The Berlin Air Corridors
There were three Air Corridors, North Central and South. The horizontal
dimensions were agreed in an adjunct to the Postdam agreement of 1945,
as twenty statue miles wide. The use of statute miles reflected the army
pedigree of those who drew up the agreement since most aviation dimensions
would normally expected to have been in nautical terms. Whereas a maximum
height of 10,000 feet was agreed for the Berlin Control zone, no height
was ever laid down as to the top of the corridors. Since the early operation
of aircraft was by unpressurised aeroplanes which did not fly above 10,000
feet, the latter altitude became a precedent for all that followed. For
administration purposes within BASC, control of the corridors was as follows;
Britain: Centre, France: North, USA: South. All corridors had two agreed
routings Route 1 or Route 2 depending on the runway in use at the principal
airport at Tempelhof until 1975 and Tegel thereafter. Air traffic clearances
were therefore issued as "Cleared to (approach fix) via route one or two"
an example being as "Hole in the The Berlin Wall."
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Also see "Poland"
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