This is a historical facts report and commentary on the development of the German Air Traffic Control Centre “RHEIN CONTROL” as formerly operated by the United States Air Force in Europe (USAFE) and the former German Federal Administration for Air Navigation Services (BFS), assisted by the German Air Force (GAF) at Birkenfeld-Nahe and Frankfurt/Main in Germany. Air Traffic Control is a primarily English speaking profession. Also therefore this report is written in English.

“Rhein Control” is the radio call sign of an air traffic control centre for the upper airspace of Southern Germany. Since 1957 it provided “air traffic services” above 19.500 feet of altitude and as of 1967 above 24.500 feet all over Southern Germany south of a line between the cities of Aachen and Kassel. It evolved from a direction finder control station of the 501st Tactical Control Wing of USAFE, which also operated from Erbeskopf under the radio call sign of CORNBEEF as part of the direction finder network to which also various other stations such as LOGROLL, GUNPOST and RACECARD of the air defence network of NATO belonged.

Unimaginably nowadays, decisions were taken by the German administration and the stationary forces, as the victorious powers were now called, whose consequences were not fully realized. In the case of ATC service provision in the upper airspace of South Germany USAFE was the „driver“. And so it happened. A tripartite unit was formed, managed as a military facility by The 619th Tactical Control Squadron of USAFE.

If this chronicle gives the impression that Rhein Control was a pure US-military owned and operated ATC facility until August 1960, then this impression is correct. It was the cradle of a variety of air traffic control methods and operational procedures, which hitherto were either not required in civil air traffic services operations or unknown to all other ATS units under civil administration, and mainly handling only civil traffic.

This air navigation facility, its type of joint civil / military integrated operations and control procedures was unique throughout all of Western Europe until 1977, and also after it became a “co-located” civil / military centre (UAC & MATRAC) under EUROCONTROL until 1986.

The evolution of this unique European air traffic (control) services centre was and still is manifold. Founded by the 12th US Air Force and established on Erbeskopf mountain in Rhineland-Palatinate in the mid 50’ies, in 1964 taken over by BFS, the centre moved on to Frankfurt airport in the spring of 1968 and further on to the city of Karlsruhe in 1977. There, it still exists as a unit of the German Air Navigation Services Limited Liability Company “Deutsche Flugsicherung GmbH”,

The air traffic services (ATS), as performed by Rhein UAC form part of the overall preflight and in-flight air navigation services (ANS) under the idefinition of ICAO, as do the aeronautical information (AIS) and telecommunication (COM) services provided by states for the safeguarding of flights. Air traffic control (ATC) as part of the ATS establishes standard separation between flights for the avoidance of collision. In controlled airspace this is a service that one cannot reject. It was Rhein UAC’s philosophy to provide such services to civil and military flights alike within one and the same portion of the airspace by joint operations under the legal framework of ICAO.

Read More:
German Air Traffic Control During The Cold War
The Story of Rhein Control
Vol 3, The Operation of ATC in South Germany's Upper Airspace 1957-1977
https://www.amazon.de/dp/1536994391

The reconstruction of the German air navigation system after the war was subject to the decisions of the Allied Occupation Forces. They began to establish their own air navigation services in the respective occupation zones. Only a very few flight routes were opened for flights to and over Germany. Civil flights within Germany were only conducted by French, British, American and Russian airlines.

Along the first airways (AWY) some kind of air traffic control (ATC) was provided. There were three air corridors to Berlin. The US Air Force soon established the two flight information regions (FIR) Frankfurt and München as well as a normal airways system, which was monitored by AACS units with the area control centers - ACC Frankfurt and München. The French established the Eastern FIR controlled by FIC Strassburg and the British the Bad Eilsen FIR with its ATCC, both providing flight information service - FIS only.

In May 1949 civil aviation departments were formed by the High Commissioners (HICOG) and the Allied Forces created an Allied Civil Aviation Board - CAB in Wiesbaden, consisting of an american, a british and a french element. In 1949 the american department began to hire the first german personnel, trained in Bremen on aerodrome and approach control- TWR & APP and assigned to aerodrome control towers in the US Zone. The RAF started the same in 1951. Area control - ACC continued to be performed by USAF directly, as of 1952 under ICAO rules. During 1951 and 1952 the german employees were also trained on area control by USAF and the US CAD at the newly established air navigation school at München-Riem airport. The first ACC staffed by only german personnel, transferred on 15.1.1953 to BFS, was München. Frankfurt ACC, first located in the IG-Farben building downtown Frankfurt/Main, was transferred to BFS in June1953.

