Baden-Sollengen

I've been looking forward to this visit as soon as we decided we would see Europe.  45 Years ago my father was posted to the Royal Canadian Air Force base here at "4 Wing".  We came over in a propeller driven "Yukon" after about a 14 hour flight across the Atlantic and landed in Lahr about 60kms up the Rhine (which we passed on our way from Chamonix and Switzerland).  We lived first in a little town called Achern south of Baden-Sollengen but once we got proper accomodations we moved into the PMQ's (Personnel Married Quarters) just off the base and spent almost 3 years here.  I have many fond memories of playing in the black-forest which we backed on to and of activities in and around the area so was very pleased to be able to bring at least two of my kids back to see where I spent a good part of my childhood.

It also gave me a chance to brush up on my German and I was pleased that the Germans would let me natter on until I got to the point where it was completely exhausted before switching over to English.  I amazed the kids by speaking German about as well as they could speak French so we got along just fine although my German would be about used up after the first 3-4 sentences as I couldn't remember the required words fast enough to keep up with my train of thought!  The Germans were always appreciative of my attempts though and congratulated me on my "Nicht so schlect Deutsche!"

Just after we left in 1969, the base was converted to a joint Army/Air Force base as Trudeau had eliminated the distinctly separate armed forces.  This meant that the base grew from supporting about 500 Airforce types to thousands of Armed Forces personnel.  This meant that many of the original PMQ's were replaced and added to so it was hard for me to figure out exactly where we lived but I believe I found it.

We also went for walks in the trails that I would frequent as a kid but I'm sad to report that the old trucks, tanks and ambulances of the WW2 American and German equipment were long gone.  Also gone were the bunkers that my friend Peter and I used to play in (one classmate found a grenade in one and took it to class to the chagrin of the teacher!).  Unfortunately the Germans have suffered something like our Spruce Bud Worm disease and many of the tall Spruce trees have been cut down so the Black Forest was more like a bush now.  

I did get a chance to walk around the elementary school grounds where Gina and I learned how to ride bikes (our Primary school was on base and we would have to take a bus to get there).  I remember the playground area where Bobby Gimby came in 1967 so we could all sing "Ca... na.... da...  we love you".  I remember having to practice it over and over so we could get it right for him.  He was called the Pied Piper of Canada for his ability to lead the children in song for Expo 67.  Here's a youtube clip of it if you don't remember. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Y2EL1y8fMks

We also drove all around the base and could see the bunkers where they would keep the CF-104's Dad flew and would be on "Alert".  Dad flew the 104 (Starfighter aka Widowmaker) in the Nuclear Strike mode before Canada completely opted out of Nuclear weapons a few years later.  Their role was to attack targets in Eastern Europe with nuclear weapons in the event of the third world war which didn't seem like such a far off thing back then (WW2 being over just over 20 years previously... many of the pilots actually flew combat missions in WW2).   The 104 was a notoriously difficult airplane to fly well (hence its alternative name of the widowmaker given to it by the German media after huge number of crashes) and their mission was low level strikes in almost any weather so flying around these hills at very high speeds (just under the speed of sound - although the airplane would do Mach 2 as well).  I remember quite a few of the accidents and I know it was always on my Mom's mind.  Dad really enjoyed those years of flying which prepared him well to settle down and fly the big jets for the rest of his career with CP Air.

One of my other fond memories were of the old cars on base.  I remember seeing my first 67 Corvette StingRay (Blue convertable) as well as my parent's own 67 Candy Apple Red Ford Mustang Fastback. So it was a bit of a surprise to run into a Mustang restoration shop right on base!  I had a good long chat with the German owners and got a good tour over the facilities.  They had lots of old Mustangs but sadly none of them are the original cars from the forces personnel... they buy their Mustangs in the US and ship them over to restore now.  A finished Mustang will go for over 100K Euro's!

Our hotel is on what used to be part of the high-speed taxiway system to get the airplanes out of the bunkers and into the air before the Communists could destroy the field.  Much of it is the parking lot for the new air terminal that now handles a lot of Ryan Air flights to cheap destinations.

