The Royal Observer Corps formed in the south of England in 1925. Its task was to track and report all aircraft flying over the UK and coastal shipments so that Home Defences could be warned of any potential attack. The ROC was initially manned by volunteers who came from the immediate neighbourhood. They were later recruited by the police as Special Constables prior to WWII.

During the Second World War, the 'Observer Corps' , as it was then known, fulfilled a vital role in tracking aircraft over the ground as one of the limitations of Radar at the time was the radar picked up ground clutter and effectively obscured the display of aircraft.

After the successes of 1940 and early 1941 and especially in respect to the work undertaken as the 'eyes and the ears' of the RAF during the 'Battle of Britain', on the 9th April 1941, His late Majesty King George VI granted the “Observer Corps” Royal recognition and the title of the “Royal Observer Corps”

During the Cold War, the Royal Observer Corps took on a Nuclear Role with it's objectives being the reporting of Nuclear Bursts and the monitoring of radioactive fallout.