Anti Aircraft Operations Room Frodsham, Cheshire

In June 1950 the outbreak of the Korean War raised concerns that it might be a prelude to a communist attack on Western Europe. To counter this there was a massive rise in western defence spending.

In the United Kingdom this was manifest in a huge programme to renew the country’s air defences. To defend keys strategic areas the country was divided into 33 Gun Defended Areas. The anti-aircraft guns in each of these areas were controlled from an Anti-Aircraft Operations Room whose function was to allocate targets to the individual gun sites. Internally, there was a double storey plotting room with maps overlooked by a viewing gallery and controls rooms to direct the guns at intruding aircraft.

This design of bunker was copied at Ejby, Copenhagen, where it was used to control the city’s air defences. It illustrates how in the immediate aftermath of the Second World War many European countries looked to Great Britain for defence technology; a market later dominated by the United States.