Rothwesten, Germany

Nick ,

I served in the 601st at Rothwesten from May 57 to July 59 .

My primary duty assignment was as a weapons controller at Gunpost . As with most of us , I had several additional duty assignments as Air Police Officer , Pay Officer , Special Services , etc . When the CRP at Gunpost was moved to Wasserkuppe in 58 ,I remained at Rothwesten as an instructor at the MSQ1A school run by Capt Dunkle .

In March 2001 , my wife, Tillie and I returned to Kassel and Rothwesten for the first time since 1959 . We were pleased to meet the base commander at the base and he provided an NCO to give us a tour . Some of the pictures were made then and some are older ones made in the 50's .

1. 0009 : 1959 601st Air police Office . Lt. Hamiter , Air Police Officer and MSgt. Bill Stanton , NCOIC . MSgt. Stanton retired as a CMSgt. and lived in Tucson until his death in April 2004 .

2. 0008 : 1958 Lt Hamiter and Chaplain M.E. Hunt visit an orphanage near Rothwesten . I believe the visit was to acknowledge a gift given to the orphanage by personnel of the 601st. Chaplain Hunt retired as a Colonel and lives in Texas .

Following from our visit in 2001

3. 0001 : Scene of the base from the front of the Officers' Club .

4. 0002 : Headquarters for German Army unit based at Rothwesten . I believe this was one of the ASA unit's operations buildings .

5. 0004 : Gunpost Hill

6. 0005 : Tillie and our escort at the Officers' Club . This is same location as our 601st Officers' Club .

7. 0006 : Tillie in front of the apartment where we lived in the Rorhwesten housing area .

.....Lt Dunlap, CMS Nick, Lt Hamiter served together at Rothwesten.....

Fliegerhorst Rothwesten

In the old days before the Americans Army-AirForce took over Rothwesten was like a resort for the Luftwafer- casino's, bier haller, air field, hangars, and clubs.

When the Americans took over the base in 1945 they inspected every corner above and underground. Every door was carefully examined; there was still a chance that some booby-traps might be found. After inspection, they sealed (welded) all doors of cellars that were not going to be used. Generally those doors were found in the few sub-basements. When the Bundeswehr took over the base from the Americans in 1975 every building was inspected again from top to bottom. Cellars that were not used were closed or sealed off. Some of them have now been returned to use by the Bundeswehr. Neither the Americans nor the Bundeswehr found anything which could lead to a conclusion that old Luftwaffe planes were hidden in those basements.

All this doesn't mean that there wasn't any airplane-related construction activity at Rothwesten during the war. We'll talk about that later.

Fliegerhorst Rothwesten and WWII

Rothwesten, Germany
Home of the 601stAC&W Squadron.................