ABSTRACT
The flow of action and incident is interrupted to introduce an appreciation of the air defence organization which, so providentially, was being granted a dress rehearsal until the end of the first week of August. The pure air defence of the nation was the responsibility of the Commander-in-Chief, Fighter Command, who, in addition to his fighter Groups, exercised operational control over Anti-Aircraft Command, Balloon Command, the Observer Corps and No. 60 Group, more generally known as the Radar Chain. The nerve centre of the system was an attractive country house at Stanmore, Middlesex, not many miles from Marble Arch. The Press, Parliamentary and public pressure which followed Hitler’s boastful remarks in 1935 helped to stir the Government and not long afterwards, by one of those strange quirks of British history, the abdication of King Edward VIII and the coronation of King George VI made the Government still more concerned about the state of the anti-aircraft defences.
