Looking Down the Corridors

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Looking Down the Corridors Page 2

by Kevin Wright

Spitfire PR XIX of II(AC) Sqn RAF start flying unofficial missions in the Corridors and BCZ

  May

  Berlin blockade lifted but Airlift continues

  May

  North Atlantic Treaty signed and NATO formed

  September

  End of Berlin Airlift

  Federal Republic of Germany (FRG) founded

  October

  German Democratic Republic (GDR) founded

  1950

  Soviet claims that Corridor and BCZ altitude limits are between 2,500 and 10,000ft and only unarmed transport and training aircraft can use them

  June

  Korean War starts. North Korea invades South

  Mutual Defence Assistance Programme signed with USA

  7499 SS moves to Wiesbaden AB

  1951

  II (AC) Sqn Spitfire PR XIX flights in Corridors and BCZ stop because of move to Köln-Wahn

  Winston Churchill elected British PM

  3 May

  497 RTS forms at Wiesbaden from photographic and PI elements of 45 RS and 10 RG

  July

  497 RTS transfers to Shaw AFB in the USA

  August

  First C-54 flights by 7499 SS

  1 September

  HQ BAFO renamed HQ 2TAF

  BAFO Comms Sqn renamed 2TAF Comms Sqn

  1952

  24 January

  497 RTS returns to Schierstein Compound

  21 March

  US-owned RB-45C crewed by RAF personnel flies down Centre Corridor at high altitude to assess Soviet response. This was the precursor to Operation Jiu-Jitsu flights

  1953

  Western Allies unofficially accept Soviet unilaterally imposed restrictions on heights and aircraft types allowed to use the Corridors and BCZ

  Dwight D. Eisenhower elected US president

  C-97A 49–2952 Pie Face starts Corridor flights from Rhein-Main

  PID element of JAPIC (G) becomes PID HQ 2TAF

  12 March

  RAF Lincoln shot down by the Soviets near the North Corridor with loss of seven lives

  March

  Georgi Malenkov becomes leader of USSR

  17 June

  Workers’ uprising in East Berlin put down by Soviet and East German authorities

  3 June

  Queen Elizabeth II crowned

  November

  RB-17G leaves 7499 SS service

  July

  Korean War armistice signed at Panmunjon

  1954

  2TAF Comms Sqn moves to RAF Wildenrath near the Dutch–German border

  One DHC-1 Chipmunk T10 forms RAF Gatow Station Flight and is used by BRIXMIS for visual reconnaissance flights

  1954 to 1955

  Army and RAF HQs and PI units move to JHQ complex at Rheindahlen

  JAPIC (G) ceases to exist and the two PI units are co-located but autonomous

  1955

  7499 SG forms at Wiesbaden from 7499 SS. Group consists of three squadrons: 7405 SS, 7406 SS and 7407 SS

  Anthony Eden elected British PM

  May

  First C-118 joins 7405 SS

  Nikolai Bulganin and Nikita Khrushchev are joint leaders of the USSR

  July

  First Four Power summit at Geneva to open dialogue and reduce Cold War tensions

  1956

  Cabinet approves use of the RAF Gatow Station Flight Chipmunk for photographic collection operations by BRIXMIS

  Percival Pembroke starts to replace the Avro Anson on British Corridor photographic flights

  23 October to 10 November

  Hungarian uprising. Soviet troops from GSFG despatched to help quell it

  FRG becomes independent nation state

  BMG and BOZ disbanded

  Whitehall becomes directly involved in the staffing and authorisation processes of British Corridor and BCZ flights

  November

  Suez crisis. Britain, France and Israel co-operate to retake the Suez Canal. Serious rift in Anglo-American relations

  1957

  French start Corridor and BCZ flights from Lahr using C-47 Gabriel I-IV

  Harold Macmillan replaces Anthony Eden as British PM

  First signs of construction sighted at Glau. Became the first SA-2 Guideline site in the forward area

  November

  USSR launches Sputnik 1, the first artificial satellite

  1958

  Intelligence Corps assumes responsibility for provision of all British Army PIs

  Nikita Khrushchev becomes leader of the USSR

  May

  First T/CT-29 arrives at 7405 SS to replace C-47s

  Charles de Gaulle forms new French government to deal with war in Algeria

  July

  Last RB-26 Invader leaves 7405 SS

  Det 1, 7406 SS (Slick Chick) ceases operations

  December

  Last C-54 flight by 7405 SS

  1959

  USA sends C-130 aircraft down the Corridors at 25,000ft to exercise its rights to fly at any altitude along them Robust Soviet reaction ensures that this is never repeated

