Chapter One - Introduction

101. The badge of the Royal Observer Corps depicts a beacon lighter of Elizabethan times. The beacon lighters, recruited from the local population, were organised and paid by the county sheriff to care for and light the warning beacons. Their counterparts can be found in the observers of today.

102. It would appear that the earliest system for the detection and reporting of aircraft was started late in 1914. The Police were instructed to telephone reports of any aircraft or Zeppelins seen or heard within 60 miles of London to the Admiralty, who were at that time in charge of defences. In 1915 it was decided to extend the area covered by such reports to East Anglia, Northamptonshire, Oxfordshire, Hampshire and the Isle of Wight. The scheme was found to be unsatisfactory and in 1917 the War Office was given control. It can be said that Major General Ashmore CB CMG MVO was the founder of the Corps on which the present system and organisation has developed.

103. In an endeavour to reduce time lag, the War Office placed all sections of the ground and air defences of London under Major General Ashmore in a Command known as London Air Defence Area (LADA). In this scheme he made use of all the existing defence units which covered the London Area and districts to the south and south-east of London. The units comprised coastal and inland watching posts, searchlights, and gun stations, balloon aprons, aerodromes and emergency landing grounds. This scheme necessarily entailed a large amount of telephone construction work and it was not until September 1918 that it was put into full operation; the last German raids had been made in May 1918. It did prove, however, that the time lag had been reduced appreciably and it is fair to say that this system formed the basis of the Royal Observer Corps. With the coming of the Armistice of the First World War and with the considerable reduction of the forces, the system faded away to practically nothing.

104. In January 1924 the Committee of the Imperial Defence appointed a sub-committee to investigate the aerial defence of south-east England, south of a line drawn from Portland Bill to the Wash. It was decided that an organised system was essential for the rapid collection and distribution of information on the movements of hostile and friendly aircraft, and this led eventually to the formation of the Observer Corps.

105. In August and September 1924 the first experiments were organised by Major General Ashmore. It was decided to use the area between the Romney Marshes and Tonbridge and these trials proved very satisfactory. So much so that, in the following year two observation areas were formed to embrace the whole of Kent, Sussex and part of Surrey. With the co-operation of the Chief Constables concerned these two areas were sited with observation posts and plotting centres manned by personnel who had been enrolled as special constables. These first Observer Corps groups were No 1 with its headquarters in Maidstone, and No 2 with its headquarters in Horsham, the former Group having twenty seven posts and the latter sixteen.

107. On 1 January 1929 control was handed over to the Air Ministry. The Observer Corps had now become a corporate body and it was logical, therefore that it should be given an officer in command. The suggestion was made by the AOC in C Air Defence of Great Britain, in a letter to the Air Ministry, that an officer of the rank of air commodore or group captain on the retired list should be appointed as the first Commandant of the Corps. As Commandant of the Corps, he would carry out his duties directly under the command of Headquarters, Air Defence of Great Britain and would be responsible to the AOC in C for the training and maintenance of centres and posts. The Air Ministry agreed and on 1 March 1929 appointed Air Commodore E A D Masterman CB CMG CBE AFC RAF (Ret'd) as the first Commandant of the Corps. Air Commodore Masteman held his appointment until 1 March 1936, when he retired. He was succeeded by Air Commodore A D Warrington-Morris CMG OBE RAF (Ret'd) who was destined to lead the Corps until well into the Second World War.

108. Although the Corps had made a good start, expansion slowed and in 1929 at the end of five years, only the original four groups existed. On 15 May 1931, however, No 17 Group, with the centre at Watford, was formed and No 18 Group was enlarged by the addition of three new posts.

109. With the passing of years the political situation in Europe worsened. In January 1935 the Boyd Committee recommended that the Observer Corps should be expanded in four stages. From this time until the start of World War II, new groups were rapidly formed and on 24 August 1939, when the Corps was called out, the greater part of the country was covered by Observer Corps posts.