Until September 1952 no controlled airspace existed around civil airports in the british Zone. In 1951 the following advisory routes - ADR had been implemented as a forerunner of airways for the provision of air traffic advisory service - ADS : Düsseldorf – Gütersloh – Völkenrode + Düsseldorf – Germinghausen + Düsseldorf – Winterswijk. Towards the end of 1952 the CAB changed a few of these routes into controlled airways - CTA/AWY, i.e. Copenhagen – Hamburg – Frankfurt + Amsterdam – Winterswijk – Germinghausen – Frankfurt + Amsterdam – Eelde – Helgoland – Copenhagen. The british CAB began to train german personnel in October 1949. This personnel was trained in aeronautical information service - AIS and for flight data processing in the ATC service at airports in the british Zone. In December 1949 the german AIS personnel took over the responsibility for the provision of the AIS in accordance with ICAO rules. In December 1952 the “Vorbereitungsstelle” of BFS took over all AIS and its units.

In October 1951 training of german staff for the aerodrome control towers in Hamburg, Düsseldorf and Hannover followed. Four courses were conducted in Hamburg. In preparation for the take-over of the area control service - ACC at the Bad Eilsen ATCC area control courses were conducted.  In 1953 the airspace of the french Occupation Zone, initially part of the Strasbourg FIR was incorporated into the München FIR.

Regarding aeronautical telecommunications the Allied Forces already applied ICAO SARPs as laid down in ICAO Annex 10. A central aeronautical telecommunication centre did not yet exist. Frankfurt finally came into the role of an international telecommunication centre, which it still is for Europe today. In 1952 direct telecommunication lines existed to London, Paris, Kopenhavn, Zürich,  Prague and Linz, as well as to the USAF, RAF and FAF centres and all their AC&W stations of the air defence network. The first recommendations for a european airways system were made in 1951. These suggestions led to a corresponding plan, which was adopted by ICAO during its III. EUM Conference in Paris in February/March 1952. In 1956 the FRG joined ICAO as its 66th Member State.

Read More:
German Air Traffic Control During The Cold War
The Story of Rhein Control
Vol 3, The Operation of ATC in South Germany's Upper Airspace 1957-1977
https://www.amazon.de/dp/1536994391

In the second half of the 1950’ies german aviation was still in the process of reconstruction after the political restrictions of the war’s aftermath had mostly been lifted.

In the west of Germany during those times one flew with the revived Lufthansa in two-engine, tail-wheel DC-3’s or with the Convair CV-340 Metropolitan. For farther destinations one used Lockheed’s Constellation (L-749) and the “Super-Connie” (L-1049), one of the most elegant airplanes of all times. Other airlines, such as Pan American World Airways (PAA) flew the 4-engined Boeing Stratocruiser (B-337) and the Douglas DC-4 Skymaster, followed by the DC-6, mainly on their flights to Berlin. British European Airways (BEA) used the British made Elizabethan, Ambassador and De Havilland Heron, while Air France operated double-decker Deux Ponts (Breguet 763) and also the DC-4.

Smaller airlines began conducting vacation flights with the Vickers Viking, a two-engine tail-wheel airplane, the De Havilland Rapide and the Convair 240. Most flights had destinations on the Balearic Islands in the Mediterranean Sea.

In other countries the development in aircraft manufacture was naturally more advanced and aircraft reached higher altitudes and farther destinations. This led to the appearance of ever more civil turbine-powered airplanes in the upper airspace, which until that time had been the domain of predominantly military high performance aircraft. To the category of these aircraft belonged the British Vickers Viscount and the Bristol Britannia, the American Lockheed Elektra, the Canadian CL-44 Yukon, the Vickers Vanguard and the Russian Ilyushin – 18, all of them 4-engine turbine aircraft and some with service ceilings up to 30.000 feet.

The air forces of the western states used mainly transporters like the Lockheed C-130 Hercules, the De Havilland Canada C-133 Yukon and the Boeing KC-97 Tanker (a Stratocruiser with two additional jet engines). Military transporters like the C-160 Transall appeared only years later. The air forces of the NATO countries mainly operated pure jet-turbine powered aircraft as bombers, reconnaissance aircraft, trainers and interceptors.

Here one saw the Lockheed T-33, the CM-170 Fouga Magister, the North American F-84 Thunderflash, the F-86 Sabre, the B-66 Destroyer, the French Vautour and Mirage, the British Hawker Hunter and Canberra and in short succession thereafter the American F-100 Super-Sabre, F-101 Voodoo, F-102 Delta Dagger, the English Electric Lightning, advanced versions of the Mirage, the US-made B-47 Stratojet and the B-57H, later on followed by the Lockheed F-104A + G Starfighter, the F-105 Thunderchief and the F4 Phantom.

