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The whole defence system of Fighter Command in 1940 was based on radar. The experiments had been successful. The new device worked. There were some 32 Chain Home radar stations, each involving 350 foot steel lattice masts, side by side, with 250 foot wooden masts. These were complemented by the Chain Home Low stations which had been developed by army scientists to detect aircraft flying at low altitude. On the steel masts were the radar devices sending out the pulse signals which got reflected from incoming aircraft. These reflections were picked up on the apparatus on the wooden masts. In their hut below, Airmen and WAAFs, known as Clerks-Special Duties, watched their cathode ray screens for the tell tale blips generated by incoming aircraft. Each such station was connected by landline, laid specially by the GPO to Bentley Priory. There, the signals came into a filter room designed to weed out false messages. Having got through that, the signal went on to the control room where a set of WAAFs, circulated around a very large scale map of Britain. There, they used the signals to place small blocks of wood representing the aircraft, red for the Germans which they called Bandits and black for ours. Above all this was a platform on which Dowding and his staff could watch the proceedings, as the WAAFs pushed the markers around.

Another important ancillary part of the organisation was played by the Observer Corps. With its 30,000 strong membership, spread amongst the one thousand observer posts dotted around the country, they fed their sightings of aircraft, enemy and friendly, through to their headquarters and from that to Bentley Priory. Each Observer Corps post was equipped with tin hats, apparatus for measuring the height of aircraft, telephones which connected them with the system, and, most important of all, tea making apparatus. The Observer Corps role was to keep track of aircraft over land. Radar only observed over the sea, pointing outward from the coast.

All this information which came into Bentley Priory was disseminated onwards to the four Groups. Each Group had a similar setup with WAAFs pushing markers around a map of their area. Executive responsibility for instituting action was held at Group level. The Group Commander decided which squadrons to send up, in what number, and which should be held in reserve. He actually fought the battle. It was on his skill and judgement that the outcome and confrontation with the enemy would depend. Each Group had its sector stations. These had the controllers who were in direct contact with the squadrons. They remained in touch with them after take off, giving them interception courses to fly which were marked on the Sector plotting tables. This is how Fighter Command was to operate throughout the battle. Its operations were invariably in response to what the radar was showing, which was plotted at HQ Control and then at Group Control. The whole thing worked like a coordinated machine. At the time, the system was absolutely unique, there was nothing else like it. It was to play a vital part in the battle.

Fighter Command came into existence when, in the Spring of 1936, the RAF was reorganised into separate Commands. Fighter Command’s first commander was Air Chief Marshal Sir Hugh Dowding. His experience made him a very appropriate choice. Dowding had been a pilot on the Western Front during the First World War. He had also been the Air Member on the Air Council responsible for Supply and Research and, then, just for Research and Development. He had a reputation for being interested in innovation. The proposals for radar were just up his street. As was the development of the new monoplane fighters. He had worked closely with Tizard, and monitored the progress of Watson Watt, the radio engineer responsible for the idea of radar. He was intensely loyal to his pilots and indeed to the whole Command. He lived for it as they were soon to die for it.

The headquarters for Fighter Command was at Bentley Priory, an old building much restored, some 20 miles west of London. The Command was divided into three, then into four separate groups. Geographically, these had been laid out on the assumption that the Germans would be coming across the North Sea from Germany itself. This had all been changed by the fall of France. Consequently, 11 Group with headquarters at Uxbridge and covering the south of England from Middle Wallop to Manston in Kent, was to bear the brunt of the battle to come. During the Battle of Britain it was commanded by a New Zealander, Air Vice Marshal Keith Park.

The other Groups were 12 Group, above London up to the Midlands with headquarters at Duxford, and commanded by Air Vice Marshal Trafford Leigh Mallory. Above them, was 13 Group, covering the north of England and Scotland, under the command of Air Vice Marshal Richard Saul. The new group, formed in July 1940, was 10 Group and covered the west of England, particularly the south west. Its HQ was in Middle Wallop and the Commander was Air Vice Marshal Quintin Brand. There were over 25 airfields in the Command, most of them flying Hurricanes or Spitfires. The squadrons situated on RAF stations were like guest in a hotel. They were moved according to operational needs.