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The Royal Observer Corps Orlit Post is an observation post used by the Royal Observer Corps during the Cold War to recognise enemy aircraft. [1] Many Orlit Posts can be found near ROC Monitoring Posts.
Experience from WW2 identified that there would be a need for increased protection from enemy aircraft if the UK was ever faced with the prospect 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.
The idea for these new posts originated in 1947, however it was only during 1951/52 as part of the programme to update the air defences through the Rotor Plan that more substantial buildings were built to offer at least some level of protection from the elements or attack. Although some of these new structures were built of brick, many sites received pre-cast concrete panelled structures known as "Orlit" posts, after the manufacturers of the structures Messrs Orlit Ltd.
These Orlit structures were split into two sections. The entrance door led into the smaller roofed section which was used as a shelter and store with a sliding door into the open section which housed the post instrument and chart on top of a wooden mounting. Two types of Orlit posts existed, the Orlit 'A' was at ground level and the Orlit 'B' was raised 6 ft on four legs with a ladder for access.
RAF Bentley Priory was a non-flying Royal Air Force station near Stanmore in the London Borough of Harrow. It was the headquarters of Fighter Command in the Battle of Britain and throughout the Second World War. During the war, two enemy bombs destroyed a wooden hut near the married quarters, a blast from a V-1 flying bomb broke a few windows, the windows in the Officers' Mess were shattered by a V-2 rocket, and a Vickers Wellington crashed outside the Sergeants' Mess.
RAF Carlisle was a Royal Air Force establishment, now closed after being used for a variety of roles over a period of fifty eight years and formerly located 2 mi (3.2 km) north of Carlisle city centre in Cumbria, England.
The Royal Observer Corps (ROC) was a civil defence organisation intended for the visual detection, identification, tracking and reporting of aircraft over Great Britain. It operated in the United Kingdom between 29 October 1925 and 31 December 1995, when the Corps' civilian volunteers were stood down. 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; latterly a serving RAF Air Commodore.
The United Kingdom Warning and Monitoring Organisation (UKWMO) was a British civilian organisation operating to provide UK military and civilian authorities with data on nuclear explosions and forecasts of fallout across the country in the event of nuclear war.
Aircraft recognition is a visual skill taught to military personnel and civilian auxiliaries since the introduction of military aircraft in World War I. It is important for air defense and military intelligence gathering.
Atomic Weapons Detection Recognition and Estimation of Yield known by the acronym AWDREY was a desk-mounted automatic detection instrument, located at 12 of the 25 Royal Observer Corps (ROC) controls, across the United Kingdom, during the Cold War. The instruments would have detected any nuclear explosions and indicated the estimated size in megatons.
Bomb Power Indicator known by the acronym BPI was a detection instrument, located at the twenty five British Royal Observer Corps controls and nearly 1,500 ROC underground monitoring posts, across the United Kingdom, during the Cold War that would have detected any nuclear explosions and measured the peak-overpressure of the blast waves.
The Ground Zero Indicator, known by the acronym GZI was a specially designed shadowgraph instrument used by the British Royal Observer Corps during the Cold War to locate the Ground Zero of any nuclear explosion.
The Fixed Survey Meter was a specialist detection instrument used by the Royal Observer Corps during the Cold War between 1958 and 1982 to detect ionising radiation from nuclear fallout generated by a ground burst.
Air Commodore Finlay Crerar, was a senior Royal Air Force officer during the Second World War who served as the fourth Commandant of the Royal Observer Corps (ROC). He led the ROC through the final two years of the war and the difficult period of the V-1 flying bomb raids on southern England.
The Commandant of the Royal Observer Corps (CROC) was the Royal Air Force commander of the Royal Observer Corps. All the holders of the post were RAF officers in the rank of Air Commodore, initially retired reserve officers then Auxiliary officers and, since the end of World War II, serving officers. The ROC was a uniformed civilian branch initially under the control of the Air Defence of Great Britain organization, then Fighter Command and latterly Strike Command. The Royal Observer Corps existed from 1925 until it was stood down in 1995. Most of the commandants, with only three exceptions, were qualified RAF pilots, two being air navigators and the other a General Duties (Ground) Supply Branch officer. If a Royal Observer Corps officer had ever held the appointment, they would have held the rank of Observer Commodore.
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.. 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 Posts are underground structures all over the United Kingdom, constructed as a result of the Corps' nuclear reporting role and operated by volunteers during the Cold War between 1955 and 1991.
The Luftmeldekorps performed aircraft recognition during WWII, and a nuclear warning role from 1952, whilst retaining the aircraft recognition role due to the proximity of Warsaw Pact countries until 1991. The LMK was disbanded in 2004.