Tactical Air Force Squadron 33

Tactical Air Force Wing 33 - TaktLwG 33 - III
Internal association badge (coat of arms)
Lineup	July 1, 1958
Country	Germany
Armed forces	armed forces
Armed forces	air force
Strength	approx. 1909 soldiers
Insinuation	Air Force Command
Locations	Cochem-Brauheck , aviator barracks Büchel , airbase
Web presence	TaktLwG 33
guide
Commodore	Colonel Thomas Schneider
Aircraft
Fighter aircraft / helicopter	Tornado "IDS"

Büchel Air Base

Büchel Air Base

The Tactical Air Force Squadron 33 ( TaktLwG 33 ), until September 30, 2013 Jagdbombergeschwader 33 ( JaboG 33 ), is a flying combat unit of the German Air Force , which is equipped with the Panavia Tornado IDS weapon system . The squadron is stationed at Büchel Air Base in Rhineland-Palatinate .

The air base is the location for US-American nuclear weapons of the type B61 .

assignment

The Tactical Air Force Squadron 33 has the task of maintaining personnel and material readiness for action in the event of a crisis or defense. This includes the preparations to create quickly deployable reaction forces , staffing for ongoing missions, participation in national and NATO exercises as well as disaster control .

In addition, the squadron is now Germany's only means of nuclear participation .

history

Tornado IDS of the TaktLwG 33

The Büchel airfield was created in 1954/55 by the French armed forces. At that time Büchel was in the French occupation zone . Shortly after its completion, the airfield was handed over to the Federal Property Office and on August 13, 1955 to the Federal Armed Forces Administration . The first 250 German soldiers entered the Büchel site on August 15, 1955.

Luftwaffe 30 Weapons School (1956–1958)

On November 13, 1956, the Luftwaffe 30 weapons school was set up in Fürstenfeldbruck as the first flying unit of the new Luftwaffe , and from October 1957 it was relocated to Büchel. The first commodore was Major Walter Krupinski .

The first aircraft type was the American Republic F-84F Thunderstreak , of which the weapons school 30 received 75 copies when it was commissioned. At the end of October there were 72 F-84Fs, three Lockheed T-33 A and two North American T-6 Texans at Büchel Airfield . The main task of Weapons School 30 was to train the personnel for the new Luftwaffe fighter-bomber squadrons. In addition to the pilots, the technical staff was trained in this association.

On June 30, 1958, the era of the weapons school ended 30; Fighter Bomber Wing 33 was set up in Büchel and officially placed under NATO in December 1958 .

Fighter Bomber Squadron 33 (1958-2013)

The last starfighter is at the main gate of the air base

Tornado special paint "Adler"

Fiat G-91 Gina training workshop JaboG33

On March 23, 1959, the pilots of JaboG 33 had already completed the 10,000th flight hour. Also in 1959, the squadron relocated abroad for the first time - almost the entire squadron flew to Bandirma in Turkey for almost four weeks in May 1959 . At the end of September 1959, the expansion work on the runway in Büchel was so far completed that full flight operations were possible. On June 3, 1960, the Air Force held a major flight day in Büchel, which was very well received by the population. On this day, the American and Italian armed forces presented themselves at the air base. At the end of 1960 JaboG 33 relocated to Decimomannu ( Sardinia / Italy ) for the first time . The foreign commands to "Deci" have taken place regularly since then.

In 1961 the troop accommodation of JaboG 33 was built in Cochem- Brauheck. This part of the city of Cochem was rebuilt for this purpose.

From August 1962 the squadron was converted to the Lockheed F-104G Starfighter .

In 1982 the squadron achieved 200,000 Starfighter flight hours and thus the most flight hours worldwide on this type. A total of around 231,900 flight hours were flown on the F-104G up to the decommissioning on May 30, 1985.

In 1985 the aircraft type Panavia Tornado IDS was converted. The 100,000th tornado flight hour was flown on September 3, 1999.

The motor vehicle and the replenishment relay were merged on April 1, 2013 and have since formed the replenishment and transport relay. The JaboG 33 was the last squadron of the Luftwaffe that still had it in a separate form. In this regard, the security scale has also been restructured into the first and second security scale “S”.

