Looking Down the Corridors: Allied Aerial Espionage Over East Germany and Berlin, 1945-1990 - Softcover

Wright, Kevin; Jefferies, Peter

Softcover

ISBN 10: 075097947X ISBN 13: 9780750979474

Publisher: The History Press, 2017

Synopsis

Between 1945 and 1990 the Western Allies mounted some of the most audacious and successful intelligence collection operations of the Cold War. Conducted in great secrecy, aircrews flew specially modified transport and training aircraft along the Berlin Air Corridors and Control Zone to gather intelligence on Soviet and East German military targets in the German Democratic Republic and around Berlin. The Air Corridors comprised three regulated airways for civil and military air traffic that connected West Berlin to West Germany. Operating under the guise of innocent transport and training flights, the pilots used their right of access to gather huge amounts of imagery for forty-five years. They also provided the western intelligence community with unique knowledge of the organisation and equipment used by Warsaw Pact forces.

For the first time, using recently declassified materials and extensive interviews with those involved, Looking Down the Corridors provides a detailed account and analysis of these operations and their unique contribution to the Cold War.

About this title

About the Author

Dr KEVIN WRIGHT was a lecturer in International Security Studies in the Department of Government at the University of Essex for twelve years. Now working as a freelance aviation writer and photographer, he has published on post-Cold War arms controls, BRIXMIS, Treaty on Open Skies, Japanese Air Self Defence Forces and the Polish military. PETER JEFFERIES joined the Intelligence Corps in 1962 and qualified as a Photographic Interpreter in 1969. He spent more than nine years of his career exploiting and analysing the imagery produced by the Berlin Corridor operations and disseminating the results to the Allied intelligence community. After leaving the army he joined the UK Ministry of Defence.

Edition details

• Publisher: The History Press
• Publication date: 2017
• Language: English
• ISBN 10: 075097947X
• ISBN 13: 9780750979474
• Binding: Paperback
• Number of pages: 256