Aircraft Warning Service (AWS) Spotting Station

Last crawled date: 10 months, 1 week ago

Aircraft Warning Service (AWS) Hoppers Island observation post: Hoppers Island, MD - Ray Simmons was in charge of the Hoppers Island, MD observation shed and was tasked with the duty of finding local volunteers the work the numerous shifts required to accomplish this mission. Thousands of these sheds were placed along the East Coast during WWII and manned 24 hours each day during the period 1942-1944 in an effort to spot German aircraft that might threaten the United States mainland. Built: 1942 Built by: Calvert Cannon, Emory Parker Cost: $175-200 Inactive status: Oct 1943 The Aircraft Warning Service was the creation of the U.S. Army Ground Observer Corps, with the trained observers consisting entirely of civilian volunteers. In the summer of 1941, before the United States had entered the war, there was concern for the safety and security of the nation. The United States Army worked with the American Legion to begin to develop a plan for aircraft observation posts that would be staffed entirely by civilian volunteers. The posts covered both the East and West coasts, as well as the Gulf of Mexico and around the Great Lakes. The AWS established more than 14,000 posts with the help of as many as 1.2 million civilian volunteers, who took shifts constantly scanning the skies for aircraft. Ground Observer Corps (GOS) Aircraft Warning Service (AWS) Posts During World War II. - On the east coast, the AWS was under the auspices of the Army Air Force's: 1st Interceptor Command (later First Fighter Command or I Fighter Command) based at Mitchell Field, New York. Almost 750,000 volunteers served under the First Fighter Command whose jurisdiction stretched from Canada to Key West, Florida. - On the west coast, the AWS was under the auspices of the: 2nd Interceptor Command - covered primarily Washington state. III Interceptor Command went from No. Carolina to Texas, therefore included the Gulf Coast. IV Interceptor Command (later Fourth Fighter Command or IV Fighter Command) based in Riverside, California mainly covered California. - On both coasts, observation posts, information centers and filter centers were established. The United States entered World War II on Dec 7, 1941. Many of those who could not join the military for whatever reason were recruited to the AWS. Statistically, this led to a preponderance of women, apparent in the surviving material, but seemingly little recognized. 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 in turn forwarded authenticated reports to the Aircraft Warning Service, which also received reports from Army radar stations. The program ended in 1944. #Coast_Artillery, #Military, #Army, #WWII, #WW2, #AWS, #Aircraft_Warning_Service, #Observation, #Observation_Post, #Look_Out, #Army_Air_Force,