Remembering together: The Canadian Way The airfield

The roots of the Lahr airfield go back to 1913, when an airship harbor was built but never opened. Towards the end of the First World War, German pilots used the site as an airfield for propeller-driven aircraft. They shot down an enemy plane over Allmannsweier - on board were Canadian pilots who were buried shortly afterwards with military honors in the Lahr mountain cemetery.
In the interwar period, the area was used for civilian purposes: initially as an emergency landing site for Lufthansa, and from 1934 by the Lahr glider pilots.

After 1946, the French Air Force used the grass runways for logistics flights and soon expanded the airfield. Between 1951 and 1953, a concrete runway was built for jet aircraft (Base Aérienne 139), which was extended to NATO standard in 1956.
This led to protests in Langenwinkel for the first time: aircraft noise and exhaust fumes increased significantly. In 1964, after long debates, the Bundestag decided to relocate the affected residents to Hurster Hof - this was not completed until 1972.
From 1963 to 1966, US nuclear bombs were stored in Lahr. French F-100 "Super Sabre" jets would have delivered them to the target in an emergency. With France's withdrawal from the NATO command structure, the French lost this role - and no longer allowed foreign troops on their soil. This particularly affected the Canadians, who had to give up their air force bases in Lorraine. After negotiations, France and Canada swapped locations.

In March 1967, the first Canadian soldiers and aircraft arrived in Lahr from Marville, and French and Canadian soldiers worked at the airfield simultaneously for six months. After all the French soldiers had returned to France, the official handover to the Canadians took place on September 7, 1967. The airfield became a central place of life: workplace, gateway to overseas and link between Canada and Lahr. Transport and passenger flights took off across the Atlantic several times a week. In addition to exercises, the squadrons also flew reconnaissance missions. Between 1969 and 1970, US nuclear weapons were again stationed in Lahr - this time for Canadian F-104 "Starfighters". In 1970, the 4th Mechanized Brigade (4 CMBG) was added with tanks, howitzers and helicopters. Their task: reserve forces for defense and possible recapture in the event of a Soviet attack on German territories, especially in eastern Bavaria. This marked the beginning of the "classic Canadian era".

With the political upheavals of the early 1990s and austerity measures in Canada, the base was finally closed in 1993. After the withdrawal, the site initially lay fallow. However, the city of Lahr had already developed plans for civilian use in the early 1990s. Step by step, a modern commercial and logistics center was created, which today is home to international companies such as Zalando, Zehnder and REWE GROUP as well as regional giants.
To this day, the runway of the former military airfield is considered one of the most resilient in Europe. It could accommodate even the heaviest aircraft. That is why it is used today by Lahrer Flugbetriebs GmbH & Co KG, primarily for private and business air traffic.

We were on duty three times a week for 24 hours at a time, starting at around eight in the morning. Two aircraft were on constant alert in the Quick Reaction Alert (QRA) - with mounted and live nuclear weapons on board. Together with a technician and a US security guard, I entered the security area around the aircraft, the so-called no-zone. The technician switched on the power supply, I checked the cockpit - everything had to be ready so that, in the event of an emergency, all I had to do was get in and take off immediately.

The QRA area itself was tightly secured: Two rows of barbed wire fences surrounded the area, with sentries with dogs patrolling in between. It was a really protected area.

We usually spent the rest of the day quietly - studying, playing cards or flight simulator training at the base. When the alarm went off, we had to be in the air within 15 minutes. Basically, my duty was just to be ready - in case war broke out during those 24 hours.

Did the nuclear bombs scare me? No, not really. Both sides had a lot of them, but both were smart enough not to use them. I came to Germany shortly after the invasion of Czechoslovakia ['Prague Spring' 1968] - the situation was already tense. But by the time I was here, things had calmed down again. During my time there, there was no major incident that would have justified the use of a nuclear bomb.