It was sad but interesting seeing my old base. I was stationed there from 1979 to 1982. I was the NCOIC of the Air Conditioning shop. The building you referred to as a warehouse was actually the Aerospace Ground Equipment (AGE) shop. We were the guys that took care of the mobile generators and air conditioners. Part of that building was also the motor pool. In the video where you see the sign that says 601 TCS/AGE, those rooms which were built within the shell of the main building, well I built those. Along with some of the other AGE guys, we built that in 1980. The room to the far left was my office. Enjoyed the video even though it was sad. Thanks
I was stationed there from 1985 to 1990, then the 601 TCS moved to Zwribrucken. I loved this assignment, the most during my time in the US Air Forve. I have many fond memories of being assigned to this location.
I was at Zweibruecken from 1985-89 and played a part in getting the 601st moved. It was sad because, though it was small and sparse, people had real connections to one another. As I recall, it was so small that families were allowed to eat in the dining hall.
I was there 86-88. It was my second station and first overseas tour of my 20 years of service. I was to be 612TCF Satcom NCOIC, but the equipment didn’t arrive until 6 months before I left. I did most of my work at the Job Control. You almost went to my room. First floor right of stairs and first room on the left after entering the hallway. Roomed there with JoJo Hinlo. Funny how quiet it was while you were in the dorm. That place rocked in the day. Everyone had high end stereo equipment and had it blaring all the time. So many buildings were not there at all. Either removed or burnt to the ground. I remember a brand new gym that was completed before I left in 88. It was located right and front of the barracks as you come out the building. You were right those elevated platforms were where we sat up the TPS-43 radar systems. 601 TCS had one and 612TCF had one. We had in garrison missions that we did there to control aircraft from those locations. F-4, F-15, F-16, A-10 also German and possibly other NATO aircraft. We would go on deployments and setup the Radar in remote locations. We were Forward Air Control units. 601 Tactical Control Squadron was a larger unit than our 612 Tactical Air Control Flight. We only had about 50-60 personnel from the Commander to the lowest airman. One of the years I was there I believe we deployed about 10 times each for about 10 days to two weeks. We would drive 3-4 hours to our remote locations and setup the Radar and all the support equipment. AGE stands for Air Ground Equipment and they used -8 turbine generators to produce the power necessary to run the Radar truck and all the support equipment. The large tower was Detachment 23. I was never in that building but I was told they were part of the Digital European Backbone. Their mission was to use microwave repeaters to keep communication up between all the USAFE units US Air Forces Europe. We had a two lane bowling alley, a club, a small shoppette, a chow hall. None of those buildings seen in this video. The snow reminded me of the snow football games we played behind the barracks. We also used to go to Swartzemann Ski area just outside the main gate and about 3-5 Kliks up the road. Rope tows and tubing. Many Germans would travel by bus from Northern Germany to ski there. Thank you for the video. I very much enjoyed it. Just hard to see it like that. It was a hopping place in its day! 😉👍🫡
Thank you for commenting! All of this is so interesting! I like that the place wasn't ever as quiet as this because of stereos! Thank you for sharing this information about your time at Prüm Airbase! Thank you again for commenting and sharing what your time was like in Germany!
I was stationed there from 94-96 and worked in the admin building. I have mixed emotions seeing my old office and the state that it has fallen into. Pruem was one of my favorite assignments so thank you for bringing back some great memories.
That's so cool that you saw your office! We are happy that the video brought back nice memories. We are stationed here in Germany too and it will be nice memories for us in the future too once we finally move away.
Hello can I ask you some questtions about the base because my uncle told me about it but he was in the Bundeswehr and not the US Army and because of that he couldn't tell me much of it and I want to apologise for my Englisch i'm german.
Prum Air Station was my home squadron of the 601st TCS. I was 304x0 Wideband Communications / Radio Relay -1982-84. However, I was part of the 601st TCS (OLA) Operation Location Alpha. We were a detached group on Ebeskopf mountain operating tactical microwave communication links between Prum AS, Sembach AB and Wiesbaden AB. Our quarters were at the deactivated Army Hospital complex at Neubrucke (now a college campus), near Birkenfeld along with other Air Force and Army personnel who worked at the 'bunker' at Borfink. I have lots of fond memories of my time in Germany. Your video really takes me back!
