The RAF Training Flying Control Centre was an early form of Aircraft Area Control Centre, the first of its kind in the world. It was situated at

Ramsey Grammar School Ramsey Grammar School is a coeducational comprehensive secondary school located in Ramsey, on the Isle of Man. History A grammar school has existed in Ramsey since 1681. It moved to Lezayre Road in 1933 and was housed in a building that now f ...

Isle of Man ) , anthem = "O Land of Our Birth" , image = Isle of Man by Sentinel-2.jpg , image_map = Europe-Isle_of_Man.svg , mapsize = , map_alt = Location of the Isle of Man in Europe , map_caption = Location of the Isle of Man (green) in Europe ...

.''Mona's Herald,'' Tuesday, June 12, 1945; Section: Front page, Page: 1

Operational Role

1941 - 1943

Requisitioned by the

Air Ministry The Air Ministry was a department of the Government of the United Kingdom with the responsibility of managing the affairs of the Royal Air Force, that existed from 1918 to 1964. It was under the political authority of the Secretary of State ...

, Ramsey Grammar School became the Operations Room for the fighter station at

RAF Andreas Royal Air Force Andreas or more simply RAF Andreas is a former Royal Air Force station in the Isle of Man which was operational between 1941 and 1946. It was built in fields between Andreas and Bride in the north of the island. As was common p ...

when the station became operational in 1941.''Ramsey Courier'', Friday, 19 October 1945; Page: 3 During that time information concerning all enemy aircraft flying in the area of the

Irish Sea The Irish Sea or , gv, Y Keayn Yernagh, sco, Erse Sie, gd, Muir Èireann , Ulster-Scots: ''Airish Sea'', cy, Môr Iwerddon . is an extensive body of water that separates the islands of Ireland and Great Britain. It is linked to the Ce ...

was processed by the

Operations Room A control room or operations room is a central space where a large physical facility or physically dispersed service can be monitored and controlled. It is often part of a larger command center. Overview A control room's purpose is produc ...

with aircraft being plotted on a large map, it then being the duty of the Operations Controller to task such fighters as was necessary to intercept; the Operations Room being particularly busy during raids on

Liverpool Liverpool is a city and metropolitan borough in Merseyside, England. With a population of in 2019, it is the 10th largest English district by population and its metropolitan area is the fifth largest in the United Kingdom, with a popul ...

Glasgow Glasgow ( ; sco, Glesca or ; gd, Glaschu ) is the most populous city in Scotland and the fourth-most populous city in the United Kingdom, as well as being the 27th largest city by population in Europe. In 2020, it had an estimated popul ...

and

Belfast Belfast ( , ; from ga, Béal Feirste , meaning 'mouth of the sand-bank ford') is the capital and largest city of Northern Ireland, standing on the banks of the River Lagan on the east coast. It is the 12th-largest city in the United Kingdo ...

. With the resulting strategic shift of the

Luftwaffe The ''Luftwaffe'' () was the aerial-warfare branch of the German ''Wehrmacht'' before and during World War II. Germany's military air arms during World War I, the ''Luftstreitkräfte'' of the Imperial Army and the '' Marine-Fliegerabtei ...

following the German Invasion of Russia (

Operation Barbarossa Operation Barbarossa (german: link=no, Unternehmen Barbarossa; ) was the invasion of the Soviet Union by Nazi Germany and many of its Axis allies, starting on Sunday, 22 June 1941, during the Second World War. The operation, code-named after ...