Tactical Air Force Wing 33 (since 2013)

As part of the realignment of the Bundeswehr , the Fighter Bomber Wing 33 (JaboG 33) was renamed Tactical Air Force Wing 33 (TaktLwG 33) on October 1, 2013. On April 18, 2019, Tactical Air Force Wing 33 hit the 200,000. Flight lesson with the tornado in Büchel.

structure

The Tactical Air Force Squadron 33 is subordinate to the Air Force Command as an association . The squad commodore leads three groups:

• The flying group (FlgGrp) consists of the staff, the flight operations squadron (FlBetrStff) and the two flying squadrons with a book inventory of 47 aircraft (as of 2014).
• The technical group (TGrp) is responsible with the staff, the maintenance / weapons, repair, electronics and replenishment / transport unit for the maintenance and repair of the aircraft as well as for the supply. A specialty of this group is the training workshop, which was set up in 1962. It trains aircraft mechanics and since 1983 electronics technicians for devices and systems (EGS). The training workshop is the largest training company in the Cochem-Zell district.
• The Tactical Air Force Wing 33 is the only Association of Air Force another airfield group (FlgHGrp). This consists of the group staff and the 1st and 2nd Air Force Security Squadrons, Tactical Air Force Wing 33.

Nuclear weapons

Up to 44 weapons can be stored in the air base's special bunkers. The TaktLwG 33 is the only flying unit of the German Air Force trained to use these weapons within the framework of nuclear participation . However, the nuclear weapons are under the control of US soldiers. There are several squadrons of the US Air Force 702 Munitions Support Squad (702 MUNSS) in the air base, which guard the special weapons storage facilities in cooperation with the 1st and 2nd Air Force Security Squadrons .

In 2008 the Federation of American Scientists (FAS) reported that, according to an internal study by the American Air Force , many nuclear weapons camps were not meeting the minimum security standards of the American Department of Defense . This should include the Bundeswehr Air Base Büchel. The institute estimates that there are currently ten to 20 atomic bombs of the type B61 at this location. As a first reaction, the US military plans to distribute nuclear weapons to fewer locations in Europe.

The Air Force plans to have at least 46 tornadoes ready for the abandonment of nuclear participation by 2025 .

Operations in the context of disaster control

In December 1993 soldiers of the Tactical Air Force Squadron 33 were deployed in the " Centennial Flood " on the Moselle , in August 1997 in the flood disaster in the Oderbruch and in 2002 in the Centennial Flood in the Elbe .

social commitment

The Tactical Air Force Squadron 33 is, among other things, the godfather of the Herz-Jesu-Haus Kühr in Niederfell , where it has been organizing the St. Nicholas celebration for over 50 years. The 1st flying squadron of the Tactical Air Force Wing 33 is a sponsor and supporter of the Villa Kunterbunt in Trier , a center for the care of cancer, chronically and seriously ill children and their families.

Commodore

No.	Surname	Beginning of the term of office	Term expires
1.	Colonel Walter Krupinski	July 1, 1958	December 28, 1962
2.	Colonel Georg Wroblewski	December 28, 1962	November 30, 1966
3.	Colonel Kurt Stocker	1st December 1966	September 30, 1970
4th	Colonel Günter Lutz	1st October 1970	September 30, 1974
5.	Colonel Hans-Peter Schulzen	1st October 1974	September 30, 1978
6th	Colonel Dieter Stephan	October 1, 1978	December 31, 1980
7th	Colonel Johannes Glowka	January 1, 1981	September 30, 1984
8th.	Colonel Helmut Borchers	October 1, 1984	September 30, 1989
9.	Colonel Detlef Schulte-Bisping	October 1, 1989	March 16, 1992
10.	Colonel Wolfgang Kuhlen	March 17, 1992	March 31, 1994
11.	Colonel Ulrich Rapreger	April 1, 1994	September 30, 1995
12.	Lieutenant Colonel Lothar Schmitt	October 1, 1995	1998
13.	Colonel Harry Schnell	1999	2000
14th	Colonel Helmut Schütz	2000	March 18, 2002
15th	Colonel Martin Schelleis	March 19, 2002	2003
16.	Colonel	2003
	Colonel Andreas Korb	August 2011	19th November 2015
	Colonel Holger Radmann	19th November 2015	3rd July 2018
	Colonel Thomas Schneider	3rd July 2018	constantly

Incomplete list

Web links

Commons : Jagdbombergeschwader 33  - Collection of pictures, videos and audio files

• Official website of the Bundeswehr TaktLwG 33

Individual evidence

1. ^ Büchel nuclear weapons site
2. ↑ 200,000 hours with the tornado in the air. In: https://www.luftwaffe.de . PIZ Luftwaffe, May 2, 2019, accessed May 3, 2019 . 
3. ^ US nuclear weapons in Germany and Europe
4. ↑ Tagesschau: Nuclear weapons depot not safe enough? ( Memento from March 25, 2009 in the Internet Archive )
5. ↑ spiegel.de
6. ↑ The shortage of skilled workers is also an issue for the armed forces, WW-Kurier, October 10, 2011
7. ↑ Holger Radmann is in charge, Rhein-Zeitung, November 20, 2015
8. ↑ Colonel Holger Radmann handed over the leadership to Lieutenant Colonel Thomas Schneider, Blick aktuell, July 4, 2018