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7th
Transportation Group (Aviation)
Seventh Army
Looking for more information from military/civilian
personnel assigned to or associated with the U.S. Army
in Germany from 1945 to 1989. If you have any
stories or thoughts on the subject, please contact me .
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Group
History |
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7th Trans Gp
DUI |
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1958 |
(Source: Email from Randall Ackley - former 2nd Lt Signal Corps; former SGT, Transportation Avation and Artillery) |
I was assigned to the Headquarters in 1958 and served for a year.
We had an Avionics Section. CO was a WW2 Signal Corps captain who had been serving as manager for Officers Clubs until recalled for the Korean War; a sergeant who served as a Wire Sergeant in Korea and myself, who came in last. Neither of the former knew anything about aviation or electronics.
I had been to the Navy/Marine Corps Electronics Tech School and Signal Corps OCS. I had been out and returned, first drated for a SW (special warheads) Ordnance outfit but then bumped and drafted to this group.
As the only one aware of what we were all about, I became de facto head of our section and created it for the experimental group.
Our section was "unsatisfactory" on IG (inspection) when I got there. We were "superior" with one minor problem when I left.
Our Group commander, who reported to the 7th Army Transportation Officer, was relieved. He thought aviation was unimportant. So we turned in a "Readiness Report" saying we were "combat ready" although we could not operate in the field.
The Deputy Commander took over but also got relieved. The Department of the Army finally sent over a colonel from Washington to take over. He reported that we were totally unable to operate in combat.
When I finally left, the section was able to operate in the field at temporary airfields. |
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1960 |
![](Seventh%20Army%20Avn%20Gp%201%20400.jpg)
Special edition of the SIKORSKY News (Webmaster's collection)
(Click on the image to read the entire issue) |
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1961 |
(Source: STARS & STRIPES, Feb 28, 1961) |
The 7th Aviation Gp is the only aviation group in the US Army. The Gp includes nearly 3,000 men and is broken down into
five headquarters companies,
seven operating helicopter companies and
seventeen supporting units
The 7 operating companies are divided between two battalions - the 8th and 54th Trans Bns.
The 7th Avn Gp is responsible for the operation of all the cargo helicopters (H-34 and H-37) in Germany. The Gp is equipped with 168 aircraft and provides maintenance (and supply) support for over 800 rotary and fixed-wing aircraft.
CO of the Group is Col Russell E. Whetstone. Lt Col Richard L. Long is CO of the 54th Trans Bn and Lt Col Henry H. McKee is commanding officer of the 8th Trans Bn. |
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SUBORDINATE UNITS of the 7th Trans Gp in August 1961 (based on information from STATION LIST, 15 Aug 1961): |
UNIT DESIGNATION |
DUTY STATION |
COMMENTS |
7th US Army Avn Gp - Hq/Hq Det |
Ludwigsburg |
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8th Trans Bn (Trans Acft) - Hq/Hq Det |
Oberschleissheim |
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54th Trans Bn (Trans Acft) - Hq/Hq Det |
Hanau |
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41st Trans Bn (Army Acft Maint) - Hq/Hq Det |
Finthen |
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205th Trans Bn (Army Acft Maint) - Hq/Hq Det |
Ludwigsburg |
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4th Trans Co (Med Hel) |
Hanau |
54th Trans Bn |
11th Trans Co (Lt Hel) |
Nellingen |
8th Trans Bn |
18th Trans Co (Lt Hel) |
Oberschleissheim |
8th Trans Bn |
36th Trans Co (Lt Hel) |
Hanau |
54th Trans Bn |
59th Trans Co (Lt Hel) |
Wertheim |
54th Trans Bn |
91st Trans Co (Lt Hel) |
Oberschleissheim |
8th Trans Bn |
110th Trans Co (Lt Hel) |
Oberschleissheim |
8th Trans Bn |
29th Trans Co (Army Acft Maint) |
Echterdingen |
205th Trans Bn |
30th Trans Co (DS) |
Hanau |
41st Trans Bn |
42nd Trans Co (DS) |
Sandhofen |
205th Trans Bn |
245th Trans Co (Army Acft Hv M&S) |
Finthen |
41st Trans Bn |
246th Trans Co (DS) |
Augsburg |
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90th Trans Det (Cgo Hel Fld Maint) |
Hanau |
in support of 36th Trans Co (Lt Hel) |
99th Trans Det (Cgo Hel Fld Maint) |
Wertheim |
in support of 59th Trans Co (Lt Hel) |
148th Trans Det (Cgo Hel Fld Maint) |
Nellingen |
in support of 11th Trans Co (Lt Hel) |
152nd Trans Det (Cgo Hel Fld Maint) |
Hanau |
in support of 4th Trans Co (Med Hel) |
329th Trans Det (Cgo Hel Fld Maint) |
Oberschleissheim |
in support of 91st Trans Co (Lt Hel) |
564th Trans Det (Cgo Hel Fld Maint) |
Oberschleissheim |
in support of 18th Trans Co (Lt Hel) |
571st Trans Det (Cgo Hel Fld Maint) |
Oberschleissheim |
in support of 110th Trans Co (Lt Hel) |
(US Army Avn Flight Infor Det, Eur) |
Heidelberg |
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(16th Avn Op (Army) ) |
Echterdingen |
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(still missing a few support units) |
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In late 1966
or early 1967, the Seventh Army Aviation Group is inactivated and
the 15th Aviation Group is activated
in its place. |
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If you have more
information on the history or organization of the 7th Transportation
Group, please contact me . |
![](../../EUCOM_patchwhite.jpg) |
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MISCELLANEOUS
UNIT INFORMATION
7th Trans Gp, Ludwigsburg, is Seventh Army's only aviation group.
