1.
Ramstein Air Base
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Ramstein Air Base is a United States Air Force base in Rhineland-Palatinate, a state in southwestern Germany. It serves as headquarters for the United States Air Forces in Europe - Air Forces Africa, Ramstein is located near the town of Ramstein-Miesenbach, in the rural district of Kaiserslautern. The Air Base is used to coordinate and execute most of the United States global drone program, the east gate of Ramstein Air Base is about 10 miles from Kaiserslautern. Other nearby civilian communities include Ramstein-Miesenbach, just outside the bases west gate, the host unit is the 86th Airlift Wing, commanded by Brigadier General Patrick X. Mordente. The 86th Airlift Wing is composed of six groups,27 squadrons and its mission is the operation and maintenance of airlift assets consisting of C-130Js, C-20s, C-21s, C-40B and C-37A Gulfstream aircraft throughout Europe, Africa and the Middle East. Also at Ramstein is the 435th Air Ground Operations Wing, which focuses on base-support responsibilities within the KMC and it is composed of five groups and 20 squadrons. The wing provides rapid mobility and agile combat support for military operations, the commander of the 435th AGOW is Colonel Andra V. P. The new 521st Air Mobility Operations Wing stood up on 4 September 2008, the current commander of the 521st AMOW is Colonel Thomas Cooper. Ramsteins wings are assigned to the headquarters 3rd Air Force also based at Ramstein AB, Ramstein AB is part of the Kaiserslautern Military Community, where more than 54,000 American service members and more than 5,400 US civilian employees live and work. U. S. organizations in the KMC also employ the services of more than 6,200 German workers, Air Force units in the KMC alone employ almost 9,800 military members, bringing with them nearly 11,100 family members. There are more than 16,200 military, U. S. civilian, while the KMC remains the largest U. S. community overseas at 53,000 people, the defense drawdown continues to shape its future. Due to the departure of other main operating installations, more than 100 geographically separated units receive support from Ramstein, Ramstein Air Base also served as temporary housing for the United States mens national soccer team during the 2006 World Cup. There is often a Summer Camp to Ramstein from British CCF, the construction of the air base was a project designed and undertaken by the French Army and the U. S. Army Corps of Engineers from 1949 to 1952. The area was a swamp that had to be built up by two meters, trainloads of earth were moved over the line and spread over the bases current area to raise it to its current level. Once the ground was level, building construction began, Landstuhl Air Base on the south side and Ramstein Air Station on the north. From 1948 to the opening of the bases in 1953 it was the largest one spot construction site in Europe employing over 270,000 Europeans at one time. A part of the autobahn to the west of Mannheim. The airstrip was used by the advancing U. S. Army Air Forces during the final months of World War II
2.
Interceptor aircraft
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An interceptor aircraft, or simply interceptor, is a type of fighter aircraft designed specifically to prevent successful missions by enemy aircraft, particularly bombers and reconnaissance aircraft. For daytime operations, conventional fighters normally fill the interceptor role, few aircraft can be considered dedicated daytime interceptors. Night fighters and bomber destroyers are, by definition, interceptors of the heavy type, examples of classic interceptors of this era include the F-106 Delta Dart, Sukhoi Su-15 and English Electric Lightning. Dedicated interceptor designs became rare, with the widely used examples designed after the 1960s being the Tornado F3, Mikoyan MiG-25 Foxbat. The first dedicated interceptor squadrons were formed up during World War I in order to defend London against attacks by Zeppelins, early units generally used aircraft withdrawn from front-line service, notably the Sopwith Pup. They were told about their targets prior to take-off from a centralized command center in the Horse Guards building. The Pup proved to have too low performance to intercept the Gotha G. IV bombers. Before Second World War started, offensive bomber speeds had improved so much that it appeared that the mission would be effectively impossible. The visual and acoustic detection had a range on the order of a few miles. This could be addressed by a cover of aircraft. The conclusion at the time was that the bomber will always get through, the introduction of radar upset this equation. Radar was able to detect aircraft at long range, on the order of 100 miles even for early systems and this provided enough time for fighters to start up, climb to altitude and chase down their targets. The introduction of jet power increased speeds from perhaps 200 miles per hour to 600 miles per hour in a single step, although radars also improved in performance, the gap between offense and defense was dramatically reduced. Large attacks could so confuse the defenses ability to communicate information to the pilots that the method of manual ground controlled interception was increasingly seen as inadequate. In the United States, this led to the introduction of the Semi-Automatic Ground Environment to computerize this task. In the 1950s, during the Cold War, an interceptor force was crucial for the great powers. Hence for a period of time they faced rapid development. Thus, the doctrine of mutually assured destruction replaced the trend of defense strengthening and their utility waned as the role became blurred into the role of the heavy air superiority fighters dominant in military thinking at the time
3.
