Commandant Royal Observer Corps
Encyclopedia
Royal Air Force
The Royal Air Force is the aerial warfare service branch of the British Armed Forces. Formed on 1 April 1918, it is the oldest independent air force in the world...
commander of the Royal Observer Corps
Royal Observer Corps
The Royal Observer Corps was a civil defence organisation operating in the United Kingdom between 29 October 1925 and 31 December 1995, when the Corps' civilian volunteers were stood down....
. All the holders of the post were RAF officers in the rank of Air Commodore
Air Commodore
Air commodore is an air-officer rank which originated in and continues to be used by the Royal Air Force...
, 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
Air Defence of Great Britain
The Air Defence of Great Britain was a RAF command comprising substantial Army and RAF elements responsible for the air defence of the British Isles...
organization, then Fighter Command
RAF Fighter Command
RAF Fighter Command was one of three functional commands of the Royal Air Force. It was formed in 1936 to allow more specialised control of fighter aircraft. It served throughout the Second World War, gaining recognition in the Battle of Britain. The Command continued until 17 November 1943, when...
and latterly Strike Command
RAF Strike Command
The Royal Air Force's Strike Command was the military formation which controlled the majority of the United Kingdom's bomber and fighter aircraft from 1968 until 2007: it was merged with Personnel and Training Command to form the single Air Command. It latterly consisted of two formations - No. 1...
. 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 pilot
Aviator
An aviator is a person who flies an aircraft. The first recorded use of the term was in 1887, as a variation of 'aviation', from the Latin avis , coined in 1863 by G. de la Landelle in Aviation Ou Navigation Aérienne...
s, two being air navigator
Navigator
A navigator is the person on board a ship or aircraft responsible for its navigation. The navigator's primary responsibility is to be aware of ship or aircraft position at all times. Responsibilities include planning the journey, advising the Captain or aircraft Commander of estimated timing to...
s and the other a General Duties (Ground) Supply Branch officer. If a Royal Observer Corps officer had ever held the appointment, he would have held the rank of Observer Commodore.
The origins of the ROC go back to Metropolitan Observation Service of World War I
World War I
World War I , which was predominantly called the World War or the Great War from its occurrence until 1939, and the First World War or World War I thereafter, was a major war centred in Europe that began on 28 July 1914 and lasted until 11 November 1918...
which was founded by Air Vice Marshal Edward Ashmore
Edward Ashmore (British Army officer)
Major General Edward Bailey Ashmore CB, CMG, MVO was a British Army officer from the 1890s to the 1920s who served in the Royal Artillery, the Royal Flying Corps and briefly in the Royal Air Force before founding and developing the organisation that would become the Royal Observer Corps.-Early...
. However, Ashmore never held the post of ROC Commandant. The first two commandants were recently retired RAF Air Commodores, the next two were Auxiliary Air Force officers and the remainder were serving RAF officers. The last two commandants held the appointment in addition to their primary appointment as Senior Air Staff Officer (SASO) at Headquarters No. 11/18 Group RAF
No. 11/18 Group RAF
No. 11/18 Group was a short-lived formation of Strike Command in the Royal Air Force. It was formed in 1996 as part of the post-Cold War reorganisation of the RAF. It absorbed the forces of No. 11 and No. 18 Groups, which were descended from the old Fighter Command and Coastal Command functional...
, which was colocated with HQROC at RAF Bentley Priory
RAF Bentley Priory
RAF Bentley Priory was a non-flying Royal Air Force station near Stanmore in the London Borough of Harrow. It was famous as the headquarters of Fighter Command during the Battle of Britain and the Second World War. The RAF Bentley Priory site includes a Grade II* listed Officers' Mess and Italian...
.
The organisation had started as the volunteer civilian Observer Corps in 1925 and became the uniformed Royal Observer Corps in 1941 as part of the RAF in recognition of their invaluable services during the Battle of Britain. Despite several attempts by the Home Office
Home Office
The Home Office is the United Kingdom government department responsible for immigration control, security, and order. As such it is responsible for the police, UK Border Agency, and the Security Service . It is also in charge of government policy on security-related issues such as drugs,...
in the 1950s, 1960s and the 1980s to take over the organisation and dispense with the RAF uniform the ROC remained part of RAF Fighter Command
RAF Fighter Command
RAF Fighter Command was one of three functional commands of the Royal Air Force. It was formed in 1936 to allow more specialised control of fighter aircraft. It served throughout the Second World War, gaining recognition in the Battle of Britain. The Command continued until 17 November 1943, when...
and later RAF Strike Command
RAF Strike Command
The Royal Air Force's Strike Command was the military formation which controlled the majority of the United Kingdom's bomber and fighter aircraft from 1968 until 2007: it was merged with Personnel and Training Command to form the single Air Command. It latterly consisted of two formations - No. 1...
until they were stood down in 1995 as a result of the Communist Bloc breaking up and the Cold War
Cold War
The Cold War was the continuing state from roughly 1946 to 1991 of political conflict, military tension, proxy wars, and economic competition between the Communist World—primarily the Soviet Union and its satellite states and allies—and the powers of the Western world, primarily the United States...
nuclear threat on the UK being removed.
