Originally Posted by chevvron
I was in a voluntary organisation called the Royal Observer Corps, on a 'special duties' team. One of our tasks would be pinpointing any airfields which hadn't been hit or affected by fallout.
During the late 50s and early 60s I was employed as a junior Design Draughtsman with a small Aircraft Maintenance Company based at Gatwick Airport the Chief Designer, family man with a wife ant three small children, was also a member of the Royal Observer Corps in his spare time. I understand that the purpose of the ROC at that time was, in the event of a nuclear strike, to monitor the effects of the nuclear explosions.
Between 1957 and 1964, the Observers moved from rainy and windswept surface posts to underground posts, small reinforced concrete boxes the size of a caravan I believe. These had simple instruments to measure explosive blast, the height and angle of flash from nuclear explosions, and the short-lived but lethal radiation from weapons fallout.
I often wonder what would have happened in the event the balloon going up. Would the ROC members have gone underground leaving their families to face the destruction and mayhem alone?