In civil aviation the first jet airliners also appeared in the mid 50’ies, such as the British De Havilland Comet (4), the American B-707 Stratoliner, the French Sud Aviation SE-210 Caravelle and the Russian Tupolev TU-104 with tremendous performance.

Since all these airplanes flew faster and higher, the risk of collision increased tremendously. Civilian and military conclusions resulted in the demand for controlled airspace and the provision of separation between flights under air traffic control.

Read More:
German Air Traffic Control During The Cold War
The Story of Rhein Control
Vol 3, The Operation of ATC in South Germany's Upper Airspace 1957-1977
https://www.amazon.de/dp/1536994391

It might be helpful to learn about some of the background and forerunners which led to the establishment of RHEIN CONTROL as a military air navigation facility. It all began with various units of USAFE settling at their new locations after the war in the south of Germany. This development resulted in the establishment of remotely located USAFE bases like Hahn, Bitburg, Spangdahlem, Sembach, Giebelstadt, Zweibrücken, Ramstein, Fürstenfeldbruck, Erding, Leipheim, Lechfeld and so forth.

Regarding civil flying activities only the civil airlines of the occupation forces, PANAM, BEA and AIR FRANCE operated from the german civil airports of Hamburg, Bremen, Hannover, Köln, Frankfurt, Stuttgart, Nürnberg and Berlin, as did Aeroflot and DDR-DLH in East Germany. The general political situation in the world became more and more tense, resulting in much greater flying activity by the additional squadrons of the US Forces being relocated mainly to Germany, France and the United Kingdom during those years.

Names like Etain, Laon, Evreux, Chateroux, Pfahlsbourg, Toul, Chaumont in France and Lakenheath, Upper Heyford, Brize Norton, Boscombe Down, Wethersfield, Alconbury, Mildenhall, Alconbury, Bentwaters and Woodbridge in the UK will certainly be familiar to pilots and controllers of those years, as will Moron, Getafe, Zaragossa and Torrejon in Spain, not mentioning the bases in The Netherlands, Belgium, Italy, Denmark, Greece and Turkey with Wheelus air base in Libya and Nouasseur in Morocco being the farthest to reach over water.

The 602nd and 501st Tactical Control / Aircraft Control & Warning (AC&W) Squadrons
Let us take a look at the various predecessors of RHEIN CONTROL over those years. The 602nd TCS moved to the town of Birkenfeld in 1948 and set up Birkenfeld Air Base. In early 1955, the decision was made to move the 602nd AC&W squadron to Giebelstadt, Germany, and on 5 December 1955, control over Birkenfeld air base passed to the 619th Tactical Control Squadron. This unit provided a whole palette of differing services to military airspace users between 1948 and 1955. The squadron’s mission was to provide early warning radar coverage to the limits of its equipment and to provide navigation assistance to all allied aircraft flying over the occupied western  zones of Germany and its neighbouring countries under the radio call sign of CORNBEEF.

Cornbeef D/F & Control
In addition to the installation of search (AN/CPS-1) and height finder (AN/CPS-4) radars on the technical site at Erbeskopf, the 602nd also established, manned and operated several radio relay sites under the call sign of ZERO THREE ZULU and direction finder sites (D/F).

The call sign changed to  COMBED D/F, which ultimately was designated a net control master station and directed the position fixing efforts of five other sites in the Northern Europe UHF D/F net. CORNBEEF and those stations in the south of Germany (LOGROLL, GUNPOST and RACECARD) had been under the command of the 501st Tactical Control Wing. The 501st TCW under the 12th Air Force of USAFE was finally tasked to establish an ATS unit at Birkenfeld to be operated by AACS. In 1956 the 1807th AACS wing, HQ USAFE and 12th Air Force, AACS tried to convince 12th Air Force to let BFS provide the ATS in the upper airspace, because they had the legal jurisdiction over this portion of the airspace. The next meeting on 12 December at HQ BFS in Frankfurt agreed to declare the airspace above 20.000 feet to be controlled airspace, whereas the MoT of the FRG in a meeting with USAFE on 27 November had already declared not to be in a position to provide ATS above 20.000 feet within the forthcoming years. Finally, a 7424th Support squadron became the operator of Rhein Control under HQ USAFE ADVON command.

