Berlin Air Safety Center
Encyclopedia
The Berlin Air Safety Centre (BASC) was established by the Allied Control Authority Coordinating Committee on the 12 December 1945. Operations began in February 1946 under quadripartite flight rules Paragraph 4. BASC was one of two Cold War
, four-power organizations to have existed, the other being Spandau Prison
, until the death of Rudolf Hess on 17 August 1987.
Paragraph 4 of the Rules Begins:
"The Berlin Air Safety Centre has been established in the Allied Control Authority Building with the object of ensuring safety of flights for all aircraft in the Berlin area. The Safety Centre regulates all flying in the Berlin Control Zone and also in the corridors extending from Berlin to the boundaries of adjacent control zones."
BASC continued to ensure safety of flight for 24 hours a day with each of the Four Powers being represented by a Chief Controller, with a Deputy and General Duty Controller, all of them Air Force Officers (the Soviet had a controller and an interpreter on duty) until its closing on 31 December 1990 following the lapse of Allied responsibilities in Berlin.
BASC was located in the former Allied Control Authority building on Kleistpark, Berlin
.
The BASC coordinated air traffic in and out of Berlin and was responsible for air safety in the three corridors established in 1946 as well as in the Berlin Control Zone, the airspace within a 20-mile radius of a pillar in the cellar of the Allied Control Authority Building. Each of the three corridors were 20 miles wide and linked Berlin with the Western Zones of Occupation of Germany (later West Germany).
The three corridors were open without restriction only to the Four Power nations, United Kingdom, United States, France and USSR - other nations wishing to use the corridors had first to request and obtain permission from BASC.
Coordinating closely with BARTCC (Berlin Air Route Traffic Control Center) air traffic facilities at Tempelhof
Airbase, BASC were responsible for logging protests of infringements upon allied air corridors
, and fielded the political ramifications of East Block defectors escaping into West Berlin
by aircraft.
Tensions reached an understandable high during the Berlin Airlift in 1948-49, though the success of the campaign was in large part due to the coordination carried out within the BASC.
Cold War
The Cold War was the continuing state from roughly 1946 to 1991 of political conflict, military tension, proxy wars, and economic competition between the Communist World—primarily the Soviet Union and its satellite states and allies—and the powers of the Western world, primarily the United States...
, four-power organizations to have existed, the other being Spandau Prison
Spandau Prison
Spandau Prison was a prison situated in the borough of Spandau in western Berlin, constructed in 1876 and demolished in 1987 after the death of its last prisoner, Rudolf Hess, to prevent it from becoming a neo-Nazi shrine. The prison was near, though not part of, the Renaissance-era Spandau Citadel...
, until the death of Rudolf Hess on 17 August 1987.
Paragraph 4 of the Rules Begins:
"The Berlin Air Safety Centre has been established in the Allied Control Authority Building with the object of ensuring safety of flights for all aircraft in the Berlin area. The Safety Centre regulates all flying in the Berlin Control Zone and also in the corridors extending from Berlin to the boundaries of adjacent control zones."
BASC continued to ensure safety of flight for 24 hours a day with each of the Four Powers being represented by a Chief Controller, with a Deputy and General Duty Controller, all of them Air Force Officers (the Soviet had a controller and an interpreter on duty) until its closing on 31 December 1990 following the lapse of Allied responsibilities in Berlin.
BASC was located in the former Allied Control Authority building on Kleistpark, Berlin
Berlin
Berlin is the capital city of Germany and is one of the 16 states of Germany. With a population of 3.45 million people, Berlin is Germany's largest city. It is the second most populous city proper and the seventh most populous urban area in the European Union...
.
The BASC coordinated air traffic in and out of Berlin and was responsible for air safety in the three corridors established in 1946 as well as in the Berlin Control Zone, the airspace within a 20-mile radius of a pillar in the cellar of the Allied Control Authority Building. Each of the three corridors were 20 miles wide and linked Berlin with the Western Zones of Occupation of Germany (later West Germany).
The three corridors were open without restriction only to the Four Power nations, United Kingdom, United States, France and USSR - other nations wishing to use the corridors had first to request and obtain permission from BASC.
Coordinating closely with BARTCC (Berlin Air Route Traffic Control Center) air traffic facilities at Tempelhof
Tempelhof International Airport
Berlin Tempelhof Airport was an airport in Berlin, Germany, situated in the south-central borough of Tempelhof-Schöneberg. The airport ceased operating in 2008 in the process of establishing Schönefeld as the sole commercial airport for Berlin....
Airbase, BASC were responsible for logging protests of infringements upon allied air corridors
West Berlin Air Corridor
During the Cold War era , the West Berlin Air Corridors comprised three regulated airways for civil and military air traffic of the Western Allies between West Berlin and West Germany passing over the former East Germany's territory. The corridors were under control of the all-Allied Berlin Air...
, and fielded the political ramifications of East Block defectors escaping into West Berlin
West Berlin
West Berlin was a political exclave that existed between 1949 and 1990. It comprised the western regions of Berlin, which were bordered by East Berlin and parts of East Germany. West Berlin consisted of the American, British, and French occupation sectors, which had been established in 1945...
by aircraft.
Tensions reached an understandable high during the Berlin Airlift in 1948-49, though the success of the campaign was in large part due to the coordination carried out within the BASC.
Further reading
- D.M. Giangreco and Robert E. Griffin, Airbridge to Berlin - The Berlin Crisis of 1948, its Origins and Aftermath (1988), accessed at Harry S. Truman Library & Museum on August 14, 2006
- Alliierte in Berlin 1945-1994 by W. Durie. ISBN 9783830502906 2nd edition
- Berlin and the British Ally 1945-1990 by Maj Gen Sir Robert Corbett the last GOC British Troops Berlin Area. Published in 1994
- Berlin Bulletin Vol.36- Issue No 29