John F. G. Howe - Royal Observer Corps

Royal Observer Corps

Following a tour of duty as an Operations Staff Officer, in 1977 Howe moved across the road on promotion to Air Commodore and took up the appointment as Commandant of the Royal Observer Corps who were also located at Bentley Priory.

Howe applied the same exacting standards and tight discipline to the ROC as he did to his flying. He found an organisation that was superficially sound but with an underlying air of relaxed complacency. His first action was to insist that all wholetime ROC officers, both newly appointed and those already in service, must qualify through the Specialist Entrant and Re-entrant (SERE) Officers Course at RAF College Cranwell. The first intake of five officers to do so attended '157 SERE' in October to November 1979 and Air Commodore Howe was guest of honour at the formal end of course dinner. Also, for the first time in the Corps' history, Howe initiated a two pronged regime of both a Commandant's Command Inspection and Operational Evaluations that would continue until the Corps was stood down. The Command Inspections took place in every group headquarters once every three years, with three months prior notice. Howe himself led a two man team of HQROC staff officers in a two day detailed review of administration and organisation by the wholetime and spare time staff.

The operation evaluations were a two day “No Notice” assessment of the group’s operational performance similar to RAF station TACEVALs, from Transition To War right through to prolonged operations under nuclear attack. The OPEVAL evaluation assessors consisted of a joint six man team from HQROC and the United Kingdom Warning and Monitoring Organisation who would arrive on an irregular basis and place the whole group on a realistic but simulated war footing. By the time Howe’s tenure ended in 1980 the dual regime of inspections left the ROC up to date, more efficient and comparable to any unit in RAF Strike Command and he was subsequently considered to have had a greater impact on the operational efficiency of the ROC than any other post-