Caption

Once, this was a cinema. No billboards anymore to announce a new movie and even the characters L, E and C are removed from the nameplate above the entrance hall. Is it hiding its former name -Laarbruch Entertainment Centre-? Strange, it looks as if it is already a bit lost in time. During the cold war, this base was very important and here is a short story that was gathered from Internet:

RAF Laarbruch became operational in 1954 and was used as a base for the Gloster Meteor and the English Electric Canberra. For more then 40 years it was used as a base for the British NATO Airforce. The last operational squadrons on RAF Laarbruch were Hawker Siddeley Harrier, CH-47 Chinook en Eurocopter AS 332 Puma and a battery of the Rapier. After closing in 1999 the airfield found a new civilian lease on life as the budget airline airport Flughafen Niederrhein (Lower Rhine Airport), now known as Airport Weeze after the nearest large village. Civil operations began in May 2003. The old military buildings are still there but abandoned now. Only a few hangars are used by the new airline companies today.

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Location

Europe / Germany

Lat: 51° 35' 39.48" N
Long: 6° 9' 45.78" E

→ maps.google.com [EXT]

Precision is: Unknown / Undeclared.

Equipment

Pentax ist Dl with SMC A 1:2,8 28mm and Raynox DCR-CF185Pro fisheye conversion lens. RAW, 1/250 s, F16, four shots. Velbon Sherpa ProPod 8. Software: PTGui, Pentax Photolab, Corel Photo-Paint, PictureMan, Pano2QTVR.