Fourth Allied Tactical Air Force
Fourth Allied Tactical Air Force insignia
Active1951 - 1993
Disbanded30 June 1993
Countries United States
 Canada
 West Germany
AllegianceNATO North Atlantic Treaty Organization
Part ofAllied Air Forces Central Europe
HeadquartersTrier Air Base (1951-1958)
Ramstein Air Base (1958-1980)
Heidelberg (1980-1993)

Fourth Allied Tactical Air Force (4 ATAF) was a NATO military formation under Allied Air Forces Central Europe tasked with providing air support to NATO's Central Army Group (CENTAG) in the southern portion of West Germany. 4 ATAF commanded all flying units based within its sector and all reinforcements flying into its sector, as well as ground-based radar systems and stations, air defense units and the airfields in its sector.

History

Fourth Allied Tactical Air Force was formed in 1951 with its area of responsibility covering Germany south of the city of Kassel. Commander of Fourth Allied Tactical Air Force at its inception was the commanding Major General of the American Twelfth Air Force based in the southwest of Germany. After Twelfth Air Force returned to the continental United States in 1958, the commander of Seventeenth Air Force took over command of Fourth Allied Tactical Air Force.

Headquarters 4 ATAF moved several times over more than forty years. Established about 1951 at Trier Air Base, the headquarters was moved to Ramstein Air Base in November 1957 where it remained until December 1980 when it was moved to Heidelberg where it was colocated with Headquarters Central Army Group. An operational Air Defence Operations Centre was operated at Ouvrage Molvange from 1961 until 1967 when it was moved to a USAF site in Kindsbach just south of Ramstein Air Base. The headquarters also operated a number of communications sites which were concerned with secure communications for the release of tactical nuclear weapons through the NATO Quick Reaction Alert Force. In 1985 NATO began with the construction of a new Static War Headquarters bunker in Ruppertsweiler, Germany. Fourth Allied Tactical Air Force commanded alongside Seventeenth Air Force, the U.S. 32nd Army Air Defense Command, 1 Canadian Air Group and two German Air Force (Luftwaffe) divisions, as well as extensive secure communications, air defense and radar installations manned by Germany and the U.S. Air Force.

If needed, 4 ATAF would have been reinforced with units from the US Third (UK based), Eighth (reconnaissance and bombing), Ninth (immediate reinforcements) and Twelfth Air Force (follow on reinforcements), and with Royal Canadian Air Force and French Air Force units. At the start of hostilities 4 ATAF would have had immediately around 600 combat aircraft at its disposal.

4 ATAF was disbanded on 30 June 1993, with its duties taken over by Allied Air Forces Central Europe. Prior to that point, the following units would have come under command of Fourth Allied Tactical Air Force during wartime:

Wartime organization c.1989

A F-4G Phantom II Wild Weasel from 480th Tactical Fighter Squadron and a F-16C Block 30 Falcon from 52nd Tactical Fighter Wing Commander fly over Germany in June 1989
  • Fourth Allied Tactical Air Force, Heidelberg, FRG
    • Air Defence Operations Center (ADOC), Maastricht
      • Sector Operations Center 3 (SOC 3), Sembach Air Base
        • 1st Btn, 32nd (Luftwaffe) Signal Regiment, Control and Reporting Center Börfink
        • 2nd Btn, 32nd (Luftwaffe) Signal Regiment, Control and Reporting Center Lauda-Königshofen
        • 4th Btn, 32nd (Luftwaffe) Regiment, Lauda-Königshofen, with 12x mobile Radar systems forward deployed to the inner German border.
      • Sector Operations Center 4 (SOC 4), Meßstetten
        • 1st Btn, 31st (Luftwaffe) Signal Regiment, Control and Reporting Center Meßstetten
        • 2nd Btn, 31st (Luftwaffe) Signal Regiment, Control and Reporting Center Freising

Seventeenth Air Force

32nd Army Air Defense Command

1. Luftwaffendivision

2. Luftwaffendivision

1 Canadian Air Division

A CT-133 Silver Star.

note 1: Nuclear sharing unit capable of delivering tactical nuclear weapons.
note 2: The Canadian Forces NATO reinforcement units were two Fighter Squadrons rotated from CFB Cold Lake with 416 Tactical Fighter Squadron and 441 Tactical Fighter Squadron, and from CFB Bagotville with 425 Tactical Fighter Squadron and 433 Tactical Fighter Squadron each with 18x CF-18. These forces represented the complete combat-capable assets of Canadian Forces Air Command. The units marked as reinforcements were nominally assigned to the NORAD Canada East and Canada West regions, the plan being that once the two squadrons were deployed to NATO there would be two squadrons remaining with NORAD (one squadron in each region).

See also

References

    • Dragoner, O.W. Die Bundeswehr 1989 Volume 2.1, available here
    • Dragoner, O.W. Die Bundeswehr 1989 Volume 3, available here
    • Pedlow, Gregory W. The Evolution of NATO’s Command Structure, 1951–2009 available

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