Commandants in chronological order
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Edward Masterman Air Commodore Edward Alexander Dimsdale Masterman CB CMG CBE AFC RAF was a senior officer in the Royal Air Force in the first half of the 20th century... |
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Alfred Warrington-Morris Air Commodore Alfred Drummond Warrington-Morris CB CMG OBE AFC RAF was a senior officer in the Royal Air Force during the first half of the 20th century.... |
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Geoffrey Ambler Air Vice Marshal Geoffrey Hill Ambler CB, CBE, AFC was a senior officer in the Royal Air Force during World War II... |
Air Vice-Marshal Air vice-marshal is a two-star air-officer rank which originated in and continues to be used by the Royal Air Force. The rank is also used by the air forces of many countries which have historical British influence and it is sometimes used as the English translation of an equivalent rank in... |
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Finlay Crerar Air Commodore Finlay Crerar CBE RAF, was a senior Royal Air Force officer during the Second World War who served as the fourth Commandant of the Royal Observer Corps and led the ROC through the final two years of the war and the difficult period of the V-1 flying bomb raids on Southern... |
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Percy Bernard, 5th Earl of Bandon Air Chief Marshal Percy Ronald Gardner Bernard, 5th Earl of Bandon, GBE, CB, CVO, DSO, RAF was a senior commander in the Royal Air Force in the mid-20th century. He was a squadron, station and group commander during World War II and the fifth Commandant of the Royal Observer Corps after the War... |
Air Chief Marshal Air chief marshal is a senior 4-star air-officer rank which originated in and continues to be used by the Royal Air Force... |
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Richard Jordan (RAF officer) Air Marshal Sir Richard Bowen Jordan KCB DFC ADC RAF was a bomber pilot and squadron commander during the Second World War, a senior Royal Air Force officer during the Second World War and sixth Commandant of the Royal Observer Corps, in the post war period of the early 1950s.-Early Royal Air... |
Air Marshal Air marshal is a three-star air-officer rank which originated in and continues to be used by the Royal Air Force... |
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John Herbert Thomas Simpson Air Commodore John Herbert Thomas Simpson DSO AFC RAF R’td was a bomber pilot during the Second World War and a senior RAF staff officer during the 1950s.... |
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John Mortimer Warfield Air Commodore John "Johnnie" Mortimer Warfield CBE RAF R’td was a bomber pilot during the Second World War, a senior RAF staff officer and commander during the Malayan Emergency in the 1950s and, as an Air Commodore in his final tour, the ninth Commandant of the Royal Observer Corps.-RAF... |
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Cathcart Wight-Boycott Air Commodore Cathcart Michael Wight-Boycott CBE DSO and bar MA, RAF R’td was a British fighter pilot during the Second World War and a senior Royal Air Force officer during the post-war years... |
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Jeaffreson Greswell Air Commodore Jeaffreson Herbert Greswell CB CBE DSO DFC RAF was a British pilot during World War II and a senior Royal Air Force officer in the post-war years.-Honours and awards:... |
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Denis Rixson Air Commodore Denis Fenn Rixson CVO OBE DFC AFC was a British pilot during World War II and a senior Royal Air Force officer in the post-war years and a Commandant Royal Observer Corps.... |
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Edward Sismore Air Commodore Edward Barnes Sismore DSO DFC and two bars AFC was a British air navigator during World War II and a fighter pilot and a senior Royal Air Force officer in the post-war years and the thirteenth Commandant Royal Observer Corps between 1971 and 1973.During his time as Commandant ROC,... |
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Michael Horace Miller Air Commodore Michael Horace Miller CBE, AFC was a senior Royal Air Force officer in the post-war years and a Commandant Royal Observer Corps. From 1971 to 1973, Miller was Station Commander of RAF Gutersloh.-Honours and awards:... |
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John F. G. Howe Air Vice Marshal John Frederick George Howe CB CBE AFC RAF was a senior Royal Air Force officer in the 1970s and 1980s, flying combat missions in the Korean War and North Sea interceptor air patrols during the Cold War and finishing his distinguished career as the Commandant General RAF Regiment... |
Air Vice-Marshal Air vice-marshal is a two-star air-officer rank which originated in and continues to be used by the Royal Air Force. The rank is also used by the air forces of many countries which have historical British influence and it is sometimes used as the English translation of an equivalent rank in... |
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Raymond Offord Air Commodore Raymond John Offord AFC RAF R'td was a British Royal Air Force pilot, a senior Royal Air Force officer in the 1970s and 1980s and the seventeenth Commandant Royal Observer Corps... |
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George Black (RAF officer) Air Vice-Marshal George Phillip Black CB OBE AFC RAF was a British Royal Air Force pilot, a senior Royal Air Force officer in the 1970s and 1980s and a Commandant Royal Observer Corps. From 1971 to 1973, Black was Station Commander of RAF Wildenrath in West Germany.-Early years:In 1950 Black left... |
Air Vice-Marshal Air vice-marshal is a two-star air-officer rank which originated in and continues to be used by the Royal Air Force. The rank is also used by the air forces of many countries which have historical British influence and it is sometimes used as the English translation of an equivalent rank in... |
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Ian Horrocks (RAF officer) Air Commodore Ian Horrocks was a British Royal Air Force helicopter pilot, a senior Royal Air Force officer in the 1970s and 1980s and a Commandant Royal Observer Corps. Horrocks was the Station Commander of RAF Shawbury from 1978 to 1980.... |
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Cliff Spink Air Marshal Clifford Rodney Spink CB CBE FCMI FRAeS RAF R'td was a senior Royal Air Force officer during the early 1990s and is now a Spitfire display pilot on the national air display circuit. The first Spitfire he ever flew belonged to the Battle of Britain Memorial Flight, during his tenure as... |
Air Marshal Air marshal is a three-star air-officer rank which originated in and continues to be used by the Royal Air Force... |
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Martin Widdowson Air Commodore Martin Keith Widdowson was a British Royal Air Force pilot, a senior Royal Air Force officer in the 1980s and 1990s and the 23rd and last Commandant Royal Observer Corps.-Military career:... |
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