Convair F-102 Delta Dagger
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The Convair F-102 Delta Dagger was an American interceptor aircraft that was built as part of the backbone of the United States Air Forces air defenses in the late 1950s. Entering service in 1956, its purpose was to intercept invading Soviet strategic bomber fleets during the Cold War. Designed and manufactured by Convair,1,000 F-102s were built, a member of the Century Series, the F-102 was the USAFs first operational supersonic interceptor and delta-wing fighter. It used an internal weapons bay to carry guided missiles and rockets. As originally designed, it could not achieve Mach 1 supersonic flight until redesigned with area ruling, the F-102 replaced subsonic fighter types such as the Northrop F-89 Scorpion, and by the 1960s, it saw limited service in the Vietnam War in bomber escort and ground-attack roles. It was supplemented by McDonnell F-101 Voodoos and, later, by McDonnell Douglas F-4 Phantom IIs, the follow-on replacement was the Mach-2 Convair F-106 Delta Dart, which was an extensive redesign of the F-102. On 8 October 1948, the board of officers of the U. S. Four months later, on 4 February 1949, the USAF approved the recommendation, in November 1949, the Air Force decided that the new aircraft would be built around a fire-control system. The FCS was to be designed before the airframe to ensure compatibility, the airframe and FCS together were called the weapon system. In January 1950, the USAF Air Materiel Command issued request for proposals to 50 companies for the FCS, by May, the list was revised downward to 10. Following recommendations by the committee to the Saville Board, the proposals were further reduced to two competitors, Hughes Aircraft and North American Aviation. Although the Valley Committee thought it was best to award the contract to companies, Hughes was chosen by Saville and his team on 2 October 1950. Proposals for the airframe were issued on 18 June 1950, on 2 July 1954, three companies, Convair, Republic and Lockheed won the right to build a mockup. Until then, Convair had done research into delta-winged aircraft, experimenting with different designs, of the three, the best design was to win the production contract under the name Project MX-1554. In the end, Convair emerged as the victor with its design, designated XF-102, after Lockheed dropped out, the development of three different designs was too expensive and in November, only Convair was allowed to continue with its Model 8-80. To speed development, it was proposed to equip the prototypes, continued delays to the J67 and MA-1 FCS led to the decision to place an interim aircraft with the J40 and a simpler fire control system into production as the F-102A. The failure of the J40 led to the Pratt & Whitney J57 turbojet with afterburner, rated with 10,000 pounds-force of thrust being substituted for the prototypes, the F-102B would later evolve to become the F-106A, dubbed the Ultimate Interceptor. The prototype YF-102 made its first flight on 23 October 1953, at Edwards AFB, the second aircraft flew on 11 January 1954, confirming a dismal performance
4.
Lockheed F-104 Starfighter
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The Lockheed F-104 Starfighter is a single-engine, supersonic interceptor aircraft which later became widely used as an attack aircraft. It was originally developed by Lockheed for the United States Air Force, but became used by US Allies around the world. One of the Century Series of fighter aircraft, it was operated by the air forces of more than a dozen nations from 1958 to 2004. Its design team was led by Kelly Johnson, who went on to lead or contribute to the development of the Lockheed SR-71 Blackbird, the F-104 set numerous world records, including both airspeed and altitude records. The poor safety record of the Starfighter also brought the aircraft into the public eye, Fighter ace Erich Hartmann was forced to retire from the Luftwaffe due to his outspoken opposition to selection of the F-104. The ultimate production version of the model was the F-104S, an all-weather interceptor designed by Aeritalia for the Italian Air Force. An advanced F-104 with a wing, known as the CL-1200 Lancer, was considered. In 2018 a privately owned Starfighter is scheduled to launch a group of small cubesat satellites into low orbit by carrying the rocket aloft. Clarence Kelly Johnson, the engineer at Lockheeds Skunk Works, visited Korea in December 1951. At the time, the U. S. pilots were confronting the MiG-15 with North American F-86 Sabres, the pilots requested a small and simple aircraft with excellent performance. Armed with this information, Johnson immediately started the design of such an aircraft on his return to the United States. In March, his team was assembled, they studied several designs, ranging from small designs at 8,000 lb. The engine chosen was the new General Electric J79, an engine of dramatically improved performance in comparison with contemporary designs, the small L-246 design powered by a single J79 remained essentially identical to the L-083 Starfighter as eventually delivered. The design was presented to the Air Force in November 1952, although all were interesting, Lockheed had an insurmountable lead, and was granted a development contract in March 1953 for two prototypes, these were given the designation XF-104. Work progressed quickly, with a ready for inspection at the end of April. Meanwhile, the J79 engine was not ready, both prototypes were designed to use the Wright J65 engine, a licensed-built version of the Armstrong Siddeley Sapphire. The first prototype was completed by early 1954 and first flew on 4 March at Edwards AFB, the total time from contract to first flight was less than a year. When the USAF revealed the existence of the XF-104, they gave a vague description of it
5.