  Charles de Gaulle elected French president

  1 January

  HQ 2TAF renamed HQ RAFG (2TAF)

  PID HQ 2TAF becomes PID HQ RAFG (2TAF)

  2TAF Comms Sqn becomes HQ RAFG Comms Sqn

  Summer

  President de Gaulle orders USA to remove its nuclear weapons from France

  July

  BRIXMIS Chipmunk flight acquires close-up photographs of SA-2 Guideline equipment at Glau

  1960

  APIU (BAOR) renamed PI Coy (TINTU)

  1 May

  US U-2 shot down over Sverdlovsk in USSR

  Following shooting down of U-2 and the deteriorating Berlin situation, the British embargo all photographic flights in the Corridors and BCZ. Other training and transport flights continue

  US and French continue reconnaissance flights

  Last C-47 mission flown by 7405 SS

  January

  Last C-118 flight by 7405 SS

  1961

  RAF Corridor and BRIXMIS Chipmunk photographic flights controlled directly from London. Flights are in single figures to be executed within a set time

  January

  John F. Kennedy elected president of USA

  16 August

  Berlin Wall built dividing the city

  1962

  British restrictions on RAF Corridor and BRIXMIS Chipmunk flights relaxed with authorisation devolved to senior military officers in Germany and Berlin

  Pembroke Mod 614 programme started to fit F.96 cameras

  October

  Cuban Missile Crisis

  PI Coy (TINTU) renamed PI Coy (BAOR)

  1963

  C-97 Stratofreighters start 7405 SS Corridor and BCZ flights

  Alec Douglas-Home replaces Harold Macmillan as British PM

  French C-47 Gabriel I-IV replaced by Nord 2501 Noratlas Gabriel V

  November

  President John F. Kennedy assassinated and succeeded by VP Lyndon B. Johnson

  1964

  Satellite imagery renders Corridor and BCZ flights I&W requirement less important

  Harold Wilson elected British PM

  Aleksandr Kosygin and Leonid Brezhnev become leaders of USSR

  USA introduces operational reconnaissance satellites

  1965

  PI Coy (BAOR) renamed 6 (PI) Coy on formation of Int Gp (BAOR)

  1966

  French move Corridor and BCZ flights to Metz-Frescaty following French withdrawal from NATO

  March

  President de Gaulle announces French withdrawal from NATO by 1967. US forces given notice to leave France

  1967

  October

  497 RTS redesignated 497 RTG

  June

  Six-day War between Israel and Arab states

  1968

  Second DHC-1 Chipmunk allocated to RAF Gatow Station Flight

  Leonid Brezhnev become
s leader of the USSR

  July

  19 MRD seen formed into unit columns prior to deploying to Czechoslovakia

  August

  T/CT-29 leave 7045 SS

  20 August

  Soviet military intervention in Czechoslovakia in response to Dubçek government’s reforms (Prague Spring)

  1 October

  7407 SS disbands

  1969

  3 February

  HQ RAFG Comms Sqn redesignated 60 Sqn RAF

  Richard Nixon elected president of the USA

  Georges Pompidou elected French president

  1970

  6 (PI) Coy renamed 6 Int Coy (PI)

  Edward Heath appointed British PM

  March

  Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty between Britain, USA and USSR ratified

  1972

  17 January

  Pembroke XL954 intercepted by three MiG-17s in the South Corridor

  May

  Strategic Arms Limitation Treaty (SALT 1) signed

  1 March

  7499 SG disbands

  1973

  October

  Yom Kippur War in Middle East and oil crisis

  1974

  7406 SS disbands and becomes 7580 SS

  Harold Wilson elected British PM

  Gerald Ford elected president of the USA

  Valéry Giscard d’Estaing elected French president

  1975

  7405 SS moves to Rhein-Main AB

  7405 SS receives first C-130E-II to replace C-97 Stratofreighters

  1976

  James Callaghan replaces Harold Wilson as British PM

  1977

  7405 SS becomes 7405 OS

  Jimmy Carter elected president of the USA

  Soviets deploy SS-20 Sabre in Europe

  1979

  6 Int Coy (PI) renamed 6 Int Coy

  Margaret Thatcher elected British PM

  December

  NATO deploys Pershing and Ground Launched Cruise Missiles (GLCM) in Britain and Germany

