"The Observer Corps: The Forgotten Civilian Volunteers..." Topic

… of the Battle of Britain.

"Ask any British person what they know about the Battle of Britain and you will almost certainly receive answers that include references to the Spitfire, Hurricane or ‘The Few'. However, there were many others who played an important role during the summer air campaign of 1940, whose less glamorous efforts have sadly been largely forgotten by many today. Such an example – and there are many – are the members of the Observer Corps, a civilian volunteer organisation that, along with radar, provided a vital link in the air defence of Great Britain during the Second World War.

The Observer Corps was set up in 1925 following the decision to establish a ‘Raid Reporting System', the purpose of the corps being to provide visual detection, identification, tracking and reporting of enemy aircraft over Britain. It is, however, argued that the corps can find its roots further back in time during the First World War, when a number of observation posts were strategically sited across the country – manned by soldiers and special constables – to give early warning of German Zeppelin and bomber air raids. These posts would be equipped with telephone communications with which the observer could contact the appropriate anti-aircraft installations and later, via a more sophisticated system, even initiate the despatch of fighter aircraft of the Royal Flying Corps.

Although the corps would not be finally stood down until 1996, it is perhaps its role during the Battle of Britain in 1940 that it proved its real worth to the defence of Great Britain. With great foresight, Air Marshall Hugh Dowding saw the need to establish a strong air defence of the country, which, along with the introduction of modern fighter types such as the Spitfire and Hurricane, would include the use of radar and observers. Radar was, perhaps, the cornerstone of these defences, but it was only of use when tracking aircraft approaching land from over the sea. Once over land the radar system could no longer track enemy planes, nor could it identify the type of the aircraft. To make up for these deficiencies, the Observer Corps would make a visual identification, using binoculars and other optics, after which they would determine the height and direction of the planes, again with the use of relatively simple equipment such as a sextant type apparatus. This information, as during the 1914-18 conflict, was reported via the use of telephones…"
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Amicalement
Armand

We had them here in the USA too.

My grandmother used to climb the fire watchtower near her home, to listen and watch for enemy aircraft, in North Carolina, during WWII. She was pregnant at the time, but that didn't slow her down, apparently. She lived about an hour or so, inland, from the coast.

I lucked into a 1941-era pre-US involvement era US-printed book on "Civil Air Defense" by Lt. Col. Augustin M. Prentiss, Ph. D. published by Whittlesey House, NY and London, McGraw-Hill, which "borrows" heavily from British Air Raid Precautions literature and information generated during and after the Blitz. It is quite a serious work, over 300 pages, giving much information both basic (how to devise a home shelter, equipping one's self to deal with incendiaries) and intensive (setting up large community shelters with reinforced roofs, supplies, "air lock" rooms, decontamination showers, changes of clothes, tools, communications gear (and how to set up a large area network to coordinate a neighborhood/town/city/county-wide area's response to an air raid). Interestingly enough, much is devoted to responding to and protecting from chemical gas attacks from the air. Thank God this part was never needed.