I was there 85-87 it was my first assignment. I remember my first night there they decided to do an exercise, I was running all over this base with someone than thrown in a truck and than hiding in the weeds somewhere. I was thinking what in the hell did I get into. It was the best assignment and the best of the best people you will ever meet. A lot of us are still friends till this day. They use to have a gym there with racketball courts. If someone ask what part of your life would you go back to, my answer will always be Prum Air Station, It was the best time of my life. Thanks for making this video it brought back some great memories. Sad to see it in that condition.
Thank you for telling us about the time when you were stationed there! It's nice that many of you guys that we stationed there are still friends. Thank you for watching and commenting!
This was my first base 86-88. I was with the security police squadron. I painted the police badge on the outside of the building which can be seen in the video. They were still using .38s when I got there. The weapons were so old I remember one of them falling apart when we were shooting for qualifications. We eventually got Beretta 9mms. I was an Airman and then an Airman 1st Class while there. I worked as an entry controlman/desk sgt and patrolman. We had one police sedan that was constantly in maintenance. We had to use lil putput VW trucks that couldn't go very fast. There were some Russians outside the fence line trying to check out the base. We attempted to chase after them but our lil putputs couldn't keep up. Lol I lived on the 3rd floor of the dorms. Was on the women's softball team and world travel to other bases for games. Good memories there.
I was there 85-87. You were in the room across the hall from mine in the barracks. It was so sad to see the condition of the base. The area where you thought was the mobile radar was on point. We were a deployable unit who spent as many as 3 weeks at a time in the field supporting exercises all across Europe. Thank you for the video. It was a walk through some great memories. If I could do it again I would.
My husband served there in l955-1957, He has passed away but he always had fond memories of Prum. Thank you for this video..I can see where he walked and where he served his country.
@@MAXOIL1977 Most of the pics I have are personal ones of my husband on the base. There are two of Bitburg..one a chapel and the other a shopping center
It was pretty crazy actually with all of the fog. I can't imagine having to go to work and walking through a fog bank like the kind you'd see in a Scooby Doo mystery!
Pruem AS was my first duty assignment. I worked in base admin from 86-88. Probably one of my greatest assignments. I’m sad to see her returning to nature.
Good video. I was there a couple times... I was Security Police at Bitburg and we would would come out there for training and go to the field for air base ground defense training there as well. I was at Bitburg from 88- 91.
My Husband was stationed there 71/74 we lived in Pruem,and Olziem. Sad to see abandoned base. I used to go on base to the rec room play pool and fuseball with guys on break, we had two sons born in Bitberg. Germany was a beautiful place. We were there during the 72 Olympics, sad. Wonderful memories of all the wonderful people ( military and locals) that we met. Loved to have a weinershnitzel right now.
I was stationed there from 1984 to 1988 and was the NCIIC of the Radar Maintenance shop. You are correct about the last ramp. It was where the AN/TPS 43radar antenna was located. It belonged to the 601st tics squadron. The little ramp was were the 612 TCF had their radar.
My father was stationed there from 74 to 76. We lived in housing down the road. Went to Bitburg HS then joined the AF myself. Great memories there. Prum Post also had great facitlites for dependents, movie theater, bowling alley, arts and craft, ect. Great memories. Thank you
I was there 86-88 as a member of the 601st TCS, radar ops. A beautiful area of the Schnee Eifel region. That fog is very common that time of year. The day I left in Jan 88 looked exactly like that!
We lived there 1976 to 1979. My dad was stationed there. We lived in base housing down the road from the base. I worked in the Admin building during the summer. I went to high school on Bitburg Air Base 1976-1979. We had a rec center near base housing. The PX was on base a store and the commissary was near housing a grocery store. There was a theater also. Great memories.
I was there 81 to 84. I worked in the building by the tower. The walls around that building were being put up when I left in 84. Sad to see my old facility empty like is now. Anyway, excellent video
Thanks for making this video! I so remember the snow! I was there 80 - 82. I remember weed eating around the tower during summer hire for Det 23. They had a huge machine that received messages nonstop. My dad, Boyd Nix, commanded the 612th TCF and they had the mobile radar. His first Sgt was Matthews who scared the heck out of everyone! We lived in housing on top of the hill in the town of Pruem. We had an hour long bus ride to Bitburg HS. Other families were the Lyons, Robinsons, Days, Christensens, Petersons, Jenkins, Phaups...
