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 Monitoring Post
The first prototype post was built at Farnham, Surrey, in 1956 and on 29/30 September of that year a trial was conducted to ascertain the usefulness of the underground posts. Of the two crews of four personnel engaged in staffing the post during this trial, the second group of four, two ROC and two Home Office Scientific Advisory Branch, were sealed inside with rations bedding and barracks equipment. With a few minor changes, mainly to the hatch and air ventilation louvres, the posts were built as per the prototype. The protection provided by the concrete roof and compacted earth mounded above the post was estimated to reduce any external nuclear radiation by a factor of 1,500:1.