The following book - "Starfighter" by David L Bashow, Fortress Publications Inc., contains a few references to 2 Wing. The CF-104s came just as the station closed but they talk about the station closure and how some pilots used Grostenquin after it was closed. This book is also a good source of history of the other stations for people that are interested. - Courtesy of Lee Riggins
At RCAF Grostenquin in France, the arrival of the '104s was muted. It was 1963, and we Canadians were clearly becoming persona non grata in the eyes of President DeGaulle. In June, we flew our trusty Swords into retirement at Preswick, Scotland, then returned to 2 Wing to await the arrival of our 430 Squadron replacement '104 aircraft and pilots. During that summer of '63, the aircraft arrived in bits and pieces, but it soon became clear that a move was in the cards. To my recollection, the characteristic moan of the Starfighter was seldom heard at Grostenquin.
The arrival of the '104 pilots was less muted....we were all in a bit of awe at these types who had "earned their spurs" the hard way. Some had flown Sabres or Vampires in the mid-fifties, during the halcyn days of the Air Division. Some had even been operational World War Two pilots. All had just been through the toughest flying course then known in the Air Force. We instinctively knew they deserved to swagger a bit, but they always swaggered in a strange way. Wheras your average Sabre jock could be likened to a pup who yelped his presence, the '104 types we saw were like old dogs who growled their authority. I remember that a lot of people in the Wings at that time remarked, "We knew the young Sabre drivers. Now, here are their fathers." In fact a few of them looked like grandfathers!"
On the other side of the Rhine, trouble with the DeGaulle government was coming to a head. In 1963, France had decided to acquire an independent nuclear force for reasons of prestige, control of her desiny, and for guaranteed protection of French territory. This meant that nuclear weapons on French soil would be subject only to French authority. In December of 1963, a Special Committee of Defence reported to the Commons that even French squadrons armed with American nuclear warheads were not permitted to operate from bases in France, and thus were stationed in Germany until their own home-grown air-portable nuclear arsenal could be developed. What hope then for four squadrons of Canadian Starfighters based at Grostenquin and Marville respectively? The answer from the French government was not long coming.... CF-104's bases in France would not be permitted to store their American-aquired devices at French bases, and would consequently have to obtain these warheads outside of France. In terms of presenting a credible deterrent posture, this situation was unsatisfactory. Something had to give, and the Special Committee recommended that NATO be petitioned to immediately relocate the Starfighter Strike squadrons based in France to more hospitable soil. Again, action was swiftly forthcoming, and the upshot of it all was that Grotenquin was closed down in February, 1964. 430 Silver Falcon Squadron (Course 5) was sent to Zweubrucken in the Strike role, and 421 Red Indian Squdron (Course 6), who had only arrived in time for Christmas and had barely time to unpack their bags, headed east to Baden-Soellingen.
Years later, in the mid-seventies when I was serving as a pilot with 439 Squadron at Baden, the name of Grostenquin would resurface and it would aquire a new claim to fame in the Air Group. Grostenquin was at that time being used by the French Air Force strictly as a storage facility and an inactive one at that, and although the extremely robust runway was still in splendid condition, there were absolutely no air traffic control facilities available. 439 Squadron, like all such units, had a very large aircrew statistics board near the operations desk that contained each pilot's name and a breakdown of flying hours and sorties in a myriad of different categories. The stats board also listed numerous annual and semi-annual requirements, usually in columns headed by some sort of acronym. For example IRT stood for Instrument Rating Test, AOI for Aircraft Operating Instructions, PPFL Practice Precautionary Forced Landing, and so on.
One day, Roy deWolfe, a Squadron pilot, unobtrusively and silently added a new column to the board, labelled TGLGTN, and put the number 1 beside his name. Wolf was often somewhat enegmatic, so no one gave it much second thought. One week later, Wolf walked in and quietly changed the one in his new column to a two. Now Wolf was an outstanding pilot, but his utter disregard for keeping records was practically legendary, so it was most unusual to see him tracking this supposedly new requirement so assiduously. Neverless, after a lot of puzzled looks and shrugged shoulders, we let it go. Wolf would unravel the mystery in his own good time. About three days later, when he had further changed the board from 2 to 3, one of the pilots could stand it no longer and said, "Hey Wolf, what does TGLGTN stand for anyway?" "Touch and Go Landings at Grostenquin," came the laconic reply. We never did find out if he was serious or joking".
quotes from page 27 & 28 of "Starfighter" written by David L Bashow. This book was published by Fortress Publications Inc, in 1990, has 223 pages, and the ISBN # is 0-919195-12-1
Updated: September 19, 2003
