504th Aviation Battalion
4th Armored Division
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.

I served with the 504th Avn Co. (later BN) from Nov. 22, 1961 until May 8, 1964. I was stationed in Fuerth and our barracks were above the airplane hangar at the airstrip. I was assigned to the Surveillance Platoon during the entire time I was in Fuerth, and was a radar operator on an AN/MPQ-29 ground radar set. Our mission was to fly radio-controlled drone aircraft outfitted with a camera over enemy territory, photograph any enemy movement of troops, return the drone to our remote location and retrieve the film from inside the camera. I suspect that the unmanned drone aircraft flying over enemy-held territory in war zones today are descendents of the crude models we flew 40 years ago. While I was at Monteith Barracks, our company received the first Mohawk aircraft that had SLR (side-looking aerial remote cameras), and witnessed them flying missions just about everyday. At the time, they were top-secret and were kept locked in the hangars at night, but we guarded the hangars while carrying weapons that weren't loaded, and in some instances, armed only with nightsticks. I guess the military wasn't too worried about foreign spies. I was just a kid when I was in Germany, and organizational structure didn't mean very much to me. I was more interested in locating the bars and Frauleins in Fuerth and Nuremberg and having a good time. I do remember that as a Company, we had a Captain as a Commanding Officer and a First Sergeant as the top NCO, but after we became a Battalion, a Major was in charge and a Sergeant Major became the top kick. Because we were an Aviation Company, we probably had as many officers (pilots) as we did enlisted men, and they were aloof, even to other officers who weren't pilots. My recollection of us as a Company is that we had a HQ platoon, which included clerical and mess hall support staff, a Surveillance platoon, which included the crew that flew the drones, a crew that was in charge of the photographic equipment (including a mobile photo lab which went to the field with us), radar operators and tech support people. We also had an Aircraft Maintenance platoon that maintained all the planes and helicopters that we flew, and a Vehicle Maintenance platoon (Motor Pool). All the officers in the company fit into one of those categories, with the majority of them being pilots who marched to the beat of a different drummer. Because of the nature of our work, we spent a lot of time in the field, with Graf being the most frequented spot. Pilots didn't go with us to the field, flying all of their missions out of the Monteith Airstrip. One interesting sidebar is that while out in the field in November 1963, I broke my right ankle on the day that President Kennedy was assassinated and ended up being one of the few soldiers on base the next day. Germans flocked to the post, not believing what had happened and wanting more information from us, which of course, we didn't have. Everyone was afraid that the Russians would use the situation in an attempt to force the Allies out of Europe, and as you can imagine, we were on a high state of alert for a long time after Kennedy's death.

Robert Mitchell

I was stationed at Furth, Germany (Monteith Barracks) assigned to the 504th Avn. Bn. from January 1962 until June 1965. I was an aircraft mechanic and crew chief during my tour. I met and married my wife of 48 years while I was stationed there. As I look back now, these were the best of times. I've lost contact with all of the guys (some died) I served with but I still think about them often. Thanks to the Internet and websites such as yours it is possible to perhaps contact some of these old vets now.

The 504th Avn Co was reorganized and redesignated on 10 Sept 1963 as Headquarters and Headquarters Company, 504th Aviation Batallion. The Battalion's organic elements (A and B Companies) were constituted on 19 June 1963 and activated 10 September 1963. Company A was inactivated on 15 January 1967 in Germany. The 504th Avn Bn (less Company A) was inactivated on 5 June 1967 in Germany.

H-34 of 504th Avn Bn at Heilbronn in the winter of 1965/66 (Carl Broberg)

UNIT DESIGNATION	DUTY STATION	COMMENTS
HHC, 504th Avn Bn (Cbt)	Monteith Bks, Fürth	TOE 01-076E
A Company	Monteith Bks, Fürth	TOE 01-077E, would later (1st half of 1964?) move to Hindenburg Ksn, Ansbach
B Company	Monteith Bks, Fürth	TOE 01-078E

The 504th Avn Bn has been inactivated. Most of the battalion's aviation personnel have been reassigned to Hq Company, 4th Armd Div. There they will form a Division Aviation Section and a Command Aviation Section. Other personnel from the former battalion will form Detachment "C" under the 504th Support & Transportation Battalion and operate Army class A airfields in the division area.