ORGANIZATION of the 7th Trans Gp in August 1964: |
UNIT
DESIGNATION
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DUTY
STATION |
COMMENTS |
8th
Trans Bn (Task) |
Hanau |
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41st
Trans Bn (Acft Maint & Sup) |
Finthen |
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205th
Trans Bn (Acft Maint & Sup) |
Ludwigsburg |
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ORGANIZATION
of the 7th Avn Gp in 1965: |
UNIT
DESIGNATION
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DUTY
STATION |
COMMENTS |
16th
Avn Bn |
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18th
Avn Bn |
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![](7th%20Army%20Avn%20Gp%202%20600.jpg)
James next to sign in front of Group Hq building, Flak Kaserne (James Allen) |
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(Source: Email
from James Allen, Hq Co, 7th Trans Gp) |
I was stationed
with Hq Company, 7th Transportation Group
from 1/1964 to 6/1965. The day I rotated home this unit cased its
colors and merged with (I think) the 10th Transportation Group to
form the 107th Trans Brigade. I have some pictures (35mm slides) of
Flak Kaserne and Ludwigsburg and a lot of the guys I was stationed
with.
Our mission, I was told, was that we were the controlling point for
all of 7th Army's aircraft, fixed wing and choppers. I was an 053
Radio Teletype Operator and my duties were carried out at Headquarters.
Our airfield was removed from Headquarters so I wasn't around the
actual flight operations. We also had land-line teletype (encrypted)
directly with 7th Army so there were never any messages to or from
them over my radio. Radio contact was used to communicate with the
Battalion Headquarters and subordinate companies.
We had three battalions under us: the 205th was headquartered right
there on the post with us, the 8th was headquartered at Hanau, and
the 41st was headquartered at Finthen. There had previously been an
additional battalion (I'm pretty sure it was the 54th) but it was
gone when I got there.
Each battalion had several companies and to my knowledge they were
pretty well scattered all over Germany. I'm picturing my SOI in my
mind and I can remember there was a whole page of companies but I
can't recall any specific one. That is a pretty general view of what
I recall about the group. I went to Finthen one time but never did
go to Hanau.
While I was in Germany I went TDY on two occasions - once for school
at Kaiserslautern and the other was a duty TDY at Garmisch. We went
to the field twice during my tour. We had a monthly "alert" and I
was usually in the radio truck that went out with the unit. There
are other things in the daily routine I remember but I don't want
to waste your time with information that is of no use to you. Our
field site was at Darmstadt - next to a missile site.
The TDY to Garmisch was to provide communication back to Group Hq.
for Colonel Dyer. He was attending some type of meeting and he was
less than enamored with the German telephone system. He wanted to
be sure he could get through so he took a radio truck. I remember
one of the nights we had shut down the radio and all four of us went
to the Ice Revue at the Casa Carioca. During the show we got word
that the radio had to get back on the air. Sgt. Strader and John Griffin
volunteered to go back and Wenlund and myself got to stay and see
the rest of the show. I still have my program from that night. Another
thing about that TDY is my PFC stripes came down while I was down
there. We sometimes went to a swimming pool just across the river
in Marbach. The river was just north of Flak and it wasn't too much
of a walk to the pool. There were a lot of us spent a number of Saturday
and Sunday afternoons there soaking up the sun and admiring the bikinis.
We didn't do a lot of swimming because it was so crowded you couldn't
really swim.
Another thing or two I have recalled - One is the annual "Fly-In".
This was a Public Relations event in which civilian pilots from different
countries in Europe flew in to our airfield in Ludwigsburg. I don't
recall how many diferent countries responded but it was several. This
was a Saturday & Sunday event.
