Studies had shown that the “Starfighter” would show wear and tear below an acceptable level by the mid 70's. By then the Luftwaffe began to plan for a successor. Additionally, the existing reconnaissance version of the “Starfighter” did not have a night or all-weather capability. Thus, the Luftwaffe had already decided in 1968 to replace the RF-104G with 88 new McDonnell Douglas RF-4E “Phantom II” to expand the mission envelope.
In the early 70s it was no longer possible for the F-104G “Starfighter” in the air defence units to gain air superiority, a must for every air force, because of its aged radar. Short range and insufficient maneuverability compared to newer fighter aircraft. After several evaluations of potential successors, the Federal Republic of Germany signed a contract to buy 175 McDonnell Douglas F-4F “Phantom II” costing 820 million DM. The plan was to equip the two air defence wings, followed by two dual role (air defence/fighter-bomber) wings with the new type. Starting on March 7, 1974 Jagdgeschwader 71 “Richthofen” in Wittmund was receive the F-4F “Phantom II” as the first fighter unit, followed by Jagdgeschwader 74 “Mölders” in Neuburg/Danube.
As the introduction of the nuclear capable Tornado fighter was delayed, two fighter-bomber units were also to receive the F-4F “Phantom II”. Strategic considerations, including the non-nuclear capabilities of the F-4F “Phantom II” were factors in the selection of the units to reequip with the “Phantom”. The relative proximity of Hopsten AB to the “Iron Curtain” and the nuclear strike role of JaboG 36 had already been abandoned in 1972, led to the decision to replace the F-104G “Starfighter” with the F-4F “Phantom”. Ten years of “Starfighter” history in Hopsten was to end with close to 100.000 flying hours (roughly 74 million kilometres) completed. In September 1974, during the third open House, 80.000 guests would see the first “Phantoms” of the Luftwaffe displayed from another unit. It would be another four months before the first F-4F “Phantom” for JaboG 36 would touch down at Hopsten.

On February 4, 1975, Wing Commander Oberst Winfried Schwenke would bring the first assigned F-4F “Phantom” with the serial 37+97 to Hopsten. As the F-4F “Phantom” was a multirole aircraft, JaboG 36, would gain the secondary task of air defence. The new aircraft and tasking of the unit would necessitate changes of its personnel structure. In 1971, JaboG 36 had consisted of 1.800 airmen, 60 pilots plus more than 450 civilian employees. The new F-4F “Phantom” weapons system required an increase in aircrew as it employed a so-called “Kampfbeobachter” (KBO) later redesigned WSO (Weapons System Officer). The two flying squadrons now consisted of three groups each with seven pilots and WSO´s.
The pilots, who up until now had only flown Single seat Jets, were now responsible for the second man in the back of their new mount. This caused some animosity, such as in forms of teasing like: the entry doors of two toilets in the staff area received the following inscriptions: one read “FOR PILOTS ONLY” and the other showed “FOR SCRUBWOMEN AND KBO's”. After a short time, the new two-man crew concept proved to be effective and the flight safety of the German wings improved remarkably.

A further visible consequence of the new additional air defence task was in the old QRA area. This compound set up for the F-104G “Starfighter” and its strike mission now housed two F-4F “Phantoms” fully armed with Sidewinder air-air-missiles. The crews stood 24 hours readiness shifts and in case of an alert had to scramble their F-4F “Phantom” within six minutes.
The housing area of the General-Wever-Kaserne saw further development. The non-commissioned officers of the Wing opened their first dub in summer 1975. Previously, each squadron had their own small NCO-union and the combining of these to a NCO-association had the aim to bolster and support the comradeship of all NCO´s of the Wing. About 3.000 hours of work was invested by the 450 NCO´s belonging to the association to complete their club. In the presence of their Kommodore, Oberst Winfried Schwenke, the Mayor of the city of Rheine, Mr. Ludger Meier and numerous NCO´s, the chairman of the NCO-association, Oberstabsfeldwebel Gerd Löring opened the new meeting place. Following the conversion to the F-4F “Phantom”, the 1st as well as the 2nd squadron of the Wing were assigned to NATO's 2. ATAF in late July 1976. Close to 200.000 visitors attended the fourth open House in July 1977. The 15th anniversary of JaboG 36 was celebrated on December 12, 1976, as well as the wing reaching 173.000 flying hours. In addition to visiting aircraft from Germany and abroad, the air show visitors were treated to the sight and sounds of a 16 aircraft formation of Hopsten's own F-4F “Phantoms” in a clear blue sky.

