RAF Gütersloh 3.49

Royal Air Force Station Gütersloh, more commonly known as RAF Gütersloh, was a Royal Air Force Germany military airfield, the nearest Royal Air Force airfield to the East/West German border, in the vicinity of the town of Gütersloh. It was constructed by the Germans prior to World War II. The station was captured by the Americans in April 1945 and was handed over to the RAF in June 1945 as Headquarters No. 2 Group RAF.HistoryIts early history is largely undetermined. It is known that construction began in 1935, and the station was active in 1944-45 with Ju-88 Nightfighters of 5./NJG 2 (Nachtjagdgeschwader 2) as part of the Defense of the Reich defensive aerial campaign fought by the Luftwaffe.The tower of the Officers' Mess contains a room known as Göring's Room. Legend has it that Hermann Göring used this room to relive his wartime exploits with the new generation of flyers. Reportedly a favourite expression of his was "If I should lie, may the beam above my head crack". In response to this a junior officer arranged that the beam be sawn through and, by a system of pulleys, that the beam should appear to crack in response to the Reichmarschall's challenge. The restored mechanics still allow the 'trick' to be employed and we certainly know that the original pre-dates British occupancy. No evidence has yet established the veracity of the story but it certainly deserves to be true. Certainly the story was popular with the Luftwaffe officers of World War II. (Although an article appearing in the aviation magazine FLIGHT in 1946 has the same story with "an elderly station commander" featuring in the Göring role). From interviews with Luftwaffe personnel of the period, it appears that Göring made a number of visits to the station both before and during the war. A photograph of the Reichmarschall supposedly at Gütersloh is displayed in the Officers' Mess. Despite the date on which the airfield was established, throughout a large part of 1955-1956, an authentic looking sign not far from the main gate, stated that 'The Red Baron' and his squadron operated from this base during the 1914-18 war.