RAMSTEIN AIR BASE, Germany — As President Bush made his historic visit to Albania on Sunday, Air Force commanders worked in relative obscurity from an underground bunker to help protect the skies above him.

From inside the command center at this base, military and Secret Service agents oversaw a mission that included 43 U.S. warplanes, a Navy amphibious ship loaded with several thousand Marines and more than 800 airmen from bases across Europe.

The operation was a huge undertaking by U.S. Air Forces in Europe on relatively short notice but went largely unnoticed compared to the ceremonial pomp that greeted the president in Tirana, Albania’s capital. It was the first time a U.S. president visited the nation, the poorest in Europe.

Bush traveled to Italy to meet with Pope Benedict XVI and Prime Minister Romano Prodi before arriving in Tirana and later stopping in Bulgaria. High security on the ground and in the air has followed his every step.

Gen. Tom Hobbins, who commands the nearly 30,000 airmen stationed in Europe, directed efforts to protect the skies with Albanian Brig. Gen. Shpetim Spahia at his side. They sat at the center of a room packed with computer terminals operated by airmen keeping a watchful eye for anything flying within an imaginary box that moved with the president’s every move.

If a hostile plane were to get too close, both commanders have the option of shooting it down if they — in consultation with their respective defense secretaries — feel it is necessary.

Although the bunker is no secret on base, it is rare for anyone from the public to get inside to take a look.

Commanders with the Air Force’s 3rd Air Force open the command post for major missions like this past weekend. The 603rd Air and Space Operations center at Ramstein is one of five such facilities in the Air Force.

Visitors pass through a guarded, automatic metal sliding door to enter the command center, where flat-screen television screens line the walls and display everything from CNN broadcasts to the latest flight information.

One screen flashed an image tracking every aircraft flying in a box that encompassed the area surrounding Albania.

“That’s my life,” said Air Force Master Sgt. Jesse Crandall, referring to the screen displaying the latest radar picture.

His job is to take radar images generated from Airborne Warning and Control System aircraft, the USS Bataan and military units on the ground into a consolidated picture for the commander.

Getting that information was particularly challenging because the U.S. military has no fixed radar sites in that part of the continent and the Air Force had less than a month to prepare. Nearly 400 airmen from bases in Europe deployed to help guard the skies.

“A lot of people worked a lot of long hours to make it happen,” Crandall said.

F-16 pilots from Aviano Air Base in Italy, F-15C fighters from RAF Lakenheath in England, tanker aircraft from the 100th Air Refueling Wing based at RAF Mildenhall in England, and an E-3 Sentry from Tinker Air Force Base in Oklahoma were among those helping patrol the airspace.

They helped provide the type of punch and deterrent that the impoverished Albania cannot provide. The country grounded its fixed-wing aircraft two years ago.

During the president’s visit on Sunday, the Albanian air force search-and-rescue helicopters remained on standby.

It turned out they weren’t needed. The operation went without a hitch, which is what the commander had hoped.