LaughingBuccaneer
Posts: 52
Joined: 11/23/2017
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Ever since watching the film The Battle of Britain starring Michael Caine,
I've been fascinated by one of the unsung heroes of the Battle of Britain, namely
The Royal Observer Corps. Which as it happens, is also one of the unsung heroes
of Britain's Civil Defense system during the Cold War.
In the film Air Vice Marshall Keith Park ( on being told that the last of his Chain
Home radars has been put out of action due to targeted German dive bombing )
said 'so were blind, so now we've only got The Observer Corps'.
Who during the course of the subsequent raids by German fighters and bombers over the
UK, had risen to the occasion by providing detailed information of German raids,
passing over their observation posts ( known as ROC Posts ) to RAF fighter command.
Their part in winning the Battle of Britain gave these volunteer plane spotters,
the distinction of being honoured & elevated to being a trained volunteer branch of
the RAF, called The Royal Observer Corps.
In fact, so skilled were they in distinguishing enemy aircraft from friendly allied aircraft
during WW2; that a special unit was formed from the ROC, specifically for the D-Day landings
in Normandy; called the Seaborne Observer Corps. Responsible for directing anti aircraft
fire in order to avoid allied aircraft being shot down by friendly fire during the
D-Day landings.
Disbanded in 1945 they were only stood down for less than a year before being
recalled to active volunteer service, as the Cold War developed following the
end of the Second World War.
Therefore from 1946 right up until the late 1950's the ROC continued as trained
volunteer RAF plane spotters with their ROC Posts reporting into their own ROC Group
controls who passed on aircraft sightings to RAF Fighter Command as Britain's
national air defense system.
Of course as radar developed in leaps and bounds following the WW2 Chain Home
System and slower moving piston engine aircraft gave way to Jet aircraft, the
ROC's plane spotting days were numbered but just as that happened, came the
threat of nuclear war and the Royal Observer Corps went underground in their
little 3 Man nuclear bunker, attack warning monitoring posts.
Subsequently the ROC continued in active service in it's Civil Defense role
until September 1991 following the end of the Cold War.
My question is could a CMANO scenario be devised to test the UK's Early Cold War
Air Defence system during the 1946 to 1956 period ( like a Home Defence wargame
exercise ) in fact the ROC participated in many of the late 1940's and early to
mid 1950's RAF Air Defence exercises; as the ROC was regarded as an integral part
of Britain's air defence system, some of these exercises can be seen on Youtube.
As it will be a fascinating scenario of enemy aircraft ( flying piston engine
and early jet engine aircraft ) pitted against early UK radar of that period and
the Mark One Eyeballs provided by the ROC Post clusters dotted throughout
Britain.
If anyone's game for providing such a CMANO user scenario, then you will find a
very interesting and detailed website on the location of the ROC Post clusters
throughout the UK and although it details the location of ROC Posts during the Cold
War period; these rarely differed from ROC Post locations during the early
Cold War period, when they were aircraft location spotting and identification
ROC Posts.
http://www.ringbell.co.uk/ukwmo/Page220.htm
< Message edited by LaughingBuccaneer -- 2/10/2019 6:32:52 PM >
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