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3061 - Fürstenfeldbruck, Bavaria, Germany

Fürstenfeldbruck is a small city of almost 36 000 in Bavaria. It is found alont the Amper River. Fürstenfeldbruck has been the site of an air force base since 1936. The Luftwaffe used it before and during World War II. It was the Luftkriegsschule 4 (4th Air War School). Field Marshal Hermann Göring is said to have modeled Fürstenfeldbruck after the United States Army Air Forces training centre at Randolph Field, Texas. The Americans and British believed the base had little strategic importance so it largely escape bombing until later in the war. 

The United States Air Force took possession of the air base in late April. It was a staging area for new troops arriving in Europe for a while. Other United States Air Force units housed at the base at some point included the 70th Fighter Wing, 306th Bombardment Group, and the 45th Reconnaissance Group. During the Berlin Crisis, B-29s were stationed at the base. 

In August 1948, the United States Air Force decided to use Fürstenfeldbruck as an operation jet base. The 36th Fighter Wing was assigned here, which included the following squadrons - 22d Fighter, 23d Fighter, and 53d Fighter. 

In January of 1952, the 117th Tactical Reconnaissance Wing of the Air National Guard was deployed here. It included the 112th Tactical Reconnaissance and the 157th Tactical Reconnaissance. 

In 1957 Fürstenfeldbruck Air Base became a joint use facility with the new West German Air Force. Joint use was discontinued in 1960 and it became a solely West German Air Force Base.

The Fürstenfeldbruck Air Base is infamous for the Munich Massacre in which eight Palestinian terrorists from the Black September Group took eleven members of the Israeli Olympic team hostage. Two hostages were killed at the Olympic village. Negotiators convinced the terrorists to take their surviving hostages to Fürstenfeldbruck Air Base where a Boeing 727 would be waiting for them. At the base, five German police snipers proceeded to engage the terrorists on the tarmac. All nine Israeli hostages and a german police officer were killed. The Israeli's were still tied up on the transport helicopters. A year after the massacre, the West German government founded the GSG9 - counter terrorisms and special operations of the German Federal Police. 

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