Two - on June 23, 1964, a nuclear device was being transported from
one site to another. I do not know from where or to where - I only
recall that my outfit was the designated radio contact for a certain
small portion of the movement. I recall it so well because that date
was my 24th birthday.
Another small recollection - in the winter of 1964/65 the weather
stayed so bad (low ceiling) for so long the pilots were about to lose
their flight pay because they couldn't get their hours in. They wanted
to fly up and down the autobahn to keep from getting lost, but it
was against the law to fly as low as they needed to. They finally
flew up and down the Neckar River there in Ludwigsburg to get their
hours in and not lose their pay.
Just in case it might be of some use to you, I want to mention some
of the other units that were on Flak Kaserne while I was there. One
I remember very well was "B" Company, 26th Signal
Bn. I don't know what their mission was, but it seemed
they stayed in the field (or maybe I am thinking of 1st Signal). The
569th Ordnance Company was also on Flak.
The other four I am not sure exactly what level of unit was there,
but there was some element of 1st Signal, 4th Transportation, 32nd
Transportation, and 6th M.I. On the tape I said "4th Trans. Bn." but
I don't remember if it was their HQ Company or just a subordinate
company. I wish I could remember more.
I have noticed on your site that you have "A" Co., 26th Signal at
Heilbronn. I wonder if that is the unit that was our maintenance and
spare parts support. Also, when I went TDY to Kaiserslautern for school,
it was to learn a new crypto device. The unit there was the 440th
Signal Battalion of the 505th Signal Group.
When I arrived at Group in January of '64, the Company Commander was
Captain Dew and First Sergeant Griney was our first sergeant. At some
point during my tour, they were replaced by Captain Treat and First
Sergeant Taylor. At the time of my arrival, there was a putzfrau for
our barracks. We cleaned our rooms and were responsible for the latrines
- and she cleaned the offices, day room and swept the halls. Unfortunately,
that disappeared soon after I got there.
We had two duty rosters, KP and duty driver. Our KP was night KP.
We went on at 6 PM and got off at 4 AM. Lots of times if we finished
what had to be done, the night cook would let us go early. The next
day after KP we were off until noon. A roommate would wake us when
he came to lunch so we could eat before we went to work that afternoon.
There were two KPs each night to peel potatoes, pan the bacon and
whatever else was required to get ready for breakfast. At some point
in my tour, some "Day KP's" were caught sleeping twice the
same day, so they inherited the potato peeling. From this point on,
we only had to supply one night KP. It made duty a little lonelier,
but it only came around half as often, so I guess that was a fair
trade-off.
As duty driver, I visited all the Kasernes in the Ludwigsburg area
on numerous occasions. I don't recall the exact hours involved but
we got the next morning off as with KP.
The Group Commander when I arrived was Colonel Dyer and our Sergeant
Major's name was McBride. Sergeant Major McBride rotated during my
tour but I can't recall his replacement's name. I remember he was
an older man and he broke his leg skiing in the winter of '64-'65.
Colonel Dyer passed command to Lt. Colonel Robert K. Moore on July
7, 1964 in a ceremony held at Pattonville. The Communications Officer
when I arrived was Major Buck. The sergeants at that time were Master
Sergeant Moore, Sergeant E-6 or E-7 Deane and Sergeants E-5 Strader
& Page. Sgt. Strader was the radio sergeant and Sgt. Page was over
the crypto room. Soon after our first field exercise Major Buck was
replaced as Communications Officer by Captain George W. Kieffer. He
was still there when I left for home.
When I left we only had two sergeants, Sgt. E-5 Jerry Bow (crypto)
and Sgt.Gibbs (radio). I can't remember whether Sgt. Gibbs was an
E-5 or E-6. Our radio net was on the air from 9 AM to 4 PM Monday
through Friday. Of course during alerts, field exercises and other
training we were on whatever time was required. Our maintenance was
at Heilbronn. The transmitter we had was bad about blowing capacitors
so I made quite a few trips up there. We also ordered our spare parts
through them and we often would run up there in a jeep to pick up
parts.
In October of '64 we were required to pack up and move to another
building on Flak. A larger unit, 15th Transportation, was moving on
post and the building we moved to was not large enough for them. It
was not nearly as nice as the barracks we moved from.
Another thing I remember is "George's". This was a gasthaus about
a 10 minute walk from Flak. George was an ex-GI who had married and
gotten out in Germany. He had this little gasthaus and we often went
down there for a bowl of ox-tail soup and a beer.
James Allen
(Source: Letter from James Allen)
When we learned that Group was going to close, we decided to do two
things. First, we decided to have a scarf-burning ceremony when they
came off the first of June. Since they would be replaced before scarves
came back in that fall, they would no longer be needed. I don't think
anyone really enjoyed wearing them all the time as we had to, with
fatigues, although I must admit I brought one home for a souvenir.
