Aircraft recognition

Techniques used to teach this information have included scale models, printed silhouette charts, slide projectors, computer aided instruction and even specially-printed playing cards.

In the United Kingdom, The Royal Observer Corps (ROC) was formed as a defence warning organisation with civilians trained in aircraft recognition and operated primarily as such between 1925 and 1957.

To answer this new threat, Major General Edward Bailey Ashmore,[1] a First World War pilot who had later been in command of an artillery division in Belgium, was appointed to devise improved systems of detection, communication and control.

Technical editor of The Aeroplane, Peter Masefield, who was also a member of the Corps, travelled the length of Britain giving lectures and training sessions.

The WEFT (Wingshape, Engine configuration, Fuselage shape and Tail type) system of recognition was first developed by Chief Observer C.H.

[2] Recognition competitions were organised locally, regionally and nationally and by the start of World War II the Corps had trained nearly 30,000 volunteers to accurately recognise all types of current aircraft.

In the US during World War II, civilians were enlisted into a Ground Observer Corps to support air defense operations, receiving training in aircraft identification.