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