It's perhaps a long shot to publish this on an American blog like mine, but I know I have readers in the UK and the Commonwealth, so I'm going to give it a go. Angus Batey (whom we've met in these pages before) relays a request from the Association of Royal Air Force Fighter Control Officers.
Calling all operators of the ‘Dowding System’ between 1939-1945
On the 8th August 1945 the Air Ministry issued a communique revealing the existence of radar and in that communique the Ministry acknowledged the role that women had played in operating the system of air defence which became known as the ‘Dowding System’.
“Working under the closest secrecy since 1939, over 4,000 Women’s Auxiliary Air Force (WAAF) personnel have played an important part in the air victories achieved by radiolocation (Radar). They tracked hostile and friendly aircraft, flying bombs and rockets, German E Boats and Allied Merchant vessels, and have guided British and Allied fighter pilots on to enemy aircraft. Trained to use and service some of the most delicate and complicated instruments ever invented, they have carried out their duties with enthusiasm, often under uncomfortable conditions and sometimes under enemy fire.”
The ‘Dowding System’ was a complex system of new and secret technologies, intricate and extensive communications, new ways of managing information, new processes and procedures and last, but not least, the highly skilled personnel who operated the system and who made it all work.
The Association of Royal Air Force Fighter Control Officers is currently compiling a database of operators who worked on the Dowding System between 1939 and 1945 with the aim of capturing their stories and memories and then working to secure appropriate recognition for their contribution during WWII. The hope is that the Association will stay in regular contact with the veterans and keep them updated on events relating to various 70th and 75th anniversary celebrations over the next few years.
Dowding System Filter Centre, Operations Room, Radar Unit and GCI Operators are warmly invited to contact Gp Capt (Retd) Tim Willbond RAF at: tim.willbond@raffca.org.uk or 07775 854559
I hope some of my readers can help them. If my father were still alive, I'd have sent them his contact details, because as an RAF engineer officer he had some involvement with radar control of aircraft during the Western Desert campaign, and when he returned to England in 1944. Sadly, it's too late for him to share his memories with them.
Peter
1 comment:
The "intricate and extensive communications" part of that must have been crazy. It's hard enough to get information disseminated quickly and securely across a large cadre now, even with TCP/IP. Imagine what it was like back then? How would you communicate and then disseminate a big set of analog data (say, type, location, and composition of an incoming force) over radio or land line? Incredible!
Post a Comment