In February 1979, the Wing was the recipient of a very special honour. JaboG 36 had received the trophy for best unit with the 3rd Luftwaffendivision and at the same time the Flight Safety Award of the Bundeswehr. The wing was the first Luftwaffe unit to deploy a detachment to CFB Goose Bay, Labrador in Canada, from July 21 until September 26, 1980 to conduct ultra low-level flight training. JaboG 36 pioneered the deployment to CFB Goose Bay with six F-4F “Phantom” aircraft and a team of 95 men. The 5.000 km deployment of the Wing to Canada was a pilot project for the Luftwaffe. It was accomplished by island hopping, with refuelling stops at Lossiemouth (Scotland), Keflavik (Iceland) and Sondrestrom (Greenland). After more than seven hours of flight time the destination was reached. The area in Canada was the former training air base of the Royal Air Force Vulcan bombers. As GAFTIC, i.e. German Air Force Training In Canada, this was to become a fixed element in the training of the Luftwaffe. Unfortunately, JaboG 36 lost its first F-4F “Phantom” shortly before the redeployment to Germany on September 22, 1980 with Hauptmann Volker Neuenfelt and Leutnant Johannes Hülsmann loosing their lives in 38+65.
The second deployment to Canada, in the summer of 1981, would be performed by the JaboG 36 crews in eight Phantoms, crossing the Atlantic with USAF KC-135-tankers refuelling the formation, thus a six-hour non stop flight.

One year later, the unit looked back at 20 years of existence. On September 20, 1981, the fifth open House took place and more than 100.000 visitors were attracted to the event. However, for political reasons, JaboG 36 had been banned from flying its own aircraft. Not even post maintenance flights scheduled for the following day were allowed. Beside the many German and foreign aircraft on display, a special highlight for the visitors was performed on the runway. A race between two Honda motorcycles, a Porsche 911 Turbo and an F-4F “Phantom” was arranged. As many of the visitors expected, the fighter won with ease but had to employ its braking chute in order not to take-off (or running off the end of the runway)! For the 20th anniversary the F-4F “Phantom” serialled 38+33 received a special paint scheme in the colours of the State of Northrhine-Westphalia demonstrating the dose bonds of the unit with its home State. On February 1, 1981, a third unit was established at Hopsten AB. The unit, Zentrale Ausbildungseinrichtung F-4F {ZAE, i.e. Central Training Establishment F-4F) 1981, which officially became the third squadron on January 1, 1984, was tasked to “Europeanize” new crews, as well as to train flight instructors for the F-4F “Phantom”. In the ZAE, the F-4F crews were trained to fly in the dense airspace and the changeable weather in Central Europe with four courses per year. Besides the training of instructor pilots, WSO´s and check-pilots, many former Fiat G.91 pilots received type conversion training to the F-4F “Phantom” with the ZAE.

In May 1984, JaboG 36 was honoured in a special way as the unit received the name “Westfalen” through the German Defence Ministry due to its close bonds with its home region.
Kommodore Oberst Peter Vogler completed the 100.000 flying hour on the units F-4F “Phantom” with his landing on March 18, 1986. Since the activation of JaboG 36, the wing had completed 250.000 flying hours. Only four months later the 500.000th controlled approach to Hopsten AB took place. The 25th anniversary of the “Westfalen Wing” was celebrated with the sixth open House on September 14, 1986. The crowd would witness the last 16 aircraft formation in the history of the unit. In addition, the wing would please spectators with yet another Special coloured F-4F “Phantom”. The aircraft, serialled 37+55, and its commemorative livery impressively symbolized the course of the temperature development during combustion in the engine of this fine fighter aircraft.

