Metro Tango Area

What's in a Name?

The question about the origin of the phonetic Metro Tango name
generated the following interesting exchange of site history.

Hi,

Found your 38 TMW pages thru a NorthernLight search on term "Metro Tango". I worked at MT 79-82 and 87-92 when it was used by the 6911 Electronic Security Squadron. While we were able to recover some information about the site's history, but one fact that eluded us was the origin or derivation of the MT name. Many theories were brought up, the most plausible was that Metro and Tango were the phonetic alphabet terms from the Able Baker Charlie ... era, and that the M T was for Motor Transport. That still seems a bit weak, but is supported by the vehicle maintenance building(s) that were on the site.

Can you, or any of your comrades be of assistance?
Thanks,

Val Manes, MSgt USAF (Ret)

Best of my recollection, the name Metro Tango was derived from the letters for Missile Training which was the mission of that area. Old Tm-61s were converted to simulate TM76s and used to train us launch crew members to react to simulated malfunctions and other emergencies.

Dave Johnston (fordman@eagnet.com)

Going back to 1954. When we (69th) arrived at Hahn in September of 1954, none of the off-base sites had been constructed, We used two Butler Buildings on base. The first operational off base area was Metro Tango. After you turned off the main highway the Mess Hall and Motor Pool were on the left. A bit farther down on the right was Flight "A" Assembly Area and if you traveled farther down and I think you had to make a right, you'd come to the Storage Area where the Missile Components were kept in their shipping containers until they were needed. The area was called Metro Tango from the start, don't remember the reasoning for the name. "B" Flight came later and was located off the road to Zell. This is my recollection.
Andy Hernandez (andyhernandez@webtv.net)

Andy's descriptions is also how I remember the area in 1960-61. We also called the Storage Area a part of Metro Tango along with Mess Hall and Motor Pool and the Flight "A" Assembly Area. When I arrived in Nov. 1960 a launch site had been constructed on the left just off this road after taking a right off the Koblenz Hwy, but was not active, just pad, block house, guard house and fence.
George B. "Butch" Miller (ButchMil@CityNet.Net)

The photo on the web page referred to by George is the Metro Tango site. When I was stationed at Hahn 1964 - 1966 I had worked at site 4 which was just down the road from Metro Tango. We refueled our vehicles at MT and occasionally ate at the chow hall that was still in operation there.
While deploying the Ground Launched Cruise Missile System (GLCM) at Hahn during the 1980s, I drove past the old Metro Tango area daily, and it looked as the photo shows. Also for those of you interested, during the 1980s, old Site 4 was still being used by the German Army for storage of vehicles and supplies. They left the Shelter covers and the double security fences in place and had "Guard Geese" patrolling between the fences for the entire perimeter. If you just drove by the site, the Geese would not pay attention, but if you stopped, they would congregate at the fence and watch you. If you opened the door of your vehicle, they would start such a racket that it could be heard a half mile away - very effective.
Also for those not aware, we built the GLCM site (Wuescheim) on the old MACE Site which was next to the Army NIKE site. (Can someone help me on the MACE site number for this site, was it 5 or 6 ?) We used the NIKE site as temporary facilities during the early GLCM construction period.

Dave Maas (DrMaas@aol.com)