North American F-86D Sabre
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The North American F-86D Sabre was a transonic jet all-weather interceptor of the United States Air Force and others. Based on North Americans F-86 Sabre day fighter, the F-86D had only 25 percent commonality with other Sabre variants, with a fuselage, larger afterburner engine. The YF-95 was a development of the F-86 Sabre, the first aircraft designed around the new 2. 75-inch Mighty Mouse Folding-Fin Aerial Rocket, a second prototype, 50-578, was also built, but the YF-95 nomenclature was short-lived as the design was subsequently redesignated YF-86D. Later models of the F-86D received an uprated J-47-GE-33 engine rated at 5,550 lbf, a total of 2,504 D-models were built. On 18 November 1952, F-86D, 51-2945, set a record of 698.505 mph. Captain J. Slade Nash flew over a three km course at the Salton Sea in southern California at a height of only 125 ft. Another F-86D broke this record on 16 July 1953, when Lieutenant Colonel William F. Barns, flying F-86D 51-6145, in the same path of the previous flight. YF-95A prototype all-weather interceptor, two built, designation changed to YF-86D YF-86D originally designated YF-95A, F-86D Production interceptor originally designated F-95A,2,504 built. F-86G Provisional designation for F-86D variant with uprated engine and equipment changes,406 built as F-86Ds, yF-86K Basic version of F-86D intended for export with rocket tray replaced by four 20 mm cannon and simplified fire control system, two conversions. F-86K NATO version of F-86D, MG-4 fire control system, four 20 mm M24A1 cannon with 132 rounds per gun,120 were built by North American,221 were assembled by Fiat. F-86L Upgrade conversion of F-86D with new electronics, extended wingtips and wing leading edges, revised cockpit layout, source, Dorr Denmark Royal Danish Air Force Received 59 ex-USAF F-86Ds 1958-1960, assigned to 723,726 and 728 Squadrons. France French Air Force Fiat built 62 F-86Ks for France, assigned to EC 1/13 Artois, EC 2/13 Alpes, serials were 55-4814/4844, 55-4846/4865, 55-4872/4874, 55-4876/4879. Germany German Air Force Acquired 88 U. S. F-86Ks 22 July 1957–23 June 1958, the Ks were assigned to Jagdgeschwader 75/renamed 74. Greece Greek Air Force Acquired some U. S. F-86Ds were received in 1961, honduras Honduran Air Force Acquired Six Venezuelan F-86Ks in 1970. Italy Italian Air Force Fiat produced 121 F-86Ks for Italy, 1955-1958, also,120 U. S. F-86Ks were acquired. F-86s were assigned to the AMI air groups,6 Gruppo COT/1 Stormo,17 Gruppo/1 Stormo,23 Gruppo/1 Stormo,21 Gruppo/51 Aerobrigata,22 Gruppo/51 Aerobrigata and 12 Gruppo/4 Aerobrigata. Japan Japanese Air Self-Defense Force Acquired 122 US F-86Ds, 1958–1961, assigned to four all-weather interceptor Hikōtai, Netherlands Royal Netherlands Air Force Acquired 57 U. S. -built and six Fiat-built F-86K Sabres, 1955–1956, and assigned to three squadrons, No. Norway Royal Norwegian Air Force Acquired 60 U. S. -built F-86K Sabres, 1955–1956, philippines Philippine Air Force Acquired 20 F-86Ds, assigned to 8th Fighter Interceptor Squadron Vampires beginning 1960, part of the U. S. military assistance package
6.