Hi Ronan it is sad to see buildings just left when they were once busy .You made the right choice not to go higher on the tower in that weather. top marks for the research that you do . Keep safe and thank you for another great video.
Thank you for watching it! It was a pretty difficult video to do and the Veterans in some facebook groups helped a lot with photos and learning which buildings were what. The tower was cool...but what you can't really see in the video is how much water and ice was dripping down, like hundreds of drops every second.
No disrespect, but it was not just a radar station. The tower was a microwave tower. I was there 1975 to 1977. We supported autovon services for Bitburg, Spang,Hahn, and one other base, can't remember. Getting old. The radar function, arrived sometime after I arrived there. I was 307x0, tech control.
Thank you for this. It brings back so many great memories. So, my dad was stationed here from 1975 - 1978. We lived in housing off base but we spent a lot of time on base. I plan to take my family here in a couple of years. Your tour was pretty spot on with how I remembered things. What I didn’t see was the old movie theater building. My dad would run the movies there in the evening and on weekends when not out on TDY. There was a baseball field on another end of base. This would also be a great cookout spot too. Wow , I could go on and on. Thank you very much.
It seems like a life time ago we were all there together. I still go back to Prum every few years to visit my daughter, granddaughter and my extended family. I stopped going to the Air Station just because it's just a shell of when it once was. I even went in my old dorm room back in 2018 practically with my eyes closed! Thank you for making this video and paying homage to the men and women who once made that place a community.
When we first started making videos like this, it was just adventure. We learned soon after the first one that Veterans really like seeing their old bases and that it brings back nice memories...we think of that a lot when we go exploring these bases now. It's a nice feeling to do something for the Veterans.
I was stationed there in 1994-1998. I worked in Tech Control Facility, the prison looking building at the base of the tower. The tower had Microwave dishes with line-of-sight communications across Belgium into the UK and throughout Germany. It was a key link in the Digital European Backbone of communications for the DoD in Europe. Most of the site was decommissioned when I was there, only a skeleton crew of ~40 people keeping the Comms up and running. A truly unique assignment that I will never forget! Thanks for posting this video!
I really do wish there were more buildings. At North Point, which is another one of our videos, the gym was still there but is was the most creepy of all of them with so much mold and mildew. Hopefully in the case of Prum the buildings were used someplace else.
I worked summer hire for Det 23 in 1981. Learned how to buff floors and weed eat but mostly made runs to the snack bar, watched the stories and read the Stars and Stripes. 😂 Laura Nix, Dad was commander of 612th
Hey guys, very nice video, the location is well known, today you are already the 2nd group that visits the site, maybe you can still see footprints in the snow, thank you.
Yes, it was pretty easy to get into. There were actually four in our group so sometimes when you see photos it is when they are walking ahead. You are right though, it looks like it is visited pretty frequently, but as explorers we have to be careful not to be blamed for all of the damage that is caused by vandals. It's really so sad that people feel the need to break something. Have you been there yet?
Hi, WIA. Great documentation, and very creative film. You must have put your energy and time to research and investigate. Some of the rooms are phostly or just mysterious. Sometimes, I was frightened by it. Wow, I wonder how many graffiti/mural artists dropped by. Is this abandoned air station well known to locals? Your selection of music is very effective. Thank you so much for taking us to your air station walking tour ,Cheers.
Thank you so much and thank you for coming to the premiere! Yes, it was a completely creepy place. I think a lot of locals come there...probably kids that aren't explorers because it's a rule that explorers can't damage anything. Some of the graffiti was pretty professional looking!
@@WayIntoAdventures It was truly spooky exploration if you were alone. Have you connected with Adzey 156(UK) he does graffiti and explore strange places..lol. He is very generous as you are. If you are interested, please see me with sharks at Bermuda Triangle, on a camel, or Oyster Farm at Kayak7seas...Your comments will be very much appreciate it.