Read More:
German Air Traffic Control During The Cold War
The Story of Rhein Control
Vol 3, The Operation of ATC in South Germany's Upper Airspace 1957-1977
https://www.amazon.de/dp/1536994391

In the wake of earlier agreements between the USA and France, the base and several technical site locations, were turned over to advance elements of the 602nd Tactical Control Squadron (TCS) of USAFE during the summer and fall of 1948. The 602nd TCS had been established in 1947 in Goddelau near Darmstadt – Griesheim, now an abandoned US Army airfield. This 602nd TCS was then re-designated the 602nd Aircraft Control & Warning (AC&W) squadron on 23 November 1948, just before the unit moved from Darmstadt military post, Germany, to Birkenfeld.

Birkenfeld airbase was USAFE’s administrative headquarters for RHEIN CONTROL. Only BFS, the german Federal Administration for Air Navigation Services, maintained its detachment office on Erbeskopf, as did the German Air Force until the time when their telecommunications regiment had moved onto the new base in 1965, the “Heinrich-Hertz” kaserne just outside Birkenfeld in the “Schönewald” forest. Between 1958 and 1960 USAFE personnel at Birkenfeld was only 65 persons, not counting dependants. BFS staff counted 32 and GAF 22.

The 602nd was the first american unit to move into the french zone. Birkenfeld, since then, has remained to be an “Air Force town” with the German Air Force having completed their own base around 1965 at the opposite side of the town for their telecommunications (signal) regiment. After Birkenfeld Air Base was closed its tenant, the then 615th AC&W squadron, moved to Neubrücke 98th US Military General Hospital area in 1969.

Read More:
German Air Traffic Control During The Cold War
The Story of Rhein Control
Vol 3, The Operation of ATC in South Germany's Upper Airspace 1957-1977
https://www.amazon.de/dp/1536994391

Regarding RHEIN CONTROL’s operation and to understand its organization one needs an overview on its internal organizational structure, technical set-up, operational layout and procedures. As mentioned earlier the 619th TCS, succeeded by the 7424th SUPPRON of USAFE owned and operated RHEIN UAC as an entirely US military facility in providing air traffic services to all flights in the South German upper airspace as of 1 June 1957 mainly in accordance with ICAO standards and recommended practices (SARP) as contained in Annex 11 (Air Traffic Services - ATS) to the Convention, in Document 4444 (Procedures Air Navigation Services - Rules of the Air and Air Traffic Services - PANS-RAC). The 7424th Support Squadron was assisted by two german personnel detachments providing civil (BFS) and military (GAF) ATS personnel for the joint operation of the centre.

Before January 1960 by publication of BFS NOTAM A 1/60 and the previous announcement of BFS of 1 August 1959 by NOTAM A 31/59 on the repeated implementation of ATS by BFS in the UIRs, the provision of ATS in the Frankfurt UIR by the 619th TCS and the 7424th Support Squadron under 17th Air Force command of USAFE legally constituted the same provision of ATS than those of BFS. But USAFE’s staff was not properly licensed for civil traffic.

The establishment of Rhein Control in June 1957 as successor of CORNBEEF CONTROL mainly in accordance with ICAO standards had already legalised the provision of these air navigation services to GAT by the transfer of the authority for high altitude traffic control as part of Germany’s sovereign rights in the national airspace by the german government to USAFE.

And it should not be forgotten that Rhein Control’s ATS operation under USAFE command had provided a more extensive ATS, namely air traffic control service throughout this UIR without an upper limit until autumn 1959; and that mainly BFS’ limitations and RAF considerations had caused the later reduction of ATC service provision to the altitude band of 19.500 to 25.000 feet MSL inclusive. In1958 headquarters USAFE decided to transfer the operational responsibility over the Birkenfeld centre from the 501st TCW, previously responsible for the direction finder network, to its own “ADVON” section.

It resembles the agreed lines of command and coordination between the different parties as concluded by USAFE, the German Ministry of Transport, BFS, GAF, US AACS and US CAA on 11 April 1958. The command and coordination lines of 1958 show that (1) the authority for high altitude traffic control will be transferred by the German Government to USAF, with headquarters USAFE acting for USAF; (2) provision is made for a later revocation of high altitude control responsibility by the German Government and corresponding assignment to BFS; (3) for an undetermined interim period the commander USAFE will appoint administrative and advisory staff to operate the Birkenfeld ATC Facility with representatives of BFS, US CAA, GAF and the US AACS, as well as with the 12th Air Force USAFE Chief of High Altitude Traffic Control (= Rhein UAC) and the AACS Squadron Commander.

