Wildenrath was the first of four 'clutch' stations built for the Royal Air Force in West Germany during the early 1950s.

In 1953, the Station Commander was Group Captain JE 'Johnnie' Johnson, a top-scoring British 'ace' fighter pilot of the Second World War.

In November 1956, the RAF operated a three-day airlift to fly over 100 short tons (91 tonnes) of humanitarian relief supplies from Wildenrath to Vienna, for the Red Cross to distribute in Hungary during the Hungarian uprising, before the revolt was ended with Soviet military intervention.

At this time, the commanding officer of 2ATAF (former Battle of Britain fighter pilot, Sir Christopher Foxley-Norris) had a Vickers Valetta aircraft as his personal transport, its lower fuselage and wings kept highly polished by the ground-crew of the RAF Germany (RAFG) Communication Flight.

In the 1970s, Wildenrath served as the initial home of the RAF 'Harrier Force', which included numbers 3, 4, and 20 Squadrons, as well as 21(AS) Signal Regiment.

Initially using the Hunting Percival Pembrokes, and later the Hawker Siddeley Andover from the mid-to-late 1980s, they were employed to take photographs of Soviet and East German armed forces while flying along the Berlin air corridors.

Wildenrath was also home to an Army Air Corps (AAC) flight operating light helicopters and fixed wing aircraft such as the Westland Scout and De Havilland Beaver.

Charlie Dispersal was also used by cross-trained 60 Squadron ground crew to turn around visiting aircraft during station exercises.

Of the southern dispersals, the central and eastern are bisected by the main railway oval test track.

The south western dispersal and hardened aircraft shelters have been dismantled and removed, with a small section of surviving taxiways being used for recreational purposes by local residents.

The housing areas of the former RAF Wildenrath were originally used as overspill housing for RAF Bruggen, and then used to accommodate other UK military personnel until the end of September 2012, when the land was formally handed back to German local authorities.