If by the "Ground Observer Corps" you might mean those people
recruited to sit in little shacks and watch for Russian bombers during the
'50s, I was [and I hate to admit I'm an historic resource] one of them.

I was, along with a few of my classmates, recruited out of, I think, the
5th grade. We signed up and were sent, during school hours, to spend
an hour or so in a little shack set up in an open field next to the bus
garage.My sense is that these little shacks were spaced all over the
state, but I couldn't tell you whether there was even another one in
Otsego County, or if there was one at every school.

The shack was just about 8 x 8 feet, as I recall, made of 2x4s and
covered with some very temporary siding [I can't recall what]. Inside
was a table, chair, and telephone. The telephone was a hot line to some
sort of command control facility in Syracuse.

On the table were two items; a log sheet where your recorded all your
observations [many narrow rows and columns; my first experience with
government forms!] and a rectangular book with a black plastic cover.
This book was the best part of the assignment, because inside it were
profiles and typololgies of all the known aircraft we might observe flying
overhead. I spent many an idle hour, waiting for the attack, pouring over
the section on Russian bombers.

Whenever a plane was seen or heard passing overhead, I had to run
outside, note whether it was a prop or jet, how many engines, and
which direction it was going. I don't recall how we knew the compass
bearings, but there may have been something drawn on the floor or the
shack, or on the table. Then I urgently had to fill in the data on the log
sheet and then dial the phone [I think I just cranked it - no dialing involved]
and when the Syracuse center answered, I was to say "Aircraft Flash,
Aircraft Flash" and then give them my data on the observed flight.

Thinking back on it all, it seems so bizarre, to think that in the middle of
New York State [this was Gilbertsville, in Otsego County] a fifth grader
would look up in the sky and be the first line of defense against flights of
invading Russian bombers. But in that time, all this made absolute sense. I
remember the orientation speech each class got from a local Civil
Defense representative, and we all firmly believed that we were, in
some small but meaningful way, protecting the country - like some 1950s
pre-adolescent Militia.

This was the era of "duck-and-cover" drills in the school hallways, and
articles on how to build a bomb shelter in Mechanics Illustrated. I recall
worrying about the time slots for which no-one had signed up, and
whether the country was in jeopardy when the little observation shack
stood empty.

I was so dedicated, that one day, on my way home from school and
after my "tour of duty" had expired, I saw a high-flying jet [one of our
own bombers, I think], and even though I was "off-duty", I went into the
un-manned shack and called it in. I was sharply disappointed to be
lectured by the command center operator, as the observation post had
apparently been "de-activated." How embarassing, to by trying to save
the country from nuclear attack without filling in the proper forms first!

But I learned about aircraft typlogy, and which way was north; got a little
more confidence using the telephone on my own, and (and this is most
important) how to fill out a government form. And, after all, we did
prevent the Russians from bombing Otsego County, didn't we?

Now if this is NOT what your question on the "Ground Observation
Corps" was about, excuse me for going on at length about one of the
more vivid recollctions from my younger days.
Phil Lord
Historical Survey
New York State Museum
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