Read More:
German Air Traffic Control During The Cold War
The Story of Rhein Control
Vol 3, The Operation of ATC in South Germany's Upper Airspace 1957-1977
https://www.amazon.de/dp/1536994391

During the years after the transfer of responsibility for ATS operations to BFS and until the relocation of the centre to Frankfurt airport in April 1968 a number of significant changes and incidents occurred. Now the scene has been set for this jointly operated civil / military ATS centre for the upper airspace and the traffic volume increased considerably to totally underestimated amounts, 14% annually, civil as well as military. The weak response of BFS, differing interests of the GAF and the stepwise withdrawal of USAFE from its logistic services all had a negative effect on Rhein Control's operation over the forthcoming years.

After the USAF/RCAF mid-air collision had taken place and negotiations of the MoT, BFS, the controllers' association VDF and the trade unions had failed, transport minister Dr. Seebohm finally decided to visit Rhein UAC, but, as to be expected, did not initiate any change to the better. The first president of BFS never visited the centre during his whole 16-year long tour of duty. So far for their interests in the matter and the facility.

Read More:
German Air Traffic Control During The Cold War
The Story of Rhein Control
Vol 3, The Operation of ATC in South Germany's Upper Airspace 1957-1977
https://www.amazon.de/dp/1536994391

Rhein Control arrives at Frankfurt, its staff is preoccupied with personal matters, moving households, finding accommodation, registering the family, putting children in new schools and trying to settle in a new community. The centre itself, now being a sub-unit of the Frankfurt RANSU, whose management only observes Rhein’s operation from a distance, two km away in the new airport terminal, had not at all been brought to a required standard as regards its manpower, room size, number of sectors, equipment and procedures. And traffic now began to soar and the centre’s superiors lacked knowledge completely on upper airspace civil and military matters. Responsible members of BFS management avoided to visit the unit fearing to be attacked by the controllers with the many shortcomings and problems that they faced day-in and day-out for years.

In fact, Rhein UAC at Frankfurt had only been planned as an “Interim Solution” for a period of about three years, before EUROCONTROL’s plans would become reality. It was the same experience as in the 60’ies. What was proclaimed as a short-term measure lasted eight years and longer. EUROCONTROL being officially responsible and BFS, its agent, first had to make up their mind whether Rhein UAC should finally be relocated to Maastricht in the Netherlands or to Karlsruhe or to stay at Frankfurt before it was concluded to definitely move to Karlsruhe together with the centre’s GAF component, which still constituted a relatively small group only at the time of the move.

In this chapter emphasis is put also on legal issues of the unit’s service provision. We are still in the era of analogue radar, wire-based telephones and the first steps into digitalization; CRT displays. The first flight was handled on 24 April 1968 from the new facility in the old airport terminal at Frankfurt / Main. Technicians and controllers fought for space. Controllers demanded more workspace and room to move, whereas technicians argued for optimum equipment configuration. Different consoles and new analogue radar displays had been installed.

The ATS operations chief of the RANSU and the facility superintendent were never seen in the UAC. For the latter two, upper airspace matters constituted another planet. That made Rhein UAC’s daily life again more difficult. Maintenance technicians showed no understanding of Rhein’s requirements and often negated operational necessities, tolerated by the RANSU’s management, which even persuaded technicians to make false and defamatory unjustified statements against controllers. This sounds strange, but is a fact. Competent controllers were considered the “enemy”.

Technical maintenance was located in between the Frankfurt ACC and Rhein UAC operations rooms. The one-channel long-range radar used was a Telefunken GRS located between Frankfurt and Heidelberg (Neunkirchner Heights), serving both the ACC and the UAC. Its SSR became officially commissioned only in 1970. Frankfurt ACC already moved into the newly erected terminal in December 1970. GRS-fed radar scopes were horizontally mounted providing coverage up to 120 NM in range up to 40.000 feet altitude. For Rhein’s operation four radar positions were available, three of them for joint-use by the subsectors and one stand-alone for the handling of OAT-RD military VFR flights by the GAF. All subsectors were again equipped with one VHF and one UHF radio frequency, however now coupled so that civil pilots could also hear the transmissions of military pilots and vice versa.

There were again two watch supervisor positions with the civil supervisor still acting as EUROCONTROL’s agent. The GAF section, designated as MATRAC, again supported Rhein UAC with military ATS staff, limited to 14 hours on weekdays only and officially being charged with the handling of OAT VFR traffic due to their dramatic shortage of licensed military controllers.

Read More:
German Air Traffic Control During The Cold War
The Story of Rhein Control
Vol 3, The Operation of ATC in South Germany's Upper Airspace 1957-1977
https://www.amazon.de/dp/1536994391