George AFB
George AFB as training base for the German Air Force F-4 F aircrews
from 1972 to 1992
Following the procurement of the F-4 F Phantom II for the Luftwaffe, George AFB was selected as the training base for German F-4 aircrews
.
The former USAF Base George AFB is located in the southern Californian Mojave Desert, about 11 km northwest of the city of Victorville with its 125.000 inhabitants. The Los Angeles metropolitan region is about 1.5 hours away by car.
The Victorville Army Airfield was established in 1941 as a flying training school for the US Army Air Corps. It was abandoned after the end of World War II and reactivated again with the beginning of the Korean War in November 1950. The base was named after the WW I ace General Harold Huston George, who died in an air accident near Darwin, Australia during World War II.
George AFB was initially subordinated to Air Defense Command, later Tactical Air Command and finally Air Combat Command.
For the German F-4 training the USAF reactivated the 20th Tactical Fighter Squadron "Silver Lobos" as part of the 35th Tactical Fighter Wing on December 1st, 1972. The 35th Tactical Fighter Wing itself had been commissioned one year earlier.
In addition to the 35th TFW complement of F-4 E at hand, the Luftwaffe provided 12 own F-4 F for training at the end of 1972.
In 1978 these F-4 F were transferred to Germany to compensate for losses within the operational units.
As a replacement, the Luftwaffe procured 10 F-4 E with serial numbers 75-00628 - 75-00637 for George.
Starting in the spring of 1973, 6 instructor aircrews for each one of the 4 Luftwaffe F-4 F wings were initially trained. From mid-1973 on, pilots of these units were also retrained, and beginning 1976 the Weapon System Training F-4 F for the first all new aircrews of the so-called B-Course for young pilots (LF) and weapon system officers (WSO) began.
In 1976 the 3rd German Air Force Training Squadron USA was put into service, which after the dissolution of the 1st German Squadron at Sheppard AFB in 1984 was renamed into 1st German Air Force Training Squadron USA.
The most demanding training the Luftwaffe conducted at George AFB were the flight and weapons instructor (IP/IWSO) courses. Every year, in addition to 4 weapon system training courses (B-Course) with 5 crews each, 2 weapons instructor courses (FWIC) with 4 crews each were conducted.
In total, about 60 B-courses with 300 aircrews and 30 weapons instructor courses totaling 120 air crews were trained at George AFB.
After the end of RF-4 training at Bergstrom AFB, the last RF-4 E crews were also trained at George AFB. However, based on a special syllabus created specifically for this purpose, only 2 courses were conducted before the RF-4 E was destined to go out of service, and the graduates then had to be retrained on F-4 F in Germany.
With the closure of George AFB in 1992, training of the German F-4 F crews there ended as well. It was transferred to Hollomann AFB in New Mexico, where it continued for another 12 years.
During training at George AFB in 1983, 2 German tail F-4 E's were lost in crashes, killing 2 American crewmembers.
In a 1990 midair, a German pilot and his American IWSO died. In the process, 2 US Tails were lost.
Today, the former USAF Base is a civil logistics airport called "Southern California Logistics Airport", where, among other things, unused passenger planes and VW cars are parked.
The main runway 17/35 has been extended to 4,587 m for heavy cargo aircraft. This makes it the second longest "public use runway" in the USA.
Author: Klaus-Ulrich Werremeier
Translation: Jürgen Erbeck
