Reagan Gets Red-Carpet Bonn Welcome : Cannon Thunders Salute as President Is Greeted in Chilly Rain

President Reagan began his European visit today, welcomed here with red-carpet pageantry and a 21-gun salute.

In a chilly light rain, Reagan and his wife, Nancy, stepped off Air Force One onto a red carpet that snaked 100 feet across the tarmac at the Cologne-Bonn Airport to a waiting U.S. Marine helicopter.

A cannon thundered in salute as Reagan walked past a military honor guard to be greeted by West German Foreign Minister Hans-Dietrich Genscher and U.S. Ambassador Arthur F. Burns.

The President seemed surprised as four West German F-4 jet fighter planes screeched low overhead in salute.

Reagan gave no speech but flew immediately by helicopter to Schloss Gymnich, a castle which now serves as a government guest house.

The Reagans’ helicopter touched down in a pouring rain on a wooden landing strip in the middle of a meadow near the castle. The President and First Lady were escorted under umbrellas to a waiting limousine and driven to the guest house.

There were no meetings on the President’s schedule today, and the Reagans planned to dine privately at the castle.

The compound was guarded by 150 fatigue-clad troops, most of them armed with machine guns and leading attack dogs.

In the suburb of Bad Godesberg, on the other side of Bonn in the capital’s diplomatic quarter, police defused a homemade bomb discovered on the terrace of a building housing the Federal Assn. of German Air and Space Travel. More than 11,000 policemen are on duty in Bonn for the summit meeting.