Ground Observer Corps
{{short description|United States civil defense organizations}}
{{Use mdy dates|date=January 2021}}
{{quote box
|title = Russian Lullaby—
Do the Russian leaders really want peace or to lull us into a sense of false security?
|quote =
We Americans want to believe that the Kremlin peace overtures are sincere. We hope that the Soviet government genuinely desires to settle the differences between East and West in a peaceful manner over the conference table.
But, while we listen willingly to any of their peace proposals, we must not let ourselves be lulled into a sense of false security. Not while the Kremlin still has about 1000 long-range bombers which can strike any part of the United States.
Our Air Force and Army Anti-Aircraft defenses are on round-the-clock duty guarding against the threat of enemy air attack. But they need the help of an active and alert Ground Observer Corps to spot low-flying enemy planes that might sneak under our radar network.
So, if you are not already one of the 300,000 civilian volunteer plane spotters in the Ground Observer Corps, join now. Remember, so long as the Iron Curtain exists we must always be on guard. Never forget that eternal vigilance is still the price of liberty.
|source = —Newspaper post in January 1955{{cite news |title=Russian Lullaby? |url=https://newspaperarchive.com/helena-independent-record-jan-08-1955-p-5/ |work=The Independent Record |date=January 8, 1955 |location=Helena, Montana, U.S. |page=5}} U.S. Government work, "Contributed as a public service by The Independent Record".
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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 Civil Defense program of the United States Army Air Forces 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. The program ended in 1944.{{Cite book |last1=Morgan |first1=Mark L |last2=Berhow |first2=Mark A |year=2002|edition=second |title=Rings of Supersonic Steel |format=Google Books |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=vagljMKPYrkC&pg=PA60|publisher=Hole in the Head Press |isbn=0-615-12012-1 |accessdate=2011-09-13}} A few Aircraft Warning Service Observation Towers survive as relics.
Cold War organization
The second Ground Observer Corps,{{Cite news |date=April 5, 1954 |title=Less Than Half Spotter Time Filled In Week |url=https://news.google.com/newspapers?id=riYmAAAAIBAJ&sjid=Bf4FAAAAIBAJ&dq=round-hill%20gettysburg&pg=2238%2C4455496 |format=Google News Archive |publisher=Times and News Publishing Company |newspaper=The Gettysburg Times |accessdate=2012-01-04}}{{Cite web |last=Magazine |first=Smithsonian |title=Oldies and Oddities: When Civvies Scrambled Fighters |url=https://www.smithsonianmag.com/air-space-magazine/oldies-and-oddities-when-civvies-scrambled-fighters-162566072/ |access-date=2024-10-31 |website=Smithsonian Magazine |language=en}}{{Cite web |last=Callander |first=Bruce D. |date=February 2006 |title=The Ground Observer Corps |url=https://www.airandspaceforces.com/PDF/MagazineArchive/Documents/2006/February%202006/0206GOC.pdf |access-date=31 October 2024 |website=Air and Space Forces Magazine}} with programmatic aims and methodologies similar to the first, was organized in early 1950, during the Cold War. Its creation was prompted by the similar organization formed in Canada in 1950, the RCAF Ground Observer Corps.
