This picture was taken in front of Base Operations at Sembach in about 1960.

The pictured C-47 "Gooney Bird" was assigned to Sembach. It happened to be parked in this position near base ops that day, and I used it to frame the picture.

Of note in the picture is the "pastel" pink color of the building (all Sembach buildings were painted in pastels during that era); also noteworthy are the two YELLOW Volkswagen pick-up trucks assigned to Transient Alert as "follow-me" vehicles, a red O-10 crash truck, an M-series "6X6" based water tanker, and the blue "weapons carrier". I believe the blue vehicle parked next to the yellow follow-me VW's is also a VW pickup, parked facing the building, rather unusually equipped with bows and a canvas top.

The Air Force gave its VW trucks back to the host government a short time later, so many more recent Sembach vets will not even know that we had had Air-Force-Blue Volkswagens! I'm not sure about the funding, but they must have been some sort of aid program to get German industry on its feet after the war.

C-47 Pilot, Fred Horky