Royal Air Force Station Butzweilerhof, commonly known as RAF Butzweilerhof was a

Royal Air Force station The Royal Air Force (RAF) operates several stations throughout the United Kingdom and overseas. This includes front-line and training air bases, support, administrative and training stations with no flying activity, unmanned airfields used fo ...

in the middle west of

Germany Germany,, officially the Federal Republic of Germany, is a country in Central Europe. It is the second most populous country in Europe after Russia, and the most populous member state of the European Union. Germany is situated betwe ...

situated in the northern suburbs of

Cologne Cologne ( ; german: Köln ; ksh, Kölle ) is the largest city of the German western States of Germany, state of North Rhine-Westphalia (NRW) and the List of cities in Germany by population, fourth-most populous city of Germany with 1.1 m ...

(german: Köln). The station's

motto A motto (derived from the Latin , 'mutter', by way of Italian , 'word' or 'sentence') is a sentence or phrase expressing a belief or purpose, or the general motivation or intention of an individual, family, social group, or organisation. Mot ...

was ''Per Vires Pax'', and the station badge depicts the

Cologne cathedral Cologne Cathedral (german: Kölner Dom, officially ', English: Cathedral Church of Saint Peter) is a Catholic cathedral in Cologne, North Rhine-Westphalia. It is the seat of the Archbishop of Cologne and of the administration of the Archdiocese of ...

rising above the waters.

History and the RAF

From the 1920s, Butzweilerhof was the main civil airport for Cologne, but was taken over by the

Royal Air Force The Royal Air Force (RAF) is the United Kingdom's air and space force. It was formed towards the end of the First World War on 1 April 1918, becoming the first independent air force in the world, by regrouping the Royal Flying Corps (RFC) and ...

(RAF) during August 1951. RAF aircraft ceased flying in 1965, and the RAF formally left Butzweilerhof, closing down the station on 27 January 1967. The few civilian employees remaining at the beginning of 1967 were required to leave by the end of January, and on 31 January 1967, Butzweilerhof airfield was officially handed over to the

Bundeswehr The ''Bundeswehr'' (, meaning literally: ''Federal Defence'') is the armed forces of the Federal Republic of Germany. The ''Bundeswehr'' is divided into a military part (armed forces or ''Streitkräfte'') and a civil part, the military part con ...

. In 1957, it was the home for The Band of

RAF Germany The former Royal Air Force Germany (RAFG) was a command of the Royal Air Force and part of British Forces Germany. It consisted of units located in Germany, initially as part of the occupation following the Second World War, and later as part ...

Units

*A detachment of

No. 16 Squadron RAF Number 16 Squadron, nicknamed ''the Saints'', is a flying squadron of the Royal Air Force providing Elementary Flying Training (EFT) with the Grob Tutor T.1 from RAF Wittering. It formed in 1915 at Saint-Omer to carry out a mixture of offensi ...

between 7 September and 31 October 1953 *

No. 68 Squadron RAF The name No. 68 Squadron has been used for two quite different units, only one of which was strictly a unit of the Royal Air Force. "No. 68 Squadron RFC" was for a time the official British military designation for No. 2 Squadron Australian Flying ...

, operating the Gloster Meteor NF11 *

No. 87 Squadron RAF No. 87 Squadron RAF was an aircraft squadron of the Royal Air Force during the First World War and Second World War. World War I 87 Squadron Royal Flying Corps (RFC) was first formed on 1 September 1917 at Upavon from elements of the Central Flyi ...

, operating the Gloster Meteor NF11 *A detachment of

No. 94 Squadron RAF No. 94 Squadron RAF was a unit of the Royal Air Force that served during World War I & World War II. The squadron has been formed a total of four times. World War I The squadron was formed at Harling Road on 1 August 1917 as a training unit ...

between 7 September and 31 October 1953 *A detachment of No. 145 Squadron RAF between 7 September and 31 October 1953 *No. 477 Signals Unit RAF *No. 588 Signals Unit RAF *

2nd Tactical Air Force The RAF Second Tactical Air Force (2TAF) was one of three tactical air forces within the Royal Air Force (RAF) during and after the Second World War. It was made up of squadrons and personnel from the RAF, other British Commonwealth air forces, ...

Forward Repair Unit RAF from March 1952 to December 1966 *No. 52 Repair Unit (Plant) RAF from August 1950 to December 1955 *No. 420 Repair and Salvage Squadron RAF (February 1957-December 1961) *No. 6209 Bomb Disposal Flight RAF *No. 26 Signals Unit RAF (previously No. 5 Signals Wing) *No. 4 Mobile Repair & Salvage Unit RAF from September to December 1956 *RAF Butzweilerhof Station Flight * No. 5 (Signals) Wing RAF from August 1958 to September 1966.

Accidents and incidents

*On 24 December 1944, as part of a larger group of Royal Air Force aircraft tasked with bombing targets around the city of Cologne, an

Avro Lancaster The Avro Lancaster is a British Second World War heavy bomber. It was designed and manufactured by Avro as a contemporary of the Handley Page Halifax, both bombers having been developed to the same specification, as well as the Short Stirlin ...

ND388 was destroyed in the air, its tail section crash landed at Butzweilerhof.

Butzweilerhof today

A very small part of the old airfield was used by the

(German army) until 30 December 2007, after which the Butzweilerkaserne was closed and turned into a mixed retail / residential area. The rest of the land was re-developed into film studios (MMC) between 1998 and 1999. On the film studio lot, a renovated hangar still bears the inscription of the

Belgian Army The Land Component ( nl, Landcomponent, french: Composante terre) is the land branch of the Belgian Armed Forces. The King of the Belgians is the commander in chief. The current chief of staff of the Land Component is Major-General Pierre Gérard. ...

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. The terminal building restoration has now (2007) been largely completed. In late December 2007, the bulldozers moved in to demolish most, if not all, of the remaining RAF site buildings. As of December 2008, the portion of the former Kaserne to the right of the main gate was completely cleared of the former military buildings. Most of the vacated property is being redeveloped into a strip mall consisting of a new IKEA store and several other retailers. The Kölner Verkehrsbetriebe (KVB) is also in the process of constructing a new long extension from the current Ossendorf terminus into the Butzweilerhof/Gewerbegebiet Ossendorf area. Three new stations (Köhlstrasse, Butzweiler/IKEA and the new terminus, Von-Hünefeld-Strasse) will be added to the existing Line 5. This extension is scheduled to open in December 2010. :de:Stadtbahn Köln#Butzweilerhof Line 5 Extension

References

Citations

Bibliography

* *

External links

Butzweilerhof.de
dedicated to the restoration of the historic airport buildings

{{DEFAULTSORT:Butzweilerhof Military installations established in 1951 Royal Air Force stations in Germany Buildings and structures in Cologne Military installations closed in 1967 1951 establishments in Germany Airports in North Rhine-Westphalia