The increasing threat of newer third generation Soviet fighters, led to the decision in the late 1970s to modify the existing “Phantom” fleet extensively. In 1983, shortly before commencing the F-4F “Phantom” enhancement “Peace Rhine” program, the German Defence Ministry established a list of desired modifications for the 'Phantom' and subdivided the F-4F fleet into air defence (LV) and air attack (LA) variants.
All F-4F “Phantoms” were modified to the “LA” - standard. Because of black nose radomes, these were called “Black Noses” in airmen's terms. Subsequently 110 out of 153 German F-4F “Phantom” were further modified for the air defence role with a laser based inertial navigation system, corresponding user interface and a new airdata Computer. They were easily recognisable by grey radomes and thus were known as “Grey Noses”. The modifications started on the fleet in 1991. Two aircraft of WTD61 and one F-4F “Phantom” from an active unit were modified. JaboG “Westfalen” participated in the program with the F-4F serialled 38+43. This Phantom was mainly used for dropping bombs and firing of the internal gun during trials.

The two F-4F of WTD61 tested the combination of radar and air defence missiles regarded among experts as the best available on the market at that time, the AN/APG-65 radar and the AIM-120 AMRAAM missile. Between August 1991 and November 1992 these three Phantoms deployed to the “Pacific Missile Test Centre” of the US Navy at Point Mugu, California, carrying the Special markings “ICE-13”, “ICE-15” and “ICE-43” (ICE = Improved Combat Efficiency) and shooting six of the new missiles with great success. The improved combat efficiency of the air defence variant comprised of the installation of the AN/APG-65 radar (developed for the F-18), a new mission Computer, enhanced capacity for the weapons Computer, installation of Starter kits for the AIM-120 AMRAAM in the Sparrow bays in the lower part of the fuselage, as well as the purchase of the missiles itself. At the same time, a program was started to extend the fatigue life of the airframe from 4.000 to 6.000 hours to keep the aircraft in service until 2012. The last modified F-4F “Phantom” was redelivered to the Luftwaffe in 1997.

With the fall of the “Iron Curtain” and the reunification of Germany in October 1990, the Luftwaffe was tasked to guarantee the aerial integrity of the new five federal states (the former East German territories) within Germany. Thus the Luftwaffe decided in late 1990, to transform the F-4F “Phantom” equipped fighter-bomber wings JaboG 35 in Pferdsfeld and JaboG 36 “Westfalen” into pure fighter interceptor wings in addition lo the existing Jagdgeschwader 71 “Richthofen” and Jagdgeschwader 74 “Mölders” tasking them solely with air defence.
With the far-reaching changes in the Luftwaffe tasking, consideration was given to transferring JaboG 36 “Westfalen” to the eastern part of Germany. Since October 1990, both JaboG 36 “Westfalen” and JaboG35 alternating in supplying four F-4F “Phantom” to guarantee the sovereignty over the new federal states. For two months Fassberg AB situated directly at the former inner German border hosted the deployed QRA detachments, as at that time no former GDR base was able to service NATO-aircraft. The infrastructure of the former NVA (Nationale Volksarmee = East German National People's Army) Air Force air bases in the new federal states prohibited the use of NATO aircraft. Participating wings were deployed to Fassberg AB every other week. The provisional accommodation of the crews and maintenance personnel, complicated engine run-ups in front of the provisional hangars and long distances to the runway, made for very slow response times of up to 30 minutes. This led to the discontinuation of the QRA detachments with the role to be carried out directly from Hopsten AB from mid-December 1990 onwards. With the change of its task, JaboG 36 “Westfalen” was redesigned to Jagdgeschwader 72 “Westfalen” on January 1, 1991, after 30 years of service as a fighter-bomber wing.

 