The other thing we were going to do was build a model plane, fly it
until it ran out of fuel, and then let it crash to signify the demise
of the Group. Unfortunately, we were unable to get it started on the
day I was taking the pictures at the beer party.
I would like to identify a few of the buildings on the map of Flak
Kaserne in case that information is useful:
1700 - Officer's
Club
1703 - 1706 were
barracks; we were in the right half of 1706
1707 - Mess Hall
1708 - our barracks
after we were displaced
1710 - Bowling Alley
1711 - Movie Theater
1721 - EM Club
1724-A 205th Bn
Staff building
1724-B Staff building
1733 - Post Gym
When I first arrived at Flak, our radio shack and motor pool were
next to each other in (I believe) 1715. If not 1715, then 1712 for
sure. Later, radio was moved to the Staff building and the motor pool
moved to 1725.
I don't remember tennis courts in the corner of the ball field nor
a gate there.
James
CORRECTIONS
I am contacting you in regard to information I sent to you about 7th Transportation Group listed under Army Aviation. While I was in Germany my family and I exchanged tape recordings in addition to traditional letters. Mother saved a lot of them and I have several hours of recordings I sent home. In going through one of them the other day I discovered I had sent you some erroneous information.
In my first communication with you I spoke of working the radio during the movement of a nuclear device. That was not on my birthday as I stated previously. Going through the tapes I have found that I was TDY in crypto school at Kaiserslautern that week. I remember I was supposed to be off-duty the day of the movement and I thought it must have been my birthday. I guess I was supposed to be off after having KP or duty driver. I remember Captain Kieffer giving me another day off instead. The move must have been in July or August as John Griffin had gone home on the 1st of July and if it had been in June he would have been operating the radio as he was lead operator until he left.
Also, our unit moving to the other barracks was delayed until the end of the year. It was originally scheduled for October but we ended up moving over the Christmas/New Year's holiday period. |
![](7th%20Army%20Avn%20Gp%201%20sm.jpg)
1. John
W. Griffin in front of barracks
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![](7th%20Army%20Avn%20Gp%202%20sm.jpg)
2.
James Allen in front of Staff Building
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![](7th%20Army%20Avn%20Gp%207%20sm.jpg)
3. Movie
Theater
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![](7th%20Army%20Avn%20Gp%208%20sm.jpg)
4. Philip Kamaka and Allen Schultz |
![](7th%20Army%20Avn%20Gp%209%20sm.jpg)
5. Flay D. Stallings and Walter G. Hefner |
![](7th%20Army%20Avn%20Gp%2012%20sm.jpg)
6.
Kamaka and Emil Goyich in their barracks room |
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![](7th%20Army%20Avn%20Gp%2015%20sm.jpg)
7. Qualifications
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![](7th%20Army%20Avn%20Gp%2014%20sm.jpg)
8. Redesignation ceremony |
![](7th%20Army%20Avn%20Gp%2016%20sm.jpg)
9. Fly
over |
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![](7th%20Army%20Avn%20Gp%203%20sm.jpg)
10. Rolling
down the autobahn |
![](7th%20Army%20Avn%20Gp%206%20sm.jpg)
11. Allen
in radio truck |
![](7th%20Army%20Avn%20Gp%204%20sm.jpg)
12. Griesheim
Airfield, early 1964 |
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![](7th%20Army%20Avn%20Gp%2011%20sm.jpg)
13. Griesheim
Airfield, late 1964 |
![](7th%20Army%20Avn%20Gp%2013%20sm.jpg)
14. Griesheim
Airfield |
![](7th%20Army%20Avn%20Gp%2010%20sm.jpg)
15. Radio truck and generator trailer in the field |
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![](7th%20Army%20Avn%20Gp%205%20sm.jpg)
16. TDY at Garmisch |
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![](Rifle%20Range%20sm.jpg)
17. Rifle
Range |
![](Mustang%20convertible%20sm.jpg)
18. Sgt
Gibbs |
![](Mustang%20convertible%201%20sm.jpg)
19. Captain
Kieffer |
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![](RATT%20rig%20sm.jpg)
20. Operation
FALL-EX
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![](Model%20airplane%20sm.jpg)
21. Model
airplane |
![](Company%20members%205%20sm.jpg)
22. Last
beer bust |
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![](Company%20members%203%20sm.jpg)
23. Behind
HHC barracks |
![](Company%20members%202%20sm.jpg)
24. Operation
Springboard |
![](Company%20members%201%20sm.jpg)
25. Last
beer bust |
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