History of Pferdsfeld airbase
Driving by car from Bingen / Rhein along the Nahe river upriver until Bad Sobernheim and from there northwards toward the Mosel river, through hilly and rising terrain one crosses a large wooded area, the Soonwald. In this remote but beautiful low mountain range, which once was the home of the notorious robber „Schinderhannes “, one would not easily suspect a larger airfield. An airfield of Pferdsfeld´s size is commonly associated with flat terrain. Still, this large airfield for combat aircraft existed here until 1998.
As with so many airbases in Germany, the history of „airbase Pferdsfeld“ began in the middle 1930s, likely in preparation for a coming war. Within the scope of the site investigation an agricultural area within the community bounds of Pferdsfeld, a little village on the southern rim of the Soonwald, was defined as useable, and during the summer of 1938 construction work for the airfield began.    
In August 1939 barracks and fuel depots were added and on 1 September 1939 a group of HS-126 short range recce aircraft deployed to the austere airfield. But already in October these redeployed to a more southerly base closer to the border with France. From November 1939 until 22 June 1940, when the battle for France ended, the airbase was used by DO-17 long range recce aircraft. After this unit moved away, Pferdsfeld airbase was no longer used militarily until the end of WW II.  

A new beginning after WW II
After the war ended, the French occupation forces found the austere airfield and expeditiously began to develop it into a regular air base with a 2438 x 45 meter runway and the required taxiways, aprons, hangars and fuel / ammunition storage areas.  However, the French Air Force never did use the airfield, because in the meantime the allied occupation forces had agreed to divide Germany into 4 occupation zones and so in 1957 ownership of Pferdsfeld airbase was transferred to the US. USAFE had already used Pferdsfeld as a so called „Maneuver Airfield“ since 1952. This transfer of ownership meant additional construction measures like a runway extension to 3000 meter plus overruns and additional housings etc. As the airfield was used only sporadically by USAFE, ownership was again transferred in 1959 to the fledgling German Air Force (Luftwaffe) 

In many respects, this airfield was problematic because of:

-    Noise problems, especially because of the above mentioned three villages. 
Rehbach: This little village was located directly adjacent to the eastern overrun of the runway within the approach lighting, and therefore represented a significant safety risk for flying operations as well as for the inhabitants themselves. Towards the end of the 1960s the relocation into the a few kilometers distant “Neu-Rehbach” began and was completed in 1972 with the leveling of the old village.  
Pferdsfeld and Eckweiler: Here, the noise problem started when the wing converted from the relatively quiet G-91 (without afterburner) to the noisier F-4 F. In response to a petition by a group of predominantly younger inhabitants of the affected villages an aircraft noise panel was established. This panel concluded that only a relocation of the affected villages would solve the noise problem. The decision was in no small measure influenced by the tireless agitation of a small group of people, to which the author as participant in several meetings of the panel can testify.
Contrary to public opinion and official statements as well, not the Luftwaffe demanded the relocation, but a small group of people, which by the way did not have a positive attitude towards the Luftwaffe!         
The decision led to significant confrontations between proponents and opponents of the relocation, as especially the older inhabitants and farmers had found full- and part time jobs on the airbase.  However, the once taken decision was not altered. Starting in 1979, the relocated inhabitants found their a new home in a new development area in the eastern section of Sobernheim. 

- Topographical problems
Anybody who has taken off or landed on the Perdsfeld runway knows what we talk about here.  The runway not only had a significant slope along the longitudinal axis, but also was twisted in the lateral axis, which had negative effects especially in heavy rain or winterly conditions. It was not unusual that pilots unfamiliar with the conditions were irritated enough during approach and landing to produce long landings. The taxiways to the aprons and shelters also had significant slopes, which could cause problems especially in ice and snow.

All in all, compared with all other airbases of the German Air Force and Navy - even Büchel - Pferdsfeld was by no means an ideal place from which to operate combat aircraft.
 