) RAF Andreas became a training station and the Operations Room in turn became redundant. However, with the multitude of RAF Stations situated around the Irish Sea area, considerable difficulty began to be experienced concerning the controlling of the various aircraft which were undertaking the training of numerous

navigator A navigator is the person on board a ship or aircraft responsible for its navigation.Grierson, MikeAviation History—Demise of the Flight Navigator FrancoFlyers.org website, October 14, 2008. Retrieved August 31, 2014. The navigator's primar ...

s, air gunners,

bomb aimer A bombardier or bomb aimer is the crew member of a bomber aircraft responsible for the targeting of aerial bombs. "Bomb aimer" was the preferred term in the military forces of the Commonwealth, while "bombardier" (from the French word for "bom ...

s and

wireless operator A radio operator (also, formerly, wireless operator in British and Commonwealth English) is a person who is responsible for the operations of a radio system. The profession of radio operator has become largely obsolete with the automation of ra ...

s. The training sorties took the pupils over the sea, and it was considered necessary to set up an organisation which would be able to maintain radio contact with the aircraft at any stage of their exercises, in order to pass

meteorological Meteorology is a branch of the atmospheric sciences (which include atmospheric chemistry and physics) with a major focus on weather forecasting. The study of meteorology dates back millennia, though significant progress in meteorology did not ...

conditions and instructions necessary to their safety.

1943 - 1945

In March 1943 a unit known as the Training Flying Control Centre (TFCC) was formed for this purpose being headed by

Wing Commander Wing commander (Wg Cdr in the RAF, the IAF, and the PAF, WGCDR in the RNZAF and RAAF, formerly sometimes W/C in all services) is a senior commissioned rank in the British Royal Air Force and air forces of many countries which have historical ...

Bullimore. The TFCC at Ramsey was the only organisation of its type in the whole

Royal Air Force The Royal Air Force (RAF) is the United Kingdom's air and space force. It was formed towards the end of the First World War on 1 April 1918, becoming the first independent air force in the world, by regrouping the Royal Flying Corps (RFC) and ...

, and its layout was peculiar to the work it was required to carry out. The officers responsible for the setting up of the operation had no previous experience or pattern to guide them, except such experience as had been gained in the Operation Control Rooms of

Fighter Command RAF Fighter Command was one of the commands of the Royal Air Force. It was formed in 1936 to allow more specialised control of fighter aircraft. It served throughout the Second World War. It earned near-immortal fame during the Battle of Britai ...

. The operations of such however had relied on the co-operation from the

Observer Corps The Royal Observer Corps (ROC) was a civil defence organisation intended for the visual detection, identification, tracking and reporting of aircraft over Great Britain. It operated in the United Kingdom between 29 October 1925 and 31 December ...

and

RADAR Radar is a detection system that uses radio waves to determine the distance (''ranging''), angle, and radial velocity of objects relative to the site. It can be used to detect aircraft, ships, spacecraft, guided missiles, motor vehicles, w ...

information from which was used to plot the positions of friendly and hostile aircraft alike, and although this was satisfactory for the purpose intended it was entirely inapplicable to the problems which faced the creators of the TFCC. During the peak period of operations, the Station was responsible for the safety of training aircraft from ten separate stations, and it was not uncommon for the Controller and his duty watch of

Women's Auxiliary Air Force The Women's Auxiliary Air Force (WAAF), whose members were referred to as WAAFs (), was the female auxiliary of the Royal Air Force during World War II. Established in 1939, WAAF numbers exceeded 180,000 at its peak strength in 1943, with over 2 ...

(WAAFs) and airmen to be responsible for the safety of over 200 aircraft flying at the same time, each carrying an average crew of five. The system of control was highly technical; the Operations Room being divided into three parts: * Signals Interception Room. This was staffed by WAAFs who would listen out for all signals passed between aircraft for which the Station was responsible. * Navigation Room. This is where the positions of the aircraft were mapped out using the bearing which had been intercepted by the

s. * Operations Room. This is where the information gathered would be plotted on the large plotting table. The Operations Room could therefore be described as the main source of information regarding any form of aircraft distress in any part of the Western and Northwestern seaboards of the

British Isles The British Isles are a group of islands in the North Atlantic Ocean off the north-western coast of continental Europe, consisting of the islands of Great Britain, Ireland, the Isle of Man, the Inner and Outer Hebrides, the Northern Isles, ...

