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The Story of Rhein Control from 1957 to 1977: The Development of a unique, joint civil - military European Upper Airspace Air Traffic Control Centre in South Germany

The documentation by Frank W. Fischer deals with the development of the German air traffic control centre for the upper airspace of southern Germany RHEIN UAC with the radio call sign RHEIN CONTROL, which was operated on the Erbeskopf in the Hunsrück from 1957 to 1968 and from 1968 to 1977 at Frankfurt am Main Airport. The Rhine UAC air traffic control centre was known to all airlines and military units flying over Germany's upper airspace in the post-war period. In addition, this air traffic control centre had already been confronted with traffic problems since the 1950s, which other air traffic control centres and air traffic control service providers in Europe only had to contend with many years later. Rhein UAC was the cradle of a variety of methods and operational procedures for air traffic control that were unknown to other air traffic services at the time, and it was the time of the Cold War. Germany was divided and the air forces of the occupying powers overcrowded the airspace with almost 2,000 combat aircraft during the day and at night. Military air operations that the population had never heard about. The Cold War - the confrontation between East and West - also took place far above the clouds in the upper airspace. But many aspects of civil and military air traffic control had not yet been regulated. Some things had not even been invented yet. In particular, the mixture of civil and military operating and control procedures was unique. The uniqueness consisted of the combination of joint operations, personnel and air traffic control procedures. Three personnel contingents, namely the US Air Force, the Federal Air Traffic Control Centre and the German Armed Forces, managed flights of all traffic categories. This also included all military training and special flights as well as the target flights of major NATO air manoeuvres.

Identiferoai:union.ndltd.org:DRESDEN/oai:qucosa:de:qucosa:92207
Date20 June 2024
CreatorsFischer, Frank W.
ContributorsInternational Advisory Group Air Navigation Services (ANSA)
Source SetsHochschulschriftenserver (HSSS) der SLUB Dresden
LanguageEnglish
Detected LanguageEnglish
Typeinfo:eu-repo/semantics/publishedVersion, doc-type:book, info:eu-repo/semantics/book, doc-type:Text
SourceDie Entwicklung der Flugsicherung in Deutschland, Die Entwicklung der Flugsicherung in Deutschland
Rightsinfo:eu-repo/semantics/openAccess
Relationurn:nbn:de:bsz:14-qucosa2-922287, qucosa:92228

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