The restaurant/hotel where we had many a fine meal of Spargel and Snitzel back in the day.  This is in a little town called Hugelschiem just north of the field.  We could see this town (and this building) from our backyard.  Now it is deep within the town.... progress!

The turnoff for the base with the runway just about dead centre.

I believe this was our PMQ... Dad, am I right?

Hiking along my old stomping grounds in the Black Forest.... no tanks and such anymore.

I was a LOT younger than Rachel when I was here....

They are taking down all the old Spruce....  

I believe this was the old corner of the Black Forest and the fields into Hugelschiem... behind me and to my right are all new PMQ's now... but the Black Forest continues to my left.

The old trail (going off to the left). 

The elementary school where Gina and I learned how to ride a bike

A Luftwaffe Jet

Our hotel in yellow

One of the old high-speed taxiways.

Hey... look at this... someone is selling a 67 Mustang!  I got to go take a look (they wanted 35K Euro's for this one...  but it was fairly rough)

Pretty original though.....

Now... what's this?  And look a red 67 Fastback in the window!  Just like my parents!  This I got to see....

They have LOTS of Mustangs!

Including that red 67!  

Yup... just like Mom and Dad's...  even had the folded down rear seat that would turn into a benchthat Gina and I used to lie on with our feet into the trunk looking up out of the big back window.  The wheels weren't original though.... but it will be when they finish with it.

They had a rare (but ugly IMHO) notchback 65

And they strip them down right to the frame.  I takes them 12 months to rebuild one.

But they rebuild with much better German parts.... modern suspecsions, etc so they handle and stop much better.

New wiring harnesses, the works.

Drilled rotors and disk brakes (the originals had drum brakes)

This one has a bored out 351 Cleveland motor... makes about 400 Hp.

They also restore the odd old Porshe (956)

They have a 40 year Porshe Veteran rebuild the tranny

After the Mustang exhibit... we went down to the Alert section of the base where the pilots would sit and wait to be called to launch the nuclear strike.  I'm sure Dad can pipe in where I'm wrong but they used to spend days here with airplanes all ready to go at a moments notice.  The nuclear bombs they carried were owned by the Americans and they had a US service man there with them.  Thankfully as we all know, they never had to launch in anger but there must have been some worried moments - especially during the Czech rebellion in 68 when the Russians marched in to restore communism.

At the alert section they have established a Canadian/German museum which unfortunately wasn't open the day we were there.  They had a wing of a 104 on display outside (and a 104 inside) as well as a tip tank which was used to augment the fuel (and could be dropped when faced with enemy action for increased speed and maneuverability).

A 104 tip tank... it carried two of these... one on the end of either wing

A protected entrance

A blast door for the personnel to enter

A front on shot of the 104...  it looks like a pencil with wings.  Here's a photo of one from the web.

This is pretty much what they looked like back then... I'm sure Dad could find this one in his log book somewhere.

Blast doors protecting the aircraft inside.

A left wing of a 104.  Those are the flaps (bottom) and aileron (top) of the trailing edge of the wing (we're looking at the back of the wing).  The tip tank attaches to the top

The leading edge of the wing... you could cut steak on it.  Normally, when on the ground they had protectors on the wings so people didn't hurt themselves on it.  Note that the forward edge of the wing could be bent like the flaps and ailerons in the back.  These were the "slats" and could help dramatically affect the shape (camber) of the wing during "slow" flight - about 270 kts for landings and takeoff.  With wings this short (about 5'), the 104 flew like a brick without the engines and like a missile with them!

After the base, we went to the Rhine and watched the ships go by as we used to picnic here.

The Europeans are overloading these things too!

Then we went out to Rastatt, Gageneau and Baden-Baden.

Now that's what I call a beer!

We also had some time for a Snitzel and Spargel (white asparagus) in Baden-Baden which was lovely.  Brought back all kinds of good memories.  After two days of this, I sensed it was time to move on so we packed up the car and headed off for the Czech Republic with me fondly looking over my shoulder at all the memories we were leaving behind.