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Three years after the 1951 founding of the West German Federal Border Guard (Bundesgrenzschutz “BGS”) the first helicopters were acquired. 1963 the BGS – Squadron Coastal Command- near the coastal HQ in Bad Bramstedt in northern Germany became part of the BGS aircraft group. They were first equipped with Bell 47G-4A. A few years later the French build Sud Aviation SE.3130 Alouette II starts service. They were exchanged for the SA 318C in the middle of the 80s. After the reunification of Germany the “BGS-Fliegerstaffel Küste” was renamed as "Bundespolizei-Fliegerstaffel Fuhlendorf (German Federal Police) and continues to exist as such.
The last picture shows me in the early 80s on the left seat, prior to one of our nearly daily reconnaissance flights along the former Border to East Germany. It was made at the Lübeck-Blankensee airport. As an intelligence officer, I spend countless hours in these fragile little birds. Following some of my own pictures I had to change a few things to transform the military Alouette II it into a police helicopter. The big front antenna system – also used on the German Army Alouette – was not used. The front cockpit panel was a little bit wider for some extra instruments and the radio equipment was between the front seats. Especially the big FuG 7a to communicate with the BGS ground border patrols. Gerd Wilcken
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Photos and text © by Gerd Wilcken