At the fence: Ramstein Air Base

Part of the Kaiserslautern Military Community, Ramstein Air Base is one of the biggest US military installations in Germany. Ramstein serves as the headquarters of the combined command of the United States Air Forces in Europe  - Air Forces Africa and is the seat of the NATO Allied Air Command. Ramstein was built in the 1950s in the Rhineland-Palatinate region in what was then the French Sector. It has a fascinating history, I might actually feature this in a future blog post.

Currently the host unit at Ramstein is the 86th Airlift Wing (86th AW). The 86th AW operates a fleet of C-130J-30 Hercules, C-21A and C-37A VIP aircraft. The base functions as a hub for cargo aircraft of the United States Air Force and allied air forces. In addition to the 86th AW fleet you can usually see C-5M Super Galaxy and C-17A Globemaster III operating from here.

Visiting Ramstein was C-5M Super Galaxy 87-0027 from the 433rd AW.

I recently got the chance to spend some time at the fence, resulting in these photographs. 

A rare visitor was this Lithuanian C-27J.

From the based 86th AW, C-130J-30 11-5738 shows commemorative WW2 invasion stripes.

Usually based at McGuire AFB is C-17A 02-1098.

Another C-5M, this time 86-0021 based at Dover AFB.

An unusual visitor was Australian C-17A A41-210.

Not often seen in Europe are the aircraft of the US Pacific Air Forces. C-17A 05-5150 is based in Hawaii.