Derek joined the Royal Observer Corps in 1947 and served on posts near Chichester, London, and at Cuckfield (north of Brighton) after moving there in the 1960s.
Derek got wind of this and, as aviation correspondent of the Sunday Telegraph, wrote an article warning that if such a plan was implemented it was likely that at least 80 percent of Corps would resign.
[citation needed] Derek Wood came into prominence as an author when his book The Narrow Margin, regarded as the definitive history of the Battle of Britain, was published.
He started preparing to write the history of the ROC way back in 1972 and when Attack Warning Red was published in 1976, and its update in 1991 when the Corps stood down, he put its achievement on permanent record.
Wood's most famous and successful military book was The Narrow Margin on which the major feature film Battle of Britain was based.