Operating as an arm of the United States Air Force Civil Defense service, the second GOC supplemented the Lashup Radar Network and the Permanent System radar stations.{{Cite book |last=Winkler |first=David F |year=1997 |title=Searching the skies: the legacy of the United States Cold War defense radar program |publisher=Prepared for United States Air Force Headquarters Air Combat Command}} Observations were telephoned directly to filter centers{{cite news|title=News of Southington|url=https://news.google.com/newspapers?id=B6NHAAAAIBAJ&sjid=-v4MAAAAIBAJ&pg=1160,4794388&dq=observation-corps&hl=en|work=Meriden Record|date=22 February 1954|location=Meriden, Connecticut|quote=The meeting will be addressed by Lieut. Wenzel of the New Haven Filter Center,...}} and the information was relayed to Air Defense Command ground control interception centers.{{Cite book|last=Schaffel |first=Kenneth |title=The Emerging Shield: The Air Force and the Evolution of Continental Air Defense, 1945–1960 |publisher=Office of Air Force History |year=1991 |location=Washington, DC |url=http://www.airforcehistory.hq.af.mil/Publications/Annotations/schaffelemerging.htm |url-status=dead |archiveurl=https://web.archive.org/web/20051113175706/https://www.airforcehistory.hq.af.mil/Publications/Annotations/schaffelemerging.htm |archivedate=2005-11-13 }} 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.{{cite web|url=https://timeline.com/ground-observer-corps-history-beb9d0957e92|title=Before decent radar, the U.S. enlisted 800,000 children, hobbyists, and other Americans as lookouts|date=September 11, 2017 |publisher=www.timeline.com|accessdate=September 11, 2017}}{{cite web|title=The Ground Observed Corps|url=http://www.radomes.org/museum/documents/GOC/GOC.html|publisher=radomes.org|accessdate=2017-06-12}} Extant examples of observation platforms used by GOC/Skywatch volunteers include the Cairo Skywatch Tower,{{cite web| url = https://secure.in.gov/apps/dnr/shaard/welcome.html| title = Indiana State Historic Architectural and Archaeological Research Database (SHAARD) | publisher = Department of Natural Resources, Division of Historic Preservation and Archaeology | format = Searchable database| accessdate = 2016-07-01}} Note: This includes {{cite web| url =https://secure.in.gov/apps/dnr/shaard/r/1ca48/N/Cairo_Skywatch_Tower_Tippecanoe_CO_Nom_(NR-1646).pdf| title = National Register of Historic Places Inventory Nomination Form: Cairo Skywatch Tower| accessdate = 2016-07-01|author1=John M. Harris |author2=Angela Bowen |author3=Ben Ross | date=July 2001}} and Accompanying photographs the West Island tower in Fairhaven, Massachusetts (originally part of a World War II-era anti-submarine Fire-control system),{{cite web |title=WW II Fire Control Tower |url=https://mlbaron.webs.com/west-island-ww-ii-tower |website=Town Beach at West Island |publisher=westislandweather.com |access-date=2021-01-19}} and a tower in Soda Springs, Idaho.{{cite web|title=Ground Observation Corps Soda Springs Post Historical Marker|url=https://www.hmdb.org/marker.asp?marker=106250|website=The Historical Marker Database (HMdb.org)|publisher=J. J. Prats|accessdate=October 31, 2017}}
The second GOC program ended in 1958{{cite news|title=Filter Center 'In Reserve'|url=https://news.google.com/newspapers?id=VukVAAAAIBAJ&sjid=dBAEAAAAIBAJ&pg=1611,526065&dq=filter-center&hl=en|work=The Milwaukee Sentinel|date=1 January 1958|location=Milwaukee, Wisconsin}} with the advent of automated Army (Missile Master) and Air Force (SAGE) radar systems. GOC volunteers were encouraged to continue their service in the Radio Amateur Civil Emergency Service (RACES).{{cite news |last1=Rimkunas |first1=Barbara |title=Historically Speaking: The Ground Observer Corps in Exeter |url=https://www.seacoastonline.com/news/20190425/historically-speaking-ground-observer-corps-in-exeter |newspaper=The Portsmouth Herald |publisher=Gannett Co., Inc. |date=2019-04-25 |access-date=2021-01-19}}
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| image1 = Air force ground observer corps pin.jpg
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| caption1 = 1950s civilian GOC pin
| image2 = Skywatch ground observer corps.jpg
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| caption2 = 1950s civilian Skywatch recruiting sticker
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| caption3 = Map of Ground Observer Corps stations
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Popular culture
The GOC was a story element in the 1957 science fiction film The Deadly Mantis.
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|image1=[http://www.radomes.org/museum/documents/GOC/GOC.html 1952 map]
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See also
References
{{Reflist}}
Category:Ground-based air defence observation corps
Category:1940s establishments in the United States
Category:Civil defense organizations based in the United States
Category:Military units and formations established in the 1940s
Category:United States home front during World War II
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