Dowding system (nonfiction)

This illustration shows the Dowding reporting chain for a highlighted Sector. ROC reports flow back through the Sector controls to FCHQ; it does not show the radars. Information flows back from FCHQ to Group, between groups, and down to Sectors, and then to the defences.

The Dowding system was the world's first wide-area ground-controlled interception network, controlling the airspace across the United Kingdom from northern Scotland to the southern coast of England.

It used a widespread dedicated land-line telephone network to rapidly collect information from Chain Home (CH) radar stations and the Royal Observer Corps (ROC) in order to build a single image of the entire UK airspace and then direct defensive interceptor aircraft and anti-aircraft artillery against enemy targets.

The system was built by the Royal Air Force just before the start of World War II, and proved decisive in the Battle of Britain.

Although many histories of the Battle of Britain comment on the role of radar, it was only in conjunction with the Dowding system that radar could be truly effective.

In the News

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  Brainiac Explains analyzes Dowding system, finds fault with human factors.

Fiction cross-reference

• Crimes against mathematical constants
• Gnomon algorithm

Nonfiction cross-reference

• War (nonfiction)

External links

• Dowding system @ Wikipedia