BRITAIN's air force is to pull out of Germany after 50 years that began with the second World War and ended with the unravelling of the Cold War.
In a highly symbolic move the Defence Ministry announced yesterday the air force would withdraw from its Bruggen base near the German/Dutch border by 2002.
The Defence Secretary, Mr Michael Portillo, acknowledged "it is the end of a historical link". But he stressed that Britain would be keeping its 27,000 ground troops in Germany and was ready to fight alongside its Nato ally and former enemy. With the fall of the Berlin Wall and the break up of the Soviet Union, the air force has been whittled down from 89,000 in 1991 to a projected target of 52,500 by 2000.
One air force officer greeted the news with sadness but said: "we have to be realistic."
There are 2,240 air force personnel at the Bruggen base, together with 530 civilian staff. The contribution to the local economy is about 150 million marks ($97.73 million) a year.
British Tornado aircraft at the base faced major training problems because of a German ban on low flying. Public opinion had been increasingly opposed to military flying.
Most jets had to, fly over the North Sea to Britain to practise and Mr Portillo, said: "it is wasteful of training time and fuel."
The four squadrons of Tornado strike jets at Bruggen are being transferred to Britain.
The RAF's commitment to Germany has fallen by 7,700 personnel, three bases, more than 90 aircraft and 13 helicopters in the last five years.
Air force officers say fighters could defend Nato's eastern borders just as effectively from bases in Britain as from bases in Germany. The United, States has already scaled back its presence in Germany. For most of the Cold War, the US had about 6,000 soldiers in the allied contingent that stood as a Cold War defence against 338,000 Soviet forces in communist East Germany. Britain had 4,000 troops and France 2,000 in Berlin.
Meanwhile, the British government took the unusual step yesterday of publicly warning its special forces veterans against writing books containing potentially damaging details about the elite military forces.
The annual Defence White Paper stressed, the need to preserve operational security after the recent publication of a spate of books, primarily about the Special Air Services (SAS).
The need for secrecy was particularly true of operations directed against terrorism", said the paper.
"These must be based on the best intelligence available. But success also depends crucially on potential adversaries not knowing what capabilities may be used against them."
Special forces commanders, said the paper, had voiced concerns that information about the elite regiment was beginning to "leak like a sieve". Silence has always been an important component in maintaining the mystique surrounding the SAS, Mr Portillo, told a press conference.
But books about SAS operations in the Gulf War, notably by Sgt Andy McNab, whose detailed book Bravo Two Zero became a best seller, tended to breach that silence. It was important even as it concerned historic missions, he said.
If the Ministry of Defence was unable to arrive at an agreement then it would use the law to protect the lives of very brave people, said Mr Portillo.