The restructuring measures included the creation of two „Big” Squadrons, which incorporated pilots and maintenance personnel required for operations. Thus, the two squadrons were able to operate independently and could be quickly deployed to airfields further east. This would have been necessary in case of an attack by the Warsaw Pact because range and payload of the G-91 were extremely limited.
The two squadrons roles, and consequently the emphasis for training and daily operations, differed from each other as follows
- the Recce Squadron (1. Squadron) with 70% reconnaissance and 30 % fighter bomber missions 
- the Fighter Bomber Squadron (2. Squadron) with a reversed percentage of missions. 
The conversion to G-91 started in the spring of 1966, and on 12 June 1966 the first 4 single seat G-91 R 3 for LeKG 42 landed at Pferdsfeld. Due to the role change LeKG 42 on 1 April 1998 was then subordinated to the 1. Luftwaffe Division at Meßstetten.
The first years with the G-91 were characterized by the training of flying and maintenance personnel, as well as deployments required by construction work on the airbase (e.g. Sembach AFB in 1969). In addition, the wing participated in several large exercises like „Schneller Pfeil“ and „Schwarzer Löwe“. The yearly flying program also included participation in NATO-exercises, e.g. the „Tactical Weapons Meet”.
Early 1970 the then commander of the Luftwaffe, Lieutenant General Steinhoff, ordered LeKG 42 to adopt the centralized maintenance organization of the F-104 wings on a trial basis.  Based on positive results of this trial, all light fighter bomber wings of the Luftwaffe were accordingly reorganized; however, the mission spectrum was not changed. Only when Reconnaissance Wings 51 and 52 received dedicated RF-4 E recce aircraft in 1971 the reconnaissance mission for the G-91 was terminated.  
In June 1971, the parliamentary defense committee decided to procure 175 F-4 F “Phantom II” aircraft for the Luftwaffe. These were intended to replace the F-104 G aircraft of Fighter Wings 71 and 74 as well as those of Fighter Bomber Wing 36. As fourth wing to receive F-4 F eventually LeKG 42 was chosen after a controversial debate withing Luftwaffe high-level decision-making bodies. To implement this, it was decided to dissolve LeKG 44 at Leipheim and to create a “new” wing with the personnel of LeKG 42 and 44 at Pferdsfeld. In 1973 extensive construction work began to get the base infrastructurally ready for the F-4 F, which was a much heavier, complex and capable aircraft than the G-91. 
This at first did not affect flight operations with the G-91, which  continued without restrictions with deployments, exercises, TacEval and others.   
During the era Fiat G-91 “Gina” the wing flew 84 700 Hours, and it should not be left unmentioned that 10 000 Hrs. were also flown with the wing´s T-33 until 1972, when these aircraft were withdrawn from service.

As it was decided to avoid mixed operations -  as was the case with the era F-86/G-91 - LeKG 42 was 1 April 1975 renamed „Jagdbombergeschwader (JaboG) 35” (Fighter Bomber Wing (FBW) 35) and G-91 operations ceased. The last G-91 left Pferdsfeld on 14 April 1975, while construction work to make the base ready to start operations with F-4 F until 1 October 1975 continued according to plan. To keep their currency, the pilots were temporarily assigned to LeKG 41 and 43 until their conversion training started. 
 

The era of the F-4F “Phantom II“ with Jagdbombergeschwader 35 (JaboG 35 - FBW 35)
Section 1: the conversion

