to play soccer when I was a member of the USAFE Base Soccer League. The game was Rhein Main AFB Soccer Team -vs- Templehauf Air Station Soccer Team (USAF). We lost 'cause Opah (our coach) would not get NEAR East Germany even to get to West Berlin! I remember sleeping on my A-Bag on the flightline after coming back from Flintlock. I remember the base being closed because devices were found on the railroad tracks coming onto the base. I remember driving through the forest to get to the "hangars at the end". I remember Sheet Metal hating me 'cause I found greater than 70% of the Doppler Radome fasteners were out of tolerance (I am sure they wish I never knew what a speed-handle was!). I remember laying under a C-130 on "Charlie" row, in the pouring rain, sealing a radome after an R-Square on the Doppler antenna - and then falling asleep waiting for the OpsCheck to finish with half my body out the cockpit window 'cause the heater was on so HOT that I couldn't feel my arm for 10 minutes!!!

Farewell, Rhein Main AFB. Maybe someday I'll get to visit, as a civilian.

[HT back to Sisyphean Musings - he bought his wedding rings at the BX on Rhein Main AFB - they're still married CONGRATS!!!]

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