EAST GERMANY’S AIRBORNE SPIES

Little is known in the West, even today, about the aerial intelligence-gathering operations of the German Democratic Republic. This first-hand account of the ‘Relais’ missions mounted by the Ministerium für Staatssicherheit, perhaps better known as the ‘Stasi’, helps lift the lid — and offers a different perspective EAST GERMAN AIR SURVEILLANCE Mil Mi-8MT ‘05 red’ of the 239th Independent Helicopter Regiment of the Group of Soviet Forces in Germany at its Oranienburg base. This was one of the machines in