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V Corps Aviation |
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| V Corps Aviation | ||||||||||||||||||
 V Corps Artillery headquarters sign, Cambrai-Fritsch Ksn, early 1950s (Eduard Witzmann) |
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 V Corps Artillery motor pool, Cambrai-Fritsch Ksn, early 1950s (Eduard Witzmann) |
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| V Corps Aviation (1970s) | ||||||||||||||||||
| Both Corps under
USAREUR/7th Army have the same basic unit structure: V
Corps at Frankfurt controlls the 3rd Armored Division,
the 8th Infantry Division (Mech), the 11th Armored Cavalry Regiment
and the 3rd Support Command. These will be dealt with in turn, but
first there are a few units which report directly to V Corps.
Smaller units such as the 41st and 42nd Field Artillery Groups, the
32nd Signal Battalion (Corps) and the 130th Engineer Brigade, which
all once had aircraft of their own, are no longer relevant to this
article as their respective Aviation Sections were all disbanded as
part of the re-organisation program. Their aircraft were transferred
to the 11th
Aviation Battalion. The 11th Avn Bn consists of two Companies located as follows. |
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| The 62nd Aviation Company keeps two detachment's of two OH-58A's each at Babenhausen and Gießen, while the V Corps Commander has his own C-12A based at Hanau. | ||||||||||||||||||
| The 205th Aviaton Company (Assault Support) is a separate unit directly attached at Corps level, and is believed to be the nucleus for an Assault Aviation Battalion to be formed with three Companies of CH-47's in about 1988. | ||||||||||||||||||
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| The backbone
of the U.S. Army forces in West Germany are two Armored Divisions
and two Mechanized Infantry Divisions, each with their own Aviation
Battalion. The four Battalions were established in October/November
1977 after the last of the new AH-1S Huey Cobras had been delivered
to USAREUR. Each has exactly the same organisation, equipment and strength, consisting of four companies. The Companies are split into various Platoons but these will not be dealt with here. 'D' Company is responsible for all maintenance up to AVIM (Aviation Intermediate Maintenance) level, and frequently keeps one spare helicopter of each type in use with the Battalion. Divisional Aviation Battalions of the V Corps are as follows: 503rd Aviation Battalion, 3rd Armd Div, Fliegerhorst AAF, Hanau |
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| The 503rd Aviation Battalion no longer keeps any detachments at the airfields in Friedberg and Kirchgöns; these fields have been closed. Directly attached to the 3rd Armored Division is the 1st SOTAS (Stand -Off Target Acquisistion System) Detachment. This special unit was formed in late 1978 with two EH-1H's and is based at Hanau. | ||||||||||||||||||
| 8th Aviation Battalion, 8th Inf Div (Mech), Bad Kreuznach AAF, Bad Kreuznach | ||||||||||||||||||
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| A Company keeps detachments at Coleman Barracks, Mannheim-Sandhofen (1x OH-58A), Baumholder (10x OH-58A) and Mainz-Finthen (2x UH-1H and 2 OH-58A). | ||||||||||||||||||
| In addition to
the armored and infantry divisions, each Corps has its own Armoured
Cavalry Regiment which would form the first line of defence in the
event of enemy penetration into territory assigned to the U.S. Army's
protection. Their main task in peacetime is patrolling the eastern
borders. Details of the aviation elements under the 11th Armored Cavalry Regiment, V Corps, stationed at Fulda are as follows. |
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| The two Troops are run by the Regiment's Command and Control Squadron. The Support Troop keeps detachments of two OH-58A's each at Bad Hersfeld (Detachment 1) and at Bad Kissingen (Detachment 2). | ||||||||||||||||||
| 3rd Support Command controls the 205th Transportation Battalion (AVIM) which performs all major maintenance work on V Corps' helicopters at it's Hanau facility. The 205th AVIM Battalion lost five of its UH-1H's and its single CH-47C to various other units in late 1979, and now has only two UH-1H's and one U-21 on strength. The unit does, however, keep a small number of OH-58A's, UH-1H's and AH-1's as float (attrition replacements). | ||||||||||||||||||
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| (1) (Source: Dave Blackburg) The company's "logo" was "Masters of the Trade." The company's call sign was "Boss" because ... "We fly the boss." | ||||||||||||||||||
| V Corps Aviation (1980s) | ||||||||||||||||||
| 1986 | ||||||||||||||||||
 1986 Briefing slides (Gen Franks, Frederick M., Collection, Box 69, AHEC) |
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| Five slides used for a command briefing on upcoming changes to Corps Aviation in USAREUR. The original images of this document were slighty enhanced by the webmaster. | ||||||||||||||||||
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