TWENTIETH CENTURY DEFENCE SITES of TYNE and WEAR

Section 3 The Second World War
Holystone (HER 5524)
Houghton-le-Spring TT224 (HER 5567)
Marsden Hall (HER 5565)
Palmersville TT131 (HER 5525)
Ravensworth TT246 (HER 5536)
Ryhope TT226 (HER 5568)
Ryton TT142 (HER 5530)
Seaburn TT215 (HER 5540)
Seaton Burn TT124 (HER 5560)
South Shields, Frenchman’s Bay TT213
(HER 5538)
Springwell TT231 (HER 5532)
Tynemouth Pier (HER 1572)
Tynemouth, Sharpness Point TT133 (HER
5526)
Usworth TT237 (HER 5534)
Whitburn TT214 (HER 5539)
Woolsington TT146 (HER 5531
Searchlight at Debdon Gardens
38
Royal Observer Corps
Posts (Fig 4)
Originally formed in 1925 to report and plot
enemy aircraft, the first observers were
initially enrolled as special constables.
Observer Corps (OC) posts were usually
very simple in design, often consisting of
nothing more than a dug-out reinforced with
sandbags. A simple wheel was used to plot
the bearings of an enemy aircraft. By 1938
there was a network of observation posts
spaced about ten miles apart, with up to four
posts in a cluster, linked by telephone to their
district centre. The simple wheel device was
replaced by a “Post Instrument”, an optical
device which would give the bearing, grid
position and approximate height of an
aircraft. Although improvements in Radar
technology meant that aircraft could be
plotted without having to rely on human
observers, the OC was still an essential part
of the air defence network, and fed
information directly into the filter rooms as
part of the Dowding System. OC posts were
especially important given that, before the
advent of the Ground Controlled Interception
radar stations (which were placed inland), all
Chain Home radar sites [see entry on
Marsden Radar Station] were placed facing
out to sea, to give early warning of raids. The
OC was therefore the only effective way of
plotting aircraft overland. In April 1941 it was
granted the official title of “Royal Observer
Corps”. In September 1941 women were
accepted as observers. In October 1942
ROC posts were equipped with an electric
projector which could fire a flare to warn of a
low flying enemy aircraft. By 1944 they were
equipped with radar. The ROC disbanded in
May 1945. There had been some 32,000
observers and over 1,000 observation posts
(Lowry 1996, Ripley and Pears 1994-2006).