Only a few weeks later, on May 24, 1991, the rumours about a possible transfer of the unit to the new federal states became reality for the members of JG 72 “Westfalen”. At Laage AB (Mecklenburg-Vorpommern), the youngest and most modern air base of the former NVA Air Force, JG 72 “Westfalen” was to form a new Jagdgeschwader with its own F-4F “Phantoms” adding the MiG-29 “Fulcrums” which had been taken on charge by the Luftwaffe. As a consequence of this decision, the third squadron of the unit, the Zentrale Ausbildungseinrichtung F-4F, was disbanded February 1995. Its tasks were transferred to the 2. Jagdstaffel of JG 72 “Westfalen”. In 1991, there was little to cheer for members of JG 72 “Westfalen” but nevertheless this was the 30th anniversary year of its activation was celebrated. Some of the visitors viewed the seventh open house more like a good-bye visit to the “Westfalen Wing” at Hopsten AB. The planned move of the unit came to a surprising halt in April 1993, with the announcement that JG 72 “Westfalen” was to remain at Rheine-Hopsten. Instead it was planned to deploy JG 73 to the new location in the east. The air base Rheine-Dreierwalde/Hopsten appeared to have an extended future. The following years saw JG 72 “Westfalen” continue to perform routine flying operations, participate in exercises, conduct the annual low-level flight training from CFB Goose Bay, Canada, aerial gunnery exercises at Sardinia, Italy and continue training with the tasking of NATO´s integrated air defence.

The next outstanding event for JG 72 “Westfalen” was the first time participation of a Luftwaffe unit in exercise “Roving Sands” in Mew Mexico in May 1996 with six F-4F “Phantoms”, Taking part in this high value exercise over the White Sands Desert were more than 15.000 air-men from different nations. Led by the Deputy Kommodore, Oberstleutnant Peter Fiolka, more than 100 members of JG 72 “Westfalen” contributed to the world's biggest multinational air defence exercise. They were based at Cannon AFB near Clovis, NM. Three months after the detachment returned from “Roving Sands”, the “Westfalen Wing” was to celebrate the 35th anniversary of JaboG 36/JG 72 “Westfalen” with its eighth Open House. The anniversary bird of 1996 was the most beautiful aircraft in the Wing's history. 38+60 carried a huge sized white horse on the fuselage in the colours of Westphalia. A few weeks later JG 72 “Westfalen”, was the second Luftwaffe F-4F unit to participate in the “Red Flag” exercise at Nellis AFB, Nevada. With a landmass larger than Switzerland, the Nellis ranges offered training for every conceivable air war scenario.
Pilot training for the F-4F “Phantom” was transferred from George AFB, California to the new “Taktisches Ausbildungskommando”, (Tactical Training Detachment} at Holloman AFB, New Mexico. Shortly after, the few remaining Luftwaffen F-4E “Phantoms”, using USAF finish and markings, were phased out.

 

Thus, the Luftwaffe decided to transfer 24 F-4F “Phantoms” - mostly non ICE (black nose) aircraft to Holloman (using US serials) - to continue the training role. JG 72 “Westfalen” played an important role in this task starting in January 1997. Aircraft from several different F-4F units were first transferred to JG 72 “Westfalen” before being flown to the US in several waves. The first ten F-4F of the “LA”-version, the so-called “Black Noses”, took-off on January 14, 1997, for their delivery flight from to Holloman AFB, a further eight aircraft followed on June, 5 and the last wave of six aircraft on November 12, 1997, completed the transfer.
The decision was made to concentrate the remaining Luftwaffe F-4F of the “LA”-version in Germany, at Hopsten AB. Thus the crews trained in the US continued on the same type of the F-4F once they arrived at 2./JG 72 “Westfalen”, to complete their “Europeanising” training.

Besides the participation in various international – “Flag” exercises (“Red Flag” at Nellis AFB in the USA and “Maple Flag” at CFB Cold Lake in Canada) and the routine deployments to CFB Goose Bay, Canada and Decimomannu (Sardinia, Italy), the years went by uneventfully until 2000. Long needed construction, like a new control tower, hangar doors, a new mess hall and gas station attracted attention. In the summer of 2000 all flying operations were again temporarily transferred to the neighbouring Dutch Twenthe AB, to allow the necessary repairs on the runways of Hopsten AB.
In May 2001, the unit received a Special honour when JG 72 “Westfalen” was awarded the Bundeswehr Flight Safety Award for accident free flying from 1997 to 2000. An achievement JG 72 “Westfalen” could be proud of. After all, the unit was the prizewinner in 1992, 1994 and 1995 and before that as JaboG 36 in 1971, 1978, 1979, 1981, 1984 to 1988 and 1991.
The ninth Open House, for the “Westfalen Wing” celebrated its 40th anniversary on September 8, 2001, with yet another huge crowd. For this occasion, the Wing had painted another F-4F “Phantom” in special colours. 38+37 was impressively adorned in the German national colours of black, yellow and red. This day of jubilee could not hide the looming talks unit deactivation that had already threatened JG 72 “Westfalen”. The disbandment of JG 72 “Westfalen” was to become reality with the announcement with Luftwaffenstruktur 5 (restructure plan of the Luftwaffe). Great shock spread among the unit’s members and the surrounding communities. A public appeal against the disbandment came from the local area, not only was JG 72 “Westfalen” affected, but also the Rheine based Transportbataillon 110 and a Rheine-Gellendorf based training regiment of the Army fell victim to the new structural measures of the Bundeswehr. With the closures, many civilian employees would be losing their jobs. The worries in the community administrations were big, as the military units were a major economic factor for the city and the surrounding villages. All the efforts of local people and politicians were not enough to change the decisions.