I was there with the 106th. I was a 32h2t ( fixed station radio equipment repair). The place was really different. We went to the ski lodge just up the road. At night we walked the riad and drank black cat wine. The ski lodge had a watch goat that was hooked up to a cable. The night skiing was awesome but it required lots of walking because the place was closed. The forest around the post was unbelievable. We went camping in the woods and saw manybwild boars. I loved my adventures around Prum. Of course, i turned 21 there ....
Wow! Shocking to see the old place like this. Ran into an old friend here in the comments though! Good stuff! We both served in the 601 TCS. I was there from 79 to 82 and have many fond memories of that time. Great video. Thanks a bunch!
That’s the best thing to hear! We helped you reconnect! It’s so important that our videos become something like virtual staff duty logs of people who served there. Thank you for visiting the channel! Please feel free to share the link to this video with others who you might want to share the story of your old base with:)
Thank you so much! We are hoping to go on a fishing trip here in Germany soon. We won't make a video though because we aren't anywhere near as good as you are at catching fish LOL
I was there 85-87, assigned to the Base Chapel. Thanks for sharing this video. I see several familiar names here in the comments. So sad to see the ruins. But we did some great work here, and met some of the best friends ever.
LOL we almost missed the premiere too! I was doing homework and realized that it started four minutes ago so we all ran down to the computer!! It was fun though there were like 15 people in the premiere and some were Veterans. The tower was VERY cool but there was a lot of ice and melting water drops falling down, it was like being in Star Trek or something when the stars go racing by.
Excellent video!! It was sad to see everything crumbling down. And you are right, that day with the fog and snow made for a very eerie video. All it needed was a few shadow people hiding in a building 🤣 Outstanding work you guys!! 601st AGE Nov 86-88 Moved to Zweibrucken.
LOL yes that was pretty funny when he was hiding. Your video about Prum actually made us go back to get drone footage...so some of the video we owe to your idea! We had most of the video done but when we saw yours we realized that it would be interesting to see it from the air with all of the snow. That's why it's clearer from the drone than on the ground, because it was a different day. We had one problem with the drone though...it kept glitching every four or five seconds where the camera gymbal would jump. We are thinking maybe it's electromagnetic wave interference or maybe just that it was so cold. It's never happened before and it happened on multiple flights.
My family was stationed in Prum in the mid 80's. There was a beautiful park there where I would sit on the bridge and enjoy the beautiful park. Does anyone know the name of the park?
Thanks for the video. I was stationed at Pruem Air Station from 85 - 88. I was assigned to the 612 TCF then transferred to the 66 CSS (Combat Support Squadron). I worked in the orange vehicle maintenance building as the supply guy ordering parts for all of the vehicles on base. Your video reminded me of my morning ritual of walking from the dorm to the chow hall then to work. Often in foggy frozen weather. The dorm at one time was party central. Every room had a stereo blasting and jungle juice parties kept us entertained. Best assignment and people!
Wow, spooky, mysterious and informative… 😢Sad to see this place reduced to such a state today. However gloomy the fate of this installation, it looks like this video may have helped some folks connect with each other after such a long time & remind them of some really fun times😊. Thanks for sharing!
Nicely edited! I was stationed in Germany back in 2014 but never got the chance to visit this place. Very creepy place, but interesting, and the winter fog makes it even more. Can't blame you for not climbing all the way up that tower. It seems sketchy! Very cool place ❤
Thank you so much! It was fun to make the video. It was the craziest of our abandoned places we've been to because of the fog...it makes everything REALLY quiet.
Great video but a little sad to see the old station like that. I was stationed there from 79 to 81. Had two dorm rooms while there. One on second floor at the end near the gym and one on second floor over the walkway inside. Was with the 601st TCS and I was a weapons tech in the rubber duck and we controlled aircraft missions. Fun times. I sure had a great time there as a young airman. I posted some pictures today. Thanks again for the video.
Did you see your room in the video? It sounds like the barracks used to be a pretty fun place to live. What is a rubber duck? My guess is that it's a tent.
@@WayIntoAdventures yes. Saw it as they were going down the hallway. The rubber duck was the big bubble that we worked in with all the radar scopes. It was full of air for taking down to deploy.
