Today I read that my home base in West Germany, Spangdahlem AB, will cease operations soon...Spang has been home to a number of fighter units beginning in 1953 with a squadron of RF-80's, and currently the F-16's of the host unit, the 52nd Fighter Wing...My experience as most here know was with the F-105's and F-4's of the 49th TFW...The 52nd will now move to Aviano AB in Italy...

The runway is currently listed as 10,023 feet of asphalt, but I remember 13,000 feet of reinforced concrete 36" deep, making it the longest runway in Europe, and capable of landing the biggest and heaviest aircraft of that time...Dave may be interested to know that a number of Tactical Recon Squadrons also nested at Spang flying R, E and W variants of the Douglas B-66 upon which he logged much airtime toward the end of his US Army service...

There were many locals in the surrounding economy who were not friendly toward our presence, nor our mission, but on the whole they benefited from the influx of employment and trade, as well as the protection from the Soviet menace...I have many memories of Spang, both of work and off-duty hours, mostly good, but there were some I was not quite as proud of...Still I wouldn't trade the experience for anything...I'm saddened that changing mission requirements call for a change in locale, but I'm confident the tradition of service will continue......Ben