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Originally Posted by rcaf_777
A good over write up explains why the german and UK goverments left there troops there, still wonder about all that amour. I think it be the frist to go, shipped home before the shotting starts, both government would need some armour to they bring a few units up to full strenght.
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It's a good point about the armour. I did wonder about that myself, but ultimately opted to leave it in situ for the reasons I've referenced, i.e. the shortage of shipping (not to mention the fact that it would have to be moved from the middle of Canada to the East Coast, presumably by rail). I think once it's decided to to commit the BATUS and GATES forces to Korea it may become a moot point as likelihood is they would have taken their armour to Korea with them had they deployed. I also rather doubt the Germans would move theirs prior to the outbreak of War in Europe, as shifting all of that gear back to Germany would send a fairly strong signal that something was amiss.
So I think there is a fairly limited window to move the armour.
Thanks for the tip about the SLR btw...will use that...will also try and incorporate the pic to give an idea of how much armour was stored at BATUS...I should have added some FV432's to the UK contingent.
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Originally Posted by RN7
Anyone have any ideas if any Europan NATO air units would still be left in North America in T2K?
Goose Bay in Labrador had a number of permanent air detachments from Britain, Germany, the Netherlands and Italy and others for low-level flying and training until the late 90's. Also the Luftwaffe Tactical Training Center is located at at Holloman Air Force Base in New Mexico, with F-4's and Tornado's.
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Good call. I'd imagine the Luftwaffe aircraft at Holloman would head home fairly quickly after the Bundeswehr cross the IGB. IIRC V1 source material makes reference to the Luftwaffe being seriously outnumbered, so every plane would count, and unlike tanks and APC's the F4's and Tornado's could self deploy back to Germany so long as they got aerial refuelling en route. SO i doubt if there would be any Luftwaffe aircraft left in the US.
Goose Bay is a different matter though dependent on which aircraft types were there...again I think anything capable of in flight refuelling would head back to Europe in October / November 1996, but if the aircraft are mainly trainers I don't know if they would have an IFR capability? I don't think the Hawk or the Alpha Jet do, although I could be mistaken. I suppose they could always get back by making a series of short hops...Goose Bay - Thule - Keflavik - Scotland maybe? Presumably the Italians would choose to do that (assuming they were given permission to use NATO bases).
Ultimately I think the key difference between the aircraft and the troops / armour at BATUS / GATES is that the aircraft can get themselves back to Europe...