The designation „Jagdbombergeschwader 35“ (Fighter Bomber Wing 35) was chosen in order to complete the lineup of fighter bomber wings from JaboG 31 to 36, in which JaboG 35 was missing since JaboG 35 at Husum was renamed LeKG 41 when converting from F-84 F to G-91 in 1965.   
The conversion of the Pferdsfeld wing to F-4 F was significantly more complex than the conversion of the three F-104 wings and is therefore covered in more detail. It was not just a swap of aircraft, but the change from a flying- and maintenance wise „easy“  single seat light ground attack aircraft to a heavy and in every respect complex weapons system with a two-man crew and the capability to be used in the air-to-ground as well as in the air-to-air role! Even though the decision was still being debated, the Luftwaffe managed to plan and implement all the required personnel changes in a timely manner. Among others, the manpower requirement for maintenance had doubled to 800 compared with the G-91, and with a two man crew the flying squadrons also grew to double their previous size.
On 1 September 1973 Oberst (Colonel) Haarhaus took command from Oberst Eimler, and so it became his task to lead the wing through the difficult conversion phase. Possibly the least pleasant task for him and Oberst Jungkurth, the commander of LeKG 44 at Leipheim, was the formation of the new unit by amalgamating personnel from both wings.  Not everybody of the Pferdsfeld wing could stay; some had to be transferred for various reasons. And not everybody from the Leipheim wing wanted to be transferred to Pferdsfeld. On the other hand, not everybody who wanted to move from Leipheim to Pferdsfeld could be considered! This was no easy task for the two wing commanders, as their decisions impacted not only duty aspects, but individual and family fates as well. 
One personnel decision proved to be especially beneficial: In the summer of 1974 Oberstleutnant (LtCol) Wienß was given the responsibility to coordinate the whole conversion process („Ede“ Wienß retired as a Brigadegeneral and was the second „squadron commander” of the DPS). 
He was well suited for this task because not only was he an exceptionally gifted pilot and instructor, but he also had from October 1971 until May 1974 gained flying expertise on the RF-4 C Phantom as exchange pilot at Shaw AFB before he converted to the F-4 F. The first of many conversion conferences in September 1974 was already led by him.   
Flying conversion training of the first six aircrews began in January of 1975 at George AFB, CA with the 20th TFTS. The aircrews consisted out of 3 pilots each from LeKG 42 and 44 as well as 3 weapons system operators (WSO) each from Recce Wings 51 and 52. These six instructor-aircrews were available at the start of flying operations at Pferdsfeld in October 1975. All pilots had to absolve the required flying training course at George AFB, whereas the WSOs came to the wing after their training with Waffenschule 50 at Fürstenfeldbruck.  The task of the instructor aircrews (another three were trained in 1976 at George) was to further develop the new F-4 flyers into mission-ready aircrews. 
The training of maintenance, repair, and overhaul (MRO) personnel began in the spring of 1975. Initially the complete MRO leadership was trained with TSLW 1 at Kaufbeuren. The electronics technicians also were trained at Kaufbeuren, whereas to facilitate fast and cost-effective training for the remainder of personnel, a technical training detachment (TAI) was established at Pferdsfeld airbase. Thus, all required training was completed by the time the last F-4 F arrived in June of 1976.  
The first wing-owned F-4 F arrived on 7 July 1975 from Wittmund airbase and was immediately after landing made available to the TAI for training purposes. The first „official“ Phantom was flown in again from Wittmund on 25 September 1975 by the wing commander Oberst Haarhaus and the project officer Oberstleutnant Wienß . This aircraft still carried the crest of JG 71 „Richthofen“ and the writing „foreign aid from Ostfriesland“, together with a couple of cows painted on it! The last pilot conversion course at George AFB ended on 19 March 1976, and the full complement  of aircraft was reached when the wings last F-4 F arrived on 21 June 1976: It was the very last production aircraft with the  identifier 38+75. 
After the first detachment to Decimomannu airbase with air-to-ground and air-to-air weapons qualification was completed in autumn 1976, the conversion of JaboG 35 was inofficially considered as completed.

- September 1981: First detachment to Goose Bay, Canada. On the return trip, the distance of 2750 Nautical Miles was covered in 6:15 Hours with air refueling. 
- July 1983: The wing reached 250 000 total hours.
- April 1984:  Pferdsfeld ATC guided the 200 000.  radar approach (GCA) and the „Martin Baker“ section conducted the 1500. ejection seat inspection.
- March 1985: Once again, the wing received the „Prinz Heinrich“ award by the commander 1. Luftwaffe division, and with it the Luftwaffe flight safety award. 
- July 1985: until August 1988: Several aerial demonstrations by a JaboG 35 demo team, first with 4, then with 6 aircraft. It was dissolved after the catastrophic accident at Ramstein.

Section 3: The End 

As JaboG 35 in a way lived on at Laage and several actions interlocked with each other, it is not easy to describe the final days of JaboG 35. Therefore, only the events at Pferdsfeld airbase are covered here.   

On 1 October 1994 Jagdbombergeschwader 35 Pferdsfeld was dissolved and integrated into Jagdgeschwader 73 under the designation „Fighter Wing 73, section F-4 F“.  Despite this being a somber occasion for Pferdsfeld, at the same time a positive event also was celebrated: the wing’s 35th birthday. Following a military tattoo on 30 September 1994 in Sobernheim, on the next day a big hangar party with 15 000 visitors was organized.   
In July 1996, the QRA was deactivated. Up until June 1997 flying operations with the remaining assets took place at Pferdsfeld. The personnel reduction had already started December 1994 on all levels.