Editing Ramstein Air Base (section)

===Development and establishment===
In 1940, construction of today's {{lang|de|[[Bundesautobahn 6]]}} was stopped when [[Theodor Heuss Bridge (Frankenthal)|a bridge]] that was being built across the [[Rhine River]] near [[Mannheim]] collapsed, leaving a section of autobahn that could not be used. A part of the unused autobahn to the west of Mannheim, near [[Kaiserslautern]], was used as an airstrip by the [[Luftwaffe]]. The airstrip was also used by the advancing [[U.S. Army Air Forces]] during the final months of World War{{nbsp}}II. The old autobahn section is still used as the access road to the east and west gates of the base and the [[Bundesautobahn 6|A6]] was rebuilt south of the air base after the war.

During the initial postwar era, the [[United States Army Air Forces|USAAF]] repaired several former [[Luftwaffe]] airfields in [[Bavaria]], part of the American occupation zone of Germany.

The area was a [[swamp]] that had to be built up by {{convert|6|ft|m|0|spell=on|order=flip}}. A train line was laid out from {{lang|de|Einsiedlerhof-Kaiserslautern|italic=no}} in a yoke shape around to the current base and back down to the Landstuhl spur in 1948, by agreement of the U.S. and French Occupational Forces. Trainloads of earth were moved over the line and spread over the base's current area to raise it to its current level. Once the ground was level, construction work began. Two bases were laid out. Landstuhl Air Base on the south side and Ramstein Air Station (station, no airstrip) on the north. From 1948 to the opening of the bases in 1953, it was the largest one spot construction site in Europe employing over 270,000 workers at one time.<ref>{{Cite web |title=Ramstein Air Force Base in Kaiserslautern, Germany |url=https://militarybases.com/overseas/germany/ramstein/ |access-date=2023-01-02 |website=Military Bases |language=en-US}}</ref>

Enough construction was completed in mid-1952 that Landstuhl{{nbsp}}AB was opened on 5 August. Its facilities included a runway, dispersal hardstands, a [[control tower]], ramps, and other flight-related facilities and the associated flying and support units. On {{date2|1|February|1952}}, Det{{nbsp}}1, 86th Fighter-Bomber Wing arrived at Landstuhl{{nbsp}}AB from [[Neubiberg Air Base]] near [[Munich]].

On {{date2|1|June|1953}}, Ramstein Air Station was opened. Ramstein was the location of headquarters, Twelfth Air Force, and supported family housing, base exchange, commissary, dependents' schools and other administrative offices for the WAFs (Women's Air Force). The barracks that were built at Ramstein AS were used to house WAFs and single women that worked as [[U.S. Government]] employees at both Ramstein{{nbsp}}AS and Landstuhl{{nbsp}}AB. On {{date2|27|April|1953}}, Headquarters, [[Twelfth Air Force]] was activated on Ramstein Air Base, having moved from its joint facilities with HQ USAFE at [[Wiesbaden AB]]. What was not generally known at the time and not made public until after the end of the [[Cold War]] in 1993, was the desire to have HQ{{nbsp}}Twelfth Air Force in close proximity to the Air Defense Operations Center (ADOC){{thinsp|—}}Kindsbach, {{aka}} 'Kindsbach Cave'{{thinsp|—}}the site of NATO's underground combat operations center.