. The Controller was responsible for informing the various air sea and mountain rescue services and for generally collecting and passing on all information to the different parties concerned. Due to the mountainous character of the

together with its often challenging

conditions it became apparent that additional aids to assist aircraft in distress were necessary. A ring of large

searchlight A searchlight (or spotlight) is an apparatus that combines an extremely bright source (traditionally a carbon arc lamp) with a mirrored parabolic reflector to project a powerful beam of light of approximately parallel rays in a particular direc ...

s were positioned around the Island for the purpose of directing aircraft away from high ground and towards the Island's three air bases- RAF Andreas,

RAF Jurby Royal Air Force Station Jurby or more simply RAF Jurby is a former Royal Air Force station built in the north west of the Isle of Man. It was opened in 1939 on of land acquired by the Air Ministry in 1937, under the control of No. 29 Group, ...

and RNAS Ronaldsway. One such example of the efficiency of the operation was demonstrated during an incident in the winter of 1944. On that occasion a

Vickers Wellington The Vickers Wellington was a British twin-engined, long-range medium bomber. It was designed during the mid-1930s at Brooklands in Weybridge, Surrey. Led by Vickers-Armstrongs' chief designer Rex Pierson; a key feature of the aircraft is its g ...

bomber A bomber is a military combat aircraft designed to attack ground and naval targets by dropping air-to-ground weaponry (such as bombs), launching aerial torpedo, torpedoes, or deploying air-launched cruise missiles. The first use of bombs dropped ...

was forced to ditch in the sea off

Maughold Head Maughold Head is the easternmost point of the Isle of Man and the closest point in the Isle of Man to England, being from St. Bees Head in Cumbria. Maughold Head lies in the northeast of the island, some from Ramsey, at the southern end of R ...

and the SOS was intercepted at the TFCC. Within a matter of minutes the

Coastguard A coast guard or coastguard is a maritime security organization of a particular country. The term embraces wide range of responsibilities in different countries, from being a heavily armed military force with customs and security duties to ...

had been alerted and distress signals were spotted off

. In turn an air sea rescue launch was scrambled from the RAF's Air Sea Rescue Station at North Shore Road, Ramsey, and the coastguard was requested to illuminate the scene of the ditching with a searchlight. Within 26 minutes of the SOS being intercepted the five

Canadian Canadians (french: Canadiens) are people identified with the country of Canada. This connection may be residential, legal, historical or cultural. For most Canadians, many (or all) of these connections exist and are collectively the source of ...

airmen were being landed at the Queen's Pier, Ramsey. Another instance was when an aircraft crash landed on the top of

Snaefell Snaefell ( on, snjœ-fjall/snjó-fall – snow mountain) – ( gv, Sniaull) is the highest mountain and the only summit higher than on the Isle of Man, at above sea level. The summit is crowned by a railway station, cafe and several communic ...

. The wireless operator was able to work his set and a message was intercepted at Ramsey, the bearing of which was received by the controller who was able to work out the position of the aircraft. A message was sent to the crew asking them to fire flares and every coastguard was briefed to take a bearing of any such signals visible. In a short time the aircraft was located and within 30 minutes of the crash the crew had been rescued.

Royal Visit

The centre was visited by Their Majesties

King George IV George IV (George Augustus Frederick; 12 August 1762 – 26 June 1830) was King of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland and King of Hanover from the death of his father, King George III, on 29 January 1820, until his own death ten y ...

and Queen Elizabeth on Wednesday July 4, 1945, as part of their two day trip to the

during which the King officiated at the Tynwald Day Ceremony.Isle of Man Examiner, Friday, June 29, 1945; Section: Front page, Page: 1

Closure

With the ending of hostilities the Royal Air Force Training Flying Control Centre's operations were wound down. The facility was derequisitioned and closed in the

Autumn Autumn, also known as fall in American English and Canadian English, is one of the four temperate seasons on Earth. Outside the tropics, autumn marks the transition from summer to winter, in September ( Northern Hemisphere) or March ( Sou ...

of 1945.''Isle of Man Times'', Saturday, November 03, 1945; Page: 10 Following a period of approximately 18 months the buildings in which the centre was housed re-opened as part of

References

{{reflist Royal Air Force stations in the Isle of Man Training establishments of the Royal Air Force