Holy shit! Bobby Love! This is Tim McHone. Great to know you're still kicking. We sure had some good times back in the day. I've got a picture or two of you someplace around here. I still talk to Mick fairly often. I heard Jerry Bonet passed away, don't know about the rest of the folks.
I was there from Oct 76 thru Oct 78. I was in the ground power shop. We took care of the -8 turbines and they were used to keep the Radar building inflated. I was there when they built the motor pool next to us. Our office was upstairs.
Yes they did, we got some information from them too. We also did an interview which was supposed to be the second video but it has been hard finding more Veterans to interview.
You should have done this video during the summer months. This is how depressing the air station was during the fall and winter times. The most depressing day of the week at the air station was waking up on a Sunday morning to look out your window and see foggy, windy & rain coming down sideways. BTW, that's me playing the guitar 7:38. I was there from Jun 1978 thru Feb 1981
Wow! It's cool that you saw this video! We didn't think that the people that were in the pictures were going to see this video! That is just awesome. Thank you for showing up and commenting!
I was here in 1969-1970. I wasn't stationed here. Nor was anyone in my family. My dad was here as a government contractor for the AUTOVON system. We were eligible to use most base facilities. If I remember correctly, there was a small commissary (military grocery store) in a quonset hut, which seems to have vanished completely. There was also a two or three story building that housed Air Force families. I thought at first it was the one you indicated as barracks, but I think that the barracks building is still standing, and the family quarters building has also vanished. I never knew exactly what my did, but I was 10 years old at the time. All I knew was that we couldn't go to countries behind the Iron Curtain, like Czechoslovakia or Poland. I later learned that my dad's time in the Air Force in the mid 1950's had something to do with messages and crypto. And without knowing any of that, I enlisted in the US Army, learned Russian, and presumably did a job very similar to his except in Russian, not English. It appears that more went on at Prum than just what you could see in this film, or what could be seen by someone hiking in the nearby forest (as I and my friends did as kids). In any case, I either don't know or can't say in greater detail. The base is/was on the way along an unpaved logging road that led to a nearby ski spot, with a single rope tow. It's kind of sad to see it all crumbling now.
I was stationed there in the early 80's and my shop was near the radar ramp. I visited in September 22 and saw all of the abandoned buildings. Some, like my shop, are gone. When did you film this?
Hello! We visited the base two winters in a row for the footage. This past winter and the one before. The drone footage is what it looked like only a few months ago but someone said they started wrecking more things this spring.
I was stationed there from 80 to 83 I was in the 601st TCS as a weapons tech,my pardon if I get some thing wrong as my age is starting to creep up on me .The forest around the base was lovely but could be dangourous as the area was mined beyond belive during the war part of our new peeps briefing is stay on the paths as they never found all the mines heard one go off once as a reference the Ballle of the Bulge started in this area .the two elevated ramps in the video was for the 612th Taciatal control flight one for the radar and other for there radar van. the base gyn ,BX ,base gym, dinning hall bowling alley and theater along with the admin buildings and our building are all torn down,our radar and equipment were on a large open area all of our stuff was generally along the fence line parreling the road off base.I lived on base for about six months before I was allowed to live off base in a local village Swarzsheim ? when you went into that first room on the left on 3rd floor you was in the spot I called home the time I lived on site seeing that was a shock pure and simple .oh and the weather that was the norm for there ,summer it was just foggy and misty lol.we use to have a joke thing if the sun peeked out we pulled out the sun chit cards (our AF ID ) pointed at the sun to record our qutoa of sunshine guess one had to be there ,smiles .Thank you for the video it was disstressing to see the shape the place it was in but alas we did our duty as the base did its .
i was at the immediately adjacent small army signal corps outpost 4 a few months in early 1969 b4 transferring to armed forces radio hq studios in frankfurt as a board op/announcer/dj. the prum site was primarily an army/air force site posturing as a nato deterrent to ww3. if needed, the army had a small fleet of mobile, secure crypto communication teletype outfitted tractor trailers to be deployed if/when needed during wartime. which was never, thankfully. all we did was send hourly test messages 24/7 using the neighboring air force microwave tower to transmit/receive. occasionally we started the trucks (tractors) to ensure the engines still ran.
