NORDHORN....CHARLIE TO THOSE WHO WERE THERE

I was at the Nordhorn site when it started in late 1954, or was it early 
'55? In the summer of '54 I was hauled out of a nice quiet ROTOR radar 
station at Goldsborough in Yorkshire and shipped, along with about 250 
others, to a holding station near Cologne (Butzweilerhof I think). I, 
along with three others were given a job to equip a truck for a field 
operation with a Rebecca beacon and were sent up to Nordhorn as an 
advanced party to provide a Navaid for RAF bombers using the bombing 
range there. Apparently they often missed the range and the Germans were 
wondering if the war had started again!

I was a three year man just starting my last year as a Junior Tech/ 
Corporal, trained on heavy ground radar and was by then quite accustomed 
to the comfort of living in a mahogany adorned air conditioned  bunker 
under 20 feet of concrete with the latest equipment that money could 
buy. Working out of 1940's trucks with equipment in old tin cans that 
should have been junked in 1945 came as quite a shock.

In Nordhorn we seemed to be a detachment from RAF Iburg and had to rely 
on the bombing range crew for food and communication. However, we were 
not billeted with them, but instead lived in a modern house commandeered 
for us in a small suburb of the town. The food was terrible, most of our 
cigarette ration disappeared on the way from Guterslow and in general, I 
don't think any of the SU crew that arrived there found the place very 
inspiring.

We set up the GEE station up on the moors NW of Nordhorn and of course 
turned in the Rebecca beacon, which had not been seen by the Canberra's 
for the initial two weeks of operation because it was mistuned by 20 mHz 
due to a poorly calibrated wavemeter!

I have some pictures of the crew and the site somewhere and will try and 
dig them out, clean them up and send them if you are interested. Seems 
to me that this initial set-up period does not have much, or any 
coverage on your pages and this might jog some memories. Let me know if 
there is anything I might contribute. Not much I suppose at this late 
date, and I have never been good with people's names, but the year in 
Germany was probably one of the most crital and positive episodes of my 
life in terms of my feelings regarding other peoples in this world.

Very best regards,    Laurence Gooddy  (Laurie) ex Corp/JT

Location:  Ottawa, Canada
Phone:  613-824-3371
E-mail: lgooddy@rogers.com

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Hi Keith ,

 just browsing your site this am as My dad is Ex 4th entry RAF Compton Basset, and he saw it on teletext, I will be looking at it on a regular basis as My father is seeking the whereabouts of someone named ? Van Geldern who was GRF at Nordhorn(330 signals unit) My Fathers name is John Pond trade Tel (aka Splash) Thanks and good luck with the site

 -- Karen Wallis 

1957- 1959 I served 2 years National Service. For 18 months of it I was at RAF Nordhorn. I have always thought that long ago it had been built  over by a German council estate. To my surprise I recently found it is  still up and running, manning the NATO bombing range at Meppen. I am  sure that 338SU Gee station is long gone. I spent the  second night of my stay in Germany at Winterberg after arriving at RAF Goch.

On several occasions we played football at Winterbergh, once against the yanks. A night of revelry always followed these games. As I remember it we had some connection with RAF Gutersloh as I went  there to get signed off before being demobed.
After finding out that RAF Nordhorn still existed I sent the CO an  extract of "My Life" covering the national Service years. Also some pictures of the camp as it was. I am hoping to get something back regarding how it has developed.

Do you have any contacts from Nordhorn in the years I was there? I have thought of trying to arrange a get together as you have already done. Best wishes 20
Dave Crocker