Royal Observer Corps Films

The Royal Observer Corps is the field force of the United Kingdom Warning and Monitoring Organisation for which my right hon. Friend the Home Secretary is operationally responsible. It is required to be ready to report the position and power of nuclear weapons' bursts over the United Kingdom and to record and report the intensity of the radioactive fallout. The information gathered would be transmitted to both military and civil authorities, and would be fed in from the underground posts which the Royal Observer Corps maintains throughout the whole of the British Isles.The establishment is 12,537 and the present strength 11,100, all part-time volunteers save for a small nucleus of whole-time Royal Observer Corps officers.Efforts are constantly being made to encourage recruitment to the corps, but publicity tends to be local rather than national.

Lord Lambton, Secretary of State for Defence, 23 March 1972, Hansard

Royal Observer Corps films were made for a number of purposes, for recruitment and training, but also to provide information for the public.

Observer Corps Now Royal (1941)

In 1941, the Observer Corps became Royal in honour of their work during the Battle of Britain. © British Pathe

Royal Observer Corps

1952 newsreel film. ©British Pathe

The Fixed Survey Meter

Instructional film provided by the Imperial War Museum.

Royal Observer Corps Royal Review 1991

The Royal Review of the Royal Observer Corps 25th July 1991 at RAF Bentley Priory. The ROC was stood down in 1991 following a long history of service to the nation. Two thousand members of the Corps attended the Review, when Her Majesty Queen Elizabeth II presented the Corps' new colours.

Operation Pinnacle 1951

Operation Pinnacle was a test of Britain's air defences. it took place in September and October 1951. Aircraft included were RAF Lancasters and Meteors, US Sabre jets, and a B29. It was the last large scale exercise before the Corps took up its nuclear role. ©British Pathe

Join the Royal Observer Corps 1977
1977 recruitment film.

The Bomb Power Indicator & Ground Zero Indicator

Instructional film provided by the Imperial War Museum.

Forewarned is Forearmed

Originally made in 1990 by the UK Ministry of Defence as a recruiting film for the Royal Observer Corps. The Corps was stood down in March of the following year and the film was not released in its intended form.