  December

  USSR invades Afghanistan

  1980

  December

  35 MRD appears to be preparing for intervention in Poland

  Start of Polish Solidarity Crisis

  1981

  Ronald Reagan elected president of the USA

  François Mitterrand elected French president

  1982

  Yuri Andropov becomes leader of the USSR

  April to June

  Falklands War between Britain and Argentina

  1983

  7580 OS forms at Rhein-Main AB

  November

  GLCM arrive at Greenham Common

  1984

  Konstantin Chernenko becomes leader of the USSR

  1985

  March

  Mikhail Gorbachev becomes leader of the USSR

  1986

  Berlin nightclub bombed, causing US service casualties

  15–16 April

  Operation Eldorado Canyon – USA attacks suspected terrorist targets in Libya from British bases

  1987

  USA and USSR sign Intermediate Nuclear Forces Treaty – Pershings, GLCMs and SS-20 Sabre are to be withdrawn from Europe

  1989

  60 Sqn RAF – Hawker Siddley Andover partially replaces Percival Pembroke

  Year of collapse of Soviet power in Eastern Europe

  June

  First C-160G Transall Gabriel VI delivered to Metz-Frescaty

  3 July

  First operational Corridor and BCZ flight by C-160G Transall Gabriel VI

  26 October

  Last French Nord N2501 Noratlas Gabriel V flight

  November

  Berlin Wall comes down

  1990

  29 September

  Last Corridor flight by 7405 OS

  John Major replaces Margaret Thatcher as British PM

  30 September

  RAF Corridor and BRIXMIS Chipmunk flights cease

  August

  Iraq invades Kuwait

  3 October

  FRG and GDR reunified as Germany

  31 December

  Berlin Air Safety Centre closes

  1990 to 1994

  French continue BCZ and other photographic flights over Soviet and East German targets

  1991

  497 RTG moves to RAF Molesworth in UK

  23 January

  7405 OS and 7580 OS disband

  January to February

  First Gulf War

  Spring

  British PM authorises formation of JAC at Molesworth

  May

  Greenham Common GLCM deactivated

  July

  Warsaw Pact dissolved

  December

  USSR dissolved

  1992

  April

  60 Sqdn disbands at RAF Wildenrath, later reforms at RAF Benson

  1994

  Last Soviet Western Group of Forces troops leave Germany

  INTRODUCTION

  Our account of Allied operations along the Berlin Air Corridors, in the Berlin Control Zone (BCZ) and along the Inner German Border (IGB) does not start in Germany. The early chapters outline the intelligence collection methods available to the Western Allies, examining the development of their efforts to gather airborne intelligence on the Soviet Union and Eastern Europe. A key thread throughout is the extent of Anglo-American co-operation as the United States, supported by Britain, began its worldwide airborne intelligence collection effort. After a brief interregnum following the end of the Second World War, the two co-operated extensively in collecting photographic imagery as the British provided bases and undertook some overflights at the behest of the USA. Under President Eisenhower the Americans began a huge effort to capture as much photographic and signals intelligence as they could of the Soviet Union – particularly through the U-2 and related programmes. Domestic politics in both countries and international incidents impacted on the conduct of programmes in Germany and elsewhere. It established the overall framework of intelligence gathering in Europe within which Corridor and BCZ flights operated.

  Chapter 2 concentrates on post-war Germany, how its division required the four wartime allies to find a way of coexisting. This was especially important in relation to West Berlin and access to the city from the Western occupation zones through the establishment of the Air Corridors, BCZ and Berlin Air Safety Centre (BASC). The Cold War saw a huge concentration of military forces facing each other across the Inner German Border and around Berlin which became a running political sore, potential military flashpoint and ‘hot spot’ for the collection of intelligence via every possible means.

  The substantive part of the book concentrates on the conduct of Corridor missions, BCZ and some IGB collection flights. These are covered in three chapters that examine US, British and French activities respectively using a combination of available official records and the recollections of participants from all levels. Chapter 6 looks, with an emphasis on British operations, at Allied flights by all three countries within (and occasionally beyond) the BCZ; their origins, equipment and experiences.

  The final three chapters look at how collected photographic imagery was processed, exploited, recorded, reported and shared from the perspectives of those doing the work. Via examples, they detail some successes and outline a few ‘wild goose chases’. The final chapter considers what the Soviet and East German military probably knew about Allied Corridor and BCZ flights and explores why, for the most part, they largely tolerated this constant observation for over forty years.

  We may have been the ones to bring the material together for this project, but without the very generous assistance of many people we would never have been able to tell such a detailed and fascinating story.

  1

  COLD WAR AIRBORNE INTELLIGENCE GATHERING: TECHNOLOGY AND POLITICS

  It is clear that the main element of any United States policy toward the Soviet Union must be that
of long-term, patient but firm and vigilant containment of Russian expansive tendencies.

 

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