RAF Bruggen
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RAF Bruggen, Germany was until June 15 2001 a major station of the Royal Air Force.
RAF Bruggen was situated next to the village of Elmpt, approximately 43 km west of Düsseldorf near the German-Netherlands border. The base was named after the village of Bruggen, the nearest rail depot. Construction began in mid-1952 which involved the clearing of dense forest and draining of marshland. The station became active in 1953 during the rapid expansion of NATO forces in Europe.
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1953-1957 - Fighter role
The initial role of the base was air defence provided by four squadrons operating the Hawker Hunter, F-86 Sabre and for a short time the De Havilland Vampire.
1957-1998 - Strike/Attack role
The initial strike capability at RAF Bruggen was provided by the Canberra from the summer of 1957. From 1969 to 1975 the F-4 Phantom operated in the strike/attack role and were replaced by the SEPECAT Jaguar from 1975. The Jaguar squadrons were replaced by the Panavia Tornado GR1 beginning in 1984. With a height of seven GR1 squadrons Bruggen was the largest Tornado base in NATO.
1998-2001 - Attack role
Following reunification of Germany the RAF announced plans to reduce its presence in the country by half. One major part of this was the reduction of Tornado squadrons at Bruggen from seven to four, No.17, No.IX, No.14 and No.31 squadrons. 9, 14 and 31 squadrons took part in the Gulf War and operated from the base during NATO's air operations in the Kosovo War, supported by VC10 tankers.
The decision to remove all of RAF assets from Germany was taken in 1996. As a result of the Strategic Defence Review No. 17 Squadron disbanded on March 31 1999 and began the gradual drawdown of the base. No. 14 Sqn relocated to RAF Lossiemouth in January 2001. A formal ceremony on June 15 officially ended a continuous RAF presence in Germany since World War II and all of the remaining Tornados had left for RAF Marham by September 4 2001.
The base was handed over to the British Army on February 28 2002 and is known as Elmpt Station.