Ground Observer Corps sightings, where?

Just made my 20th post and it only took me over a year!



Does anyone know who has Ground Observer Corps sightings from the 50's? There was some info on the 40's in the state's archives but Nara (National Archives) says Maxwell Airforce Base has some microfilm. Was hoping someone already has the files. It's a good tool to have if you want to see if any sightings were reported on the day of a particular incident.


Here's a little historical background and interesting article from Airforce-magazine
The Ground Observer Corps

Some 800,000 volunteers at 16,000 observation posts scanned the sky for hostile aircraft.


Before electronic sensors guarded the approaches to North America, before satellite warning systems peered down from space, before air defense aircraft carried identification equipment, the US had the Ground Observer Corps.

In World War II, and then again during the early years of the Cold War, the nation’s air warning system lay largely in the hands of the corps, a US military adjunct composed almost entirely of volunteers, intently studying wall charts and model airplanes to memorize the characteristics of “ours” and “theirs.”

They were teenagers and housewives, manning search towers and bare rooftops, equipped only with binoculars. Through the war years and most of the 1950s, GOC members spotted and plotted the movements of potentially hostile aircraft. These almost always turned out to be friendly, but they might well have been intruders bent on mounting a surprise attack.


photo credit 1-collectair.com
photo credit 2-project1947.com