History
The Observer Corps was officially formed in 1925 – however it had been in existence in one form or another since WW1. Observers were originally recruited by the Police and were employed as Special Constables. The equipment they were issued with included a tin helmet, a truncheon, a brassard (a stripy cuff worn on the arm to designate if you were on or off duty) and a service respirator.
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When war broke out in 1939 the Observer Corps were transferred to the Air Ministry (AM). The Observers had to return their truncheons to the Police, but were allowed to keep the tin helmet, the brassard and the service respirator.
The Observer Corps played an important role during the Battle of Britain as part of the Dowding System. Chain Home and Chain Home Low were a string of RDF (Radio Direction Finding aka Radar) stations that were perched on the coast and looked out to sea, mostly on the east and south coast of Britain. Chain Home was used to detect enemy aircraft as they gathered to begin their flight over the Channel. Chain Home Low was used to detect low altitude (and close in) aircraft. Early detection was vitally important as this gave the RAF time to get their fighters into the air and gain height in order to see off the enemy raid. However Britain’s Radar only worked effectively whilst looking out from Britain over the sea – it didn’t work looking inland. This is where the Observer Corps was essential. Once hostile aircraft crossed the coastline it was up to the Observer Corps to track them and pass the information via field telephones up the chain of command where it would be filtered with information from Chain Home (Radar), allowing an accurate picture of the enemy attack to be created. This information was then passed back down to the Fighter Squadrons via Sector Controllers who would scramble the relevant aircraft to intercept the hostiles.
The Observer Corps provided information that allowed the RAF to be in the right place at the right time over hundreds of miles of sky. This meant that pilots could be rested (they did not have to patrol the skies in case the enemy decided to make an appearance), aircraft could be rested, maintained or repaired whilst also saving valuable fuel.
In 1941 the Observer Corps was bestowed the honour by King George VI of becoming the Royal Observer Corps. This was in recognition of the vital part it played during the Battle of Britain in defending Britain against Nazi Germany.
The Royal Observer Corps continued to provide valuable information throughout the war and was eventually stood down on 12 May 1945 bringing this part of their story to a close.
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