The Pentagon
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The Pentagon is the headquarters of the United States Department of Defense, located in Arlington County, Virginia, across the Potomac River from Washington, D. C. As a symbol of the U. S. military, The Pentagon is often used metonymically to refer to the U. S. Department of Defense, the Pentagon was designed by American architect George Bergstrom, and built by general contractor John McShain of Philadelphia. Ground was broken for construction on September 11,1941, General Brehon Somervell provided the major motive power behind the project, Colonel Leslie Groves was responsible for overseeing the project for the U. S. Army. The Pentagon is one of the worlds largest office buildings, with about 6,500,000 sq ft, approximately 23,000 military and civilian employees and about 3,000 non-defense support personnel work in the Pentagon. It has five sides, five floors above ground, two basement levels, and five ring corridors per floor with a total of 17.5 mi of corridors. It was the first significant foreign attack on Washingtons governmental facilities since the city was burned by the British, when World War II broke out in Europe, the War Department rapidly expanded in anticipation that the United States would be drawn into the conflict. Secretary of War Henry L. Stimson found the situation unacceptable, with the Munitions Building overcrowded, Stimson told U. S. President Franklin D. Roosevelt in May 1941 that the War Department needed additional space. On July 17,1941, a hearing took place, organized by Virginia congressman Clifton Woodrum. Reybold agreed to back to the congressman within five days. The War Department called upon its construction chief, General Brehon Somervell, Government officials agreed that the War Department building, officially designated Federal Office Building No 1, should be constructed across the Potomac River, in Arlington County, Virginia. Requirements for the new building were that it be no more than four stories tall, the requirements meant that, instead of rising vertically, the building would be sprawling over a large area. Possible sites for the building included the Department of Agricultures Arlington Experimental Farm, adjacent to Arlington National Cemetery, the site originally chosen was Arlington Farms which had a roughly pentagonal shape, so the building was planned accordingly as an irregular pentagon. Concerned that the new building could obstruct the view of Washington, D. C. from Arlington Cemetery, the building retained its pentagonal layout because a major redesign at that stage would have been costly, and Roosevelt liked the design. Freed of the constraints of the asymmetric Arlington Farms site, it was modified into a pentagon which resembled the star forts of the gunpowder age. While the project went through the process in late July 1941, Somervell selected the contractors, including John McShain, Inc. and Doyle and Russell. In addition to the Hoover Airport site and other government-owned land, construction of the Pentagon required an additional 287 acres, which were acquired at a cost of $2.2 million. The Hells Bottom neighborhood, a slum with numerous pawnshops, factories, approximately 150 homes, Later 300 acres of land were transferred to Arlington National Cemetery and to Fort Myer, leaving 280 acres for the Pentagon. Contracts totaling $31,100,000 were finalized with McShain and the contractors on September 11
7.
NATO
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The North Atlantic Treaty Organization, also called the North Atlantic Alliance, is an intergovernmental military alliance based on the North Atlantic Treaty which was signed on 4 April 1949. The organization constitutes a system of collective defence whereby its member states agree to mutual defence in response to an attack by any external party, three NATO members are permanent members of the United Nations Security Council with the power to veto and are officially nuclear-weapon states. NATOs headquarters are located in Haren, Brussels, Belgium, while the headquarters of Allied Command Operations is near Mons. NATO is an Alliance that consists of 28 independent member countries across North America and Europe, an additional 22 countries participate in NATOs Partnership for Peace program, with 15 other countries involved in institutionalized dialogue programmes. The combined military spending of all NATO members constitutes over 70% of the global total, Members defence spending is supposed to amount to 2% of GDP. The course of the Cold War led to a rivalry with nations of the Warsaw Pact, politically, the organization sought better relations with former Warsaw Pact countries, several of which joined the alliance in 1999 and 2004. N. The Treaty of Brussels, signed on 17 March 1948 by Belgium, the Netherlands, Luxembourg, France, the treaty and the Soviet Berlin Blockade led to the creation of the Western European Unions Defence Organization in September 1948. However, participation of the United States was thought necessary both to counter the power of the USSR and to prevent the revival of nationalist militarism. He got a hearing, especially considering American anxiety over Italy. In 1948 European leaders met with U. S. defense, military and diplomatic officials at the Pentagon, marshalls orders, exploring a framework for a new and unprecedented association. Talks for a new military alliance resulted in the North Atlantic Treaty and it included the five Treaty of Brussels states plus the United States, Canada, Portugal, Italy, Norway, Denmark and Iceland. The first NATO Secretary General, Lord Ismay, stated in 1949 that the goal was to keep the Russians out, the Americans in. Popular support for the Treaty was not unanimous, and some Icelanders participated in a pro-neutrality, the creation of NATO can be seen as the primary institutional consequence of a school of thought called Atlanticism which stressed the importance of trans-Atlantic cooperation. The members agreed that an attack against any one of them in Europe or North America would be considered an attack against them all. The treaty does not require members to respond with military action against an aggressor, although obliged to respond, they maintain the freedom to choose the method by which they do so. This differs from Article IV of the Treaty of Brussels, which states that the response will be military in nature. It is nonetheless assumed that NATO members will aid the attacked member militarily, the treaty was later clarified to include both the members territory and their vessels, forces or aircraft above the Tropic of Cancer, including some Overseas departments of France. The creation of NATO brought about some standardization of allied military terminology, procedures, and technology, the roughly 1300 Standardization Agreements codified many of the common practices that NATO has achieved
8.
