MOB 4 – Wueschheim, Germany – NEW

Gryphon (GLCM) Main Operating Base 4 (MOB 4): Wueschheim AS, Germany. The 38th Tactical Missile Wing (TMW) was the fourth GLCM wing, activated about three years after the first (a new GLCM wing was activated each year until all six were in place). Originally constituted as the 38th Bombardment Wing, Light, and activated in 1948, the wing went through several redesignations and inactivations before becoming the 38th Tactical Missile Wing on 18 June 1958, supporting Matador and then Mace cruise missiles in Germany. That wing was inactivated in 1966. During the early 1970s, it was a Flying Training Wing, but in 1985 it once again became the 38 TMW, this time equipped with BGM-109G Gryphon cruise missiles. The wings’ tactical unit was the 89 TMS, and its four flights could deploy 64 missiles around Kastellaun, Germany, where Wueschheim AS--also called the Pydna missile base--was located. After the INF Treaty was signed, this wing was inactivated on 22 August 1990. The former base is now the venue for Nature One, a famous open-air electronic music festival. The festival uses the same bunkers that once housed the ground launched cruise missiles.