| One of the hidden gems of the Second World | | | | easy to forget that all those we have spoken |
| War is the story of how local volunteers | | | | to about their involvement in the wartime |
| watching the skies above England, Scotland | | | | work of the Corps were between 16 and 25 at |
| and Wales helped saved many lives and brought | | | | the time! |
| about a change of fortune for the beleagured | | | | |
| RAF. | | | | Bill Harford, who was on the Mevagissey Post |
| | | | in Cornwall told us, |
| Formed in 1925 in the South East of England, | | | | |
| and expanded to cover more of the country | | | | "In 1942 I was a school boy at grammar |
| throughout the 1930s, the Observer Corps | | | | school, and I was very, very keen on aircraft |
| acted as the "Eyes and Ears of the RAF". | | | | recognition and I came to join the Royal |
| Observer Corps posts were sited in all sorts | | | | Observer Corps really by somebody listening |
| of prominent positions, often on top of | | | | on the bus to what I was saying as we were |
| hills, so that the Observers could get good | | | | going to school, and reported it to the local |
| all round vision, and be able to spot any | | | | Chief Observer, 'there is a boy on the bus |
| aircraft. The Corps plotted the movements of | | | | who is brilliant at aircraft recognition!'" |
| all aircraft in the skies over wartime | | | | |
| Britain, friend or foe, enabling the limited | | | | Joyce Shrubbs, a plotter and teller at the |
| resources of a battered Royal Air Force to | | | | Bedford Centre adds, |
| triumph over Hitler's Luftwaffe. The Corps' | | | | |
| contribution in the Battle of Britain was so | | | | "I think like every other young person I |
| significant that it was recognised with the | | | | wanted to join the Services and I wanted to |
| award of its Royal title. | | | | be in a uniform and feel that I was that I |
| | | | doing my part for the country. I was |
| The work of the Corps continued throughout | | | | particularly interested in the Womens' |
| the war, saving many lives with the early | | | | Auxiliary Airforce, but you had to be 18 to |
| warning of air attacks, but many members of | | | | do that, so when I saw an advert in the local |
| the Corps were keen to be more involved with | | | | shop window, there was this huge |
| activity closer to the action. When the call | | | | advertisement, 'Join the Royal Observer Corps |
| was made for volunteers to join gun crews | | | | and live at home', and you only had to be 17 |
| onboard defensively equipped merchant ships, | | | | and my seventeenth birthday was coming up so |
| 1400 men volunteered. Those that passed the | | | | I thought that's for me. The uniform was the |
| rigourous training and testing were known as | | | | same colour as the Womans' Auxiliary Airforce |
| Seaborne Observers, and were involved in | | | | and same style and everything I just thought |
| Operation Overlord, saving many aircraft from | | | | this is what I need to do. So I went along |
| "friendly fire". | | | | and joined actually on my seventeenth |
| | | | birthday. It did take an agonizing 10 days |
| In the course of filming two video | | | | for it to be formalised but I did actually |
| documentaries about the Royal Observer Corps, | | | | start on my birthday." |
| "Tocsin Bang" (about the Cold War nuclear | | | | |
| reporting role the Corps had) and its prequel | | | | "Sentinels of Britain" is the wartime story |
| "Sentinels of Britain" (the wartime story), | | | | of the Royal Observer Corps, told by its |
| we met many really interesting people, and | | | | members, the Observers who were there. |
| heard plentiful fascinating stories! It is | | | | |