Operational instruments of the Royal Observer Corps
The Royal Observer Corps (ROC) was a civil defence organisation operating in the United Kingdom between October 1925 and 31 December 1995, when the Corps' civilian volunteers were stood down. (ROC headquarters staff at RAF Bentley Priory stood down on 31 March 1996). Composed mainly of civilian spare-time volunteers, ROC personnel wore a Royal Air Force (RAF) style uniform and latterly came under the administrative control of RAF Strike Command and the operational control of the Home Office. Civilian volunteers were trained and administered by a small cadre of professional full-time officers under the command of the Commandant Royal Observer Corps; a serving RAF Air Commodore.
Royal Observer Corps Orlit Post
Experience from WW2 identified that there would be a need for increased protection from enemy aircraft if the UK was ever faced with the prospact of being at war again. Although the ROC was finding that aircraft monitoring was becoming increasingly difficult to plot with the development of new faster aircraft, new aircraft monitoring posts were developed to assist observers to monitor aircraft.