The Ground Observer Corps (GOC), sometimes erroneously referred to as the Ground ''Observation'' Corps, was the name of two American civil defense organizations during the middle 20th century.

World War II organization

The first Ground Observer Corps was a

World War II World War II or the Second World War, often abbreviated as WWII or WW2, was a world war that lasted from 1939 to 1945. It involved the World War II by country, vast majority of the world's countries—including all of the great power ...

Civil Defense Civil defense ( en, region=gb, civil defence) or civil protection is an effort to protect the citizens of a state (generally non-combatants) from man-made and natural disasters. It uses the principles of emergency operations: prevention, mit ...

program of the

United States Army Air Forces The United States Army Air Forces (USAAF or AAF) was the major land-based aerial warfare service component of the United States Army and ''de facto'' aerial warfare service branch of the United States during and immediately after World War II ...

to protect United States territory against air attack. The 1.5 million civilian observers at 14,000 coastal observation posts performed naked eye and binocular searches to detect German or Japanese aircraft. Observations were telephoned to filter centers, which forwarded authenticated reports to the Aircraft Warning Service, which also received reports from

Army radar stations An army (from Old French ''armee'', itself derived from the Latin verb ''armāre'', meaning "to arm", and related to the Latin noun ''arma'', meaning "arms" or "weapons"), ground force or land force is a fighting force that fights primarily on ...

. The program ended in 1944. A few Aircraft Warning Service Observation Towers survive as relics.

Cold War organization

The second Ground Observer Corps, with programmatic aims and methodologies similar to the first, was organized in early 1950, during the

Cold War The Cold War is a term commonly used to refer to a period of geopolitical tension between the United States and the Soviet Union and their respective allies, the Western Bloc and the Eastern Bloc. The term '' cold war'' is used because t ...

. Its creation was prompted by the similar organization formed in Canada in 1950, the

RCAF Ground Observer Corps The Ground Observer Corps (GObC) was a civilian organization within the Royal Canadian Air Force formed in October 1950 to help identify intruder aircraft in the era before the Pinetree Line radar network was fully operational. Members were require ...

. Operating as an arm of the

United States Air Force The United States Air Force (USAF) is the air service branch of the United States Armed Forces, and is one of the eight uniformed services of the United States. Originally created on 1 August 1907, as a part of the United States Army Si ...

service, the second GOC supplemented the

Lashup Radar Network The Lashup Radar Network was a United States Cold War radar netting system for air defense surveillance which followed the post-World War II "five-station radar net" and preceded the "high Priority Permanent System". ROTOR was a similar expedient ...

and the

Permanent System radar stations The Permanent System ("P system") was a 1950s radar network ("P radar net") used for the CONUS "manual air defense system" and which had a USAF aircraft control and warning (AC&W) organization of personnel and military installations with radars ...

. Observations were telephoned directly to filter centers and the information was relayed to

Air Defense Command Aerospace Defense Command was a major command of the United States Air Force, responsible for continental air defense. It was activated in 1968 and disbanded in 1980. Its predecessor, Air Defense Command, was established in 1946, briefly inac ...

ground control interception centers. By 1952 the GOC program was expanded into Operation Skywatch, consisting of 750,000 volunteers aged 7 to 86 years old working in shifts at over 16,000 posts and 73 filter centers. Extant examples of observation platforms used by GOC/Skywatch volunteers include the

Cairo Skywatch Tower Cairo Skywatch Tower, also known as Delta Lima 3 Green Ground Observation Tower, is a historic watchtower located in Tippecanoe Township, Tippecanoe County, Indiana. It was built in 1952, and is a 40-foot tall wooden structure. It once had a gla ...

, ''Note:'' This includes and Accompanying photographs the

West Island The West Island () is the unofficial name given to the cities, towns and boroughs at the western end of the Island of Montreal, in Quebec, Canada. It is generally considered to consist of the Lakeshore municipalities of Dorval, Pointe-Cla ...

tower in

Fairhaven, Massachusetts Fairhaven (Massachusett: ) is a town in Bristol County, Massachusetts, United States. It is located on the South Coast of Massachusetts where the Acushnet River flows into Buzzards Bay, an arm of the Atlantic Ocean. The town shares a harbor wi ...

(originally part of a World War II-era anti-submarine

Fire-control system A fire-control system (FCS) is a number of components working together, usually a gun data computer, a director, and radar, which is designed to assist a ranged weapon system to target, track, and hit a target. It performs the same task as a ...

), and a tower in

Soda Springs, Idaho Soda Springs is a city in Caribou County, Idaho, United States. Its population was 3,058 at the time of the 2010 census. The city has been the county seat of Caribou County since the county was organized in 1919. In the 1860s, Soda Springs serve ...

. The second GOC program ended in 1958 with the advent of automated Army (

Missile Master Missile Master was a type of US Army Missile Command military installation for the Cold War Project Nike, each which were a complex of systems and facilities for surface-to-air missile command and control. Each Missile Master had a nuclear bu ...

) and Air Force ( SAGE) radar systems. GOC volunteers were encouraged to continue their service in the

Radio Amateur Civil Emergency Service The Radio Amateur Civil Emergency Service (RACES) is an emergency radio service authorized in Part 97.407 of the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) rules and regulations governing amateur radio in the United States.The Deadly Mantis ''The Deadly Mantis'' is a 1957 American science fiction monster film produced by William Alland for Universal-International. The film was directed by Nathan Juran from a screenplay by Martin Berkeley based on a story by producer William Alland ...

''.

References

Ground-based air defence observation corps 1940s establishments in the United States Civil defense organizations based in the United States Military units and formations established in the 1940s United States home front during World War II {{US-mil-hist-stub

World War II organization

Cold War organization

See also

References