Royal Observer Corps Caledonian Sector Bunker

Location:
Royal Observer Corps Caledonian Sector Bunker
59A Craigiebarn Road,
Dundee, Scotland DD4 7GB
United Kingdom

Contact:
Gavin Saxby
gavin[at]28group.org.uk

Tours by appointment only.

Description: 

The 28 Group Observed is a registered Scottish Charity who looks after the Royal Observer Corps (ROC) Caledonian Sector bunker at Craigiebarns, Dundee, United Kingdom.

During the Cold War the Royal Observer Corps (ROC), a group of uniformed civilians, changed from an aircraft observation role to a nuclear reporting and monitoring role and 1563 person underground posts were built to provide information on bomb height and direction, overpressure and radiation levels from across the whole country back to twenty five Group Head Quarter (HQ) bunkers. These Group HQs analysed the data and reported it up to five Sector HQ bunkers where scientists could interpret the data and provide information to the government and armed services about which areas were going to have nuclear bombs dropping or fallout and then sound sirens to warn the civilian population.

With the end of the Cold War in 1991, the Corps was stood down and the bunkers were all sold off or returned to the original landowners. Some HQ bunkers and monitoring posts have been restored and are open to the public.

The Caledonian Sector bunker has been under restoration since 2004 and is nearing completion. The bunker was opened in 1962 as the control bunker for the Royal Observer Corps' 28 (Dundee) Group. In 1976 it was extended in order to become the UK Warning and Monitoring Organisation (UKWMO) Caledonian Sector HQ bunker, covering the whole of Scotland. The site is on three floors and contains two "ops" rooms, one for group operations and one for sector operations.

Cold War Interests: 

The 28 Group Observed promotes the history and legacy of the Royal Observer Corps. Therefore, it provides a range of activities:

| holding an archive of Royal Observer Corps paperwork and other documentation like training manuals, exercise report forms, maps, paper forms used in the HQ bunker (both used and blank), almost every issue of the Royal Observer Corps Journal, course notes etc;

| holding a collection of Royal Observer Corps uniforms, artifacts and other materials relating to the Cold War;

| analysing, repairing, and producing modern, functionally equivalent copies of electronic and mechanical artifacts used by the Royal Observer Corps to enable other collectors and restorers to have them for display where the original items are too scarce or expensive for them to buy.

| A Facebook Page offers news all around the site.

| The 28 Group Observed offers guided tours of the Bunker, by appointment only.