THESE Keighley members of what started the Second World War as the Observer Corps but gained a ‘Royal’ prefix in 1941 are celebrating the end of hostilities with a victory meal.
In addition to two full-time observers, they included a garage proprietor, solicitor, master printer, jeweller, tobacconist and at least five mill-owners.
Their Black Hill post was manned 24 hours a day, tracking aircraft and relaying information.
By the end of the war, an experienced observer could quickly identify up to 140 types of plane.
They were among the first to be aware of local aircraft crashes, which could be accompanied by exploding ammunition and left dangerous debris lying around.
“Children were seen coming away with their pockets crammed with ammunition picked up off the moor,” said a Silsden resident remembering the crash of a Mosquito near Nab End in 1943.
“There was a great rounding up by the police and hundreds of both cannon shells and machine-gun ammunition were recovered.”
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