Supreme Headquarters Allied Powers Europe
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Supreme Headquarters Allied Powers Europe is the headquarters of the North Atlantic Treaty Organizations Allied Command Operations. Since 1967 it has been located at Casteau, north of the Belgian city of Mons, from 1951 to 2003, SHAPE was the headquarters of Allied Command Europe, ACE. Since 2003 it has been the headquarters of Allied Command Operations, SHAPE retained its traditional name with reference to Europe for legal reasons although the geographical scope of its activities was extended in 2003. At that time, NATOs command in Lisbon, historically part of the Atlantic command, was reassigned to ACO, an integrated military structure for NATO was first established after the Korean War raised questions over the strength of Europes defences against a Soviet attack. The first choice for commander in Europe was American General of the Army Dwight D, on December 19,1950, the North Atlantic Council announced the appointment of General Eisenhower as the first SACEUR. British Field Marshal Sir Bernard L, montgomery moved over from the predecessor Western Union Defence Organization to become the first Deputy SACEUR, who would serve until 1958. In establishing the command, the first NATO planners drew extensively on WUDO plans, General Eisenhower arrived in Paris on January 1,1951, and quickly set to work with a small group of planners to devise a structure for the new European command. The Planning Group worked in the Hotel Astoria in central Paris while construction of a permanent facility began at Rocquencourt, just west of the city, devising command arrangements in the Central Region, which contained the bulk of NATO’s forces, proved to be much more complicated. Drawing upon his World War II experience, General Eisenhower decided to retain overall control himself, instead there would be three separate C-in-Cs. In December 1950 it was announced that the forces initially to come under General Eisenhowers command were to be the U. S, on April 2,1951, General Eisenhower signed the activation order for Allied Command Europe and its headquarters at SHAPE. Headquarters, Allied Forces Central Europe was activated in Fontainebleau, France in 1953, on the same day, ACEs subordinate headquarters in Northern and Central Europe were activated, with the Southern Region following in June. By 1954 ACEs forces consisted of Allied Forces Northern Europe, at Oslo, Allied Forces Central Europe, Allied Forces Southern Europe, hodes, United States Army Allied Forces Southern Europe – Admiral R. P. M. Two 1952 central region exercises involved air-ground combined forces, equinox was a major air-ground exercise involving French-American tactical air units and a French airborne infantry unit under the command of Général dArmée Alphonse Juin, French Army. They maneuvered east of the Rhine River in the British Zone under the command of Lt. General Sir Richard Nelson Gale. Finally, Rosebud involved ground maneuvers by the U. S, seventh Army in the American Zone of Occupation of Allied-occupied Germany. The initial plans saw the defence of Western Europe from a Soviet invasion resting heavily on nuclear weapons, the conventional forces would attempt to hold this line while the allied strategic air forces defeated the Soviets and their allies by destroying their economy and infrastructure. What this strategy meant for the battle in the central region was described for publicity purposes in January 1954 by then-Supreme Allied Commander Europe General Alfred Gruenther as. An air-ground shield which, although still not strong enough, would force an enemy to concentrate prior to attack, in doing so, the concentrating force would be extremely vulnerable to losses from atomic weapon attacks
United States
Air Force
This article incorporates public domain material from the Air Force Historical Research Agency website http://www.afhra.af.mil/.
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