Operations Room

The Operations Room was the nerve centre at RAF Squires Gate - for the various Fighter Squadrons operating from Blackpool. RAF Squires Gate was part of Number 9 Group, who’s command centre was located within Barton Hall, which replaced an old manor house, built for the Shuttleworth family in about 1750. In 1939 - part of the estate at Barton Hall was requisitioned for military use. During the Second World War, the Operations Centre of Number 9 Group RAF was housed there in three buildings – an Operations Room, Filter Room and Communications Centre - which were partially buried for protection.  Although Squires Gate received its information from the Regional HQ, a similar organisational structure was required at each operational airfield.

Here in Hangar 42, we are in the process of creating the nerve centre for Squires Gate, using original furniture and visual aids - collected over the many years by our volunteers.  This room is a work in progress.

But what would you expect to see in this room?

Try to imagine the hustle and bustle of the RAF Officers and supporting Airmen and Womens Auxiliary Air Force personnel.  Planning for the day’s fighter cover, the allocation of aircrews and the management of aircraft serviceability would have taken place in an operations room such as this.  The elements of such a room would have been very similar at squadron level - to that of Sector Control.  Squires Gate orders came from Barton Hall - just outside Preston.  Barton hall was made up of the following elements:

The Operations room - at Sector HQ level - was responsible for directing RAF aircraft in the Number 9 Group area. This was hidden away in a bunker on Langley Lane, in Goosnargh, 1 mile east of the Barton Hall HQ - Broughton. After WW2 - the Royal Observer Corps, formed 21 Group Headquarters - and the Western Sector Control of the United Kingdom - Warning and Monitoring Organisation - took over the bunker. In the bunker - was the standby facility for the national control of the famous Four-minute warning - the nuclear air raid warning system for the UK! This former RAF bunker was closed in 1995, but now in private ownership, can still be visited.

RAF Sector Stations also contained a Filter Room. The Filter Room was located in a bunker on the south side of Whittingham Lane, a little further east of the Operations Room – and was responsible for filtering large quantities of intelligence on enemy activity - before it was passed to the operations room.  This was a safety measure - in case the Luftwaffe got wind of the Command Centre location. The Filter room contained a map-table - showing the British coast from north Wales through western Scotland. Eileen Younghusband - one of the Womens Auxiliary Air Force officers from the Barton Hall Filter Room recorded her experiences in her book - "One Woman's War.

The HQ Communications room - located on Brass Pan Lane, north of Broughton - on the road to Longridge - was responsible for accommodating all the communications equipment. The communications bunker can be clearly seen as you drive from Broughton towards longridge, but its former war time history is now much forgotten, and sadly this communications room is now only used to store farm machinery.

After the war, Barton Hall itself was the site of the Preston Air Traffic Control Centre - which provided the Area Control service between N-52:30 and N-55:00, with London A-T-C-C at Heathrow - and later West Drayton - to the South; - and Scottish A-T-C-C at Prestwick - to the North. The unit closed in 1975.

Back to RAF Squires Gates recreation of the operations room...  With telephones ringing, maps being studied, and Squadron strength being collated, this room would have been a constant hive of activity.  Operational orders were developed here - and Squadron and flight leaders given their orders before the day’s duty aircrews received their mission orders - later in the day - in a briefing room which you will see later on the tour.

On the walls - you will see genuine Sector and Squadron clocks, which were used to monitor flight endurance - and to estimate when our aircraft would be returning.  Contact with the Aircrews could be monitored from the squadron operations room - with desk telephone links to Broughton Hall also under constant monitoring.

WAAF’s moving aircraft mission blocks - on a large map – as seen in many wartime films - would not have been done here at the airfield; that would have been done at Broughton hall. However - a significant amount of information would have been on display on these walls – being continuously updated.  During the Liverpool Blitz - night fighters were on a constant state of alert at Squires Gate - and you can imagine the constant buzz of activity of both Aircrews and ground personnel active inside the Hangar - as they prepared the aircraft - and themselves - for the next mission.

Boulton Paul Defiant night fighters - based at Squires Gate - would have been ordered to take off from in here - to intercept bombers who were heading up the Ribble and Mersey estuaries – hoping to bomb Preston and Liverpool Docks. A story of one such Defiant is given later in the tour – you will even see the remains of the German bomber it shot down!

Make your way through to the next exhibit and tour. As you do so - you will pass through the Navy Army Air Force Institute – the NAAFI as it was – and still is - known to the military. This is where the aircrew and groundcrew would have come for a bite to eat or well-earned cup of tea. It would likely have been filled with chatter, laughter and smoke – from cigarettes and pipes. Note the items that would have been sold and pictures of their heroes and pin-ups!