On Monday January 7, 2002, the last QRA for a crew at Hopsten AB took place. Only a couple of days later, on January 18, 2002, the 1. Staffel of JG 72 “Westfalen” disbanded. The tasking of the unit - air defence - was history. The fate of disbandment caught up with the 2. Staffel of JG 72 “Westfalen” at the same time, but only administratively. At the last minute, the Wing received the training task again, mandated until 2006, to europeanise the crews trained in the US and the training of flight instructors. For a brief period the closure of the base was postponed.
The disbandment of JG 72 “Westfalen” and the simultaneous release of the unit from the NATO-assignment was celebrated on January 31, 2002, with a ceremonious roll call in the presence of the last Kommodore of the Wing, Oberst Hans-Henning Pradel and the Commander of 3rd Luftwaffendivision, Generalmajor Horst Martin. At the same time the Fluglehrzentrum F-4F (FlLehrZ F-4F) was activated under the command of its first CO Oberstleutnant Karl Fürnrohr. With the restructuring of the fighter wing to a flight training centre, during ongoing operations and while maintaining the necessary mission capable rate, the unit and its members proved their professionalism and competence. The authorised personnel assignment for the FlLehrZ F-4F was gradually reduced from 1.350 to 800. For the airmen remaining with the unit, the new non-NATO task soon became noticeable. The flying hours were significantly reduced, limited deployments for exercises abroad and the cessation of the alert drills before Tactical Evaluations of the unit, soon caused some sadness among the airmen.

An annual highlight for the active airmen of the FlLehrZ F-4F was the “Salvatorfest” that had grown into a major event. However, the changes in the foreign and security policy of the Bundeswehr in the multinational context meant the unit's “Salvatorfest” with its 23 years of tradition was to end. The “Salvatorfest” had been organised by JaboG 36 and JG 72 “Westfalen” and took place in spring of each year with active and retired airmen, high ranking military guests and dignitaries from the fields of politics, economy and society. It was a widely known event with high publicity. With the tradition already cancelled once due to a fatal crash, the aftermath of the terror attacks of September 11, 2001, in the United States led to another cancellation. The insurance companies were no longer willing to offer an insurance against cancellation, which was absolutely necessary for the unit, meaning the end to this traditional event. The unit’s members had to suffer the loss of a popular tradition.
Although the deactivation of the FlLehrZ F-4F was already set for 2006, the unit continued to take part in different flying exercises. Apart from the annual deployments of the unit to Decimomannu, Italy, for air combat training, the unit sent single crews and aircraft to take part in the high value exercises “Red Flag” at Nellis AFB and “Maple Flag” at CFB Cold Lake. Events like these and special tasks assigned to the unit were marked in the crew's annual calendar. One such task was to demonstrate the F-4F “Phantom” at flying displays. The participation in exercise “Anatolian Eagle” in turkey, underlines that the Phantom has not yet reached the end of its service in the Luftwaffe.

The FlLehrZ F-4F took part in the deployment to the USA, led by JG 74 “Mölders” with one crew. On August 18. 2003, pilot Major Thomas Born and WSO Major Axel Hangebrauck transferred their “Phantom” together with five other aircraft from Neuburg/Danube to Tyndall AFB with only one stop over at CFB Goose Bay, Canada. During the 12 hours of flight each of the F-4F “Phantoms” received 25.000 litres of kerosene, during nine aerial refuelling by two accompanying USAF KC-10 tankers. The participation of a crew of the FlLehrZ F-4F in the exercise “Combat Archer 2003” had a special touch. The aim of the exercise was to test the combat efficiency of the main armament of the Phantom, the AIM-120 “AMRAAM” air-air-missile. Not only was live firing essential, but also the ground crews and the pilots received additional theoretical and practical training to improve capabilities. The Russian air-to-air missile AA-11 “Archer” was the inspiration for the American “Weapons Evaluation Group” (WEG) to adopt this name. This unit was responsible for supporting live firings of the participating foreign units. Tyndall AFB has the worldwide unique installation to continually track a missile in flight and to record and analyze all gained data. Six “AMRAAM” air-to-air missiles were authorised to be used for this exercise, which were expended in different flight profiles in order to test the full performance spectrum. In addition, the German aircrews trained Dissimilar Air Combat Tactics (DACT) with US units flying against different aircraft, like the F-16 and F-15.
Under project “Anatolian Eagle” the FlLehrZ F-4F participated in a new international exercise in Anatolia, Turkey. Between 60 and 80 aircraft from several nations were deployed from November 3 to 14, 2003. On October 28 and 29, 2003, the FlLehrZ F-4F deployed personnel and material to Turkey. As the core unit FlLehrZ F-4F also gained several components from Wunstorf based Lufttransportgeschwader 62 (Air Transport Wing 62) so that the German participation was in excess of 100 airmen. During this exercise, the FlLehrZ F-4F was to participate in combined air defence operations attempting to prevent opposition fighter-bomber forces from flying below radar surveillance. Other training objectives were aerial refuelling and working with AWACS aircraft. The subsequent evaluation of the exercise by the Luftwaffe was to be a decisive factor for the future participation of the Luftwaffe in this high value exercise.

© SkyGuide

A Single “LA-version” F-4F “Phantom”, 38+34 was transferred to the Luftwaffenmuseum der Bundeswehr at Berlin-Gatow, after the International Aerospace Exhibition 2002 where it had been demonstrated in the air. A special feature of this aircraft was the specially marked fin with the crest of the “Lion Squadron”, the former 1./JG 72 “Westfalen”. Another “LA-version” F-4F “Phantom”, 37+36 took-off on December 9, 2003, for its last flight to Slovakia, It was delivered to the Technical Museum in Kosice at the explicit request of the Slovak President, Rudolf Schuster to the German President Johannes Rau. After technicians of the FlLehrZ F-4F had demilitarized the aircraft on location. It was donated to the museum in the presence of the German ambassador to Slovakia Uta Mayer-Schalburg and the Slovak President Rudolf Schuster. Two technical schools, in Cuxhaven and Aurich, were to receive demilitarized F-4F “Phantoms” of the “LA-version”. These schools retrained retired airmen to become civilian aircraft mechanics. Another pair was transferred to training units of the Bundeswehr after all usable parts had been removed. The Technical School of the Luftwaffe 3 at Fassberg received 37+10 for the training of young airmen on aircraft engines. Another went to the fire department of Trollenhagen airfield to conduct realistic rescue exercises on aircraft. The first of the 21 F-4F “Phantoms” of the “LA”-version to be demilitarized was scrapped as a pattern aircraft at Jever AB. After all usable parts had been removed; a civilian company scrapped the rest of the 14 “Black Noses” in Hopsten. The flying days of the “Black Noses” ended on December 18, 2003, as all F-4F “Phantoms” of the “LA”-version were grounded and taken out of active service. On this day, 37+44 was the last to take-off from the runway at Hopsten, to carry out a final training mission. After landing, this aircraft also entered the process of demilitarisation.
Currently seventeen KWS Phantoms remain at Hopsten AB to train returning new crews from Holloman AFB. The “Westphalia Horse” remains applied on the tails of assigned FlLehrZ F-4F “Phantoms” until 2006.
It is not known what the future will hold for the airmen and civil employees of Hopsten AB, but the unit and its personnel will be remembered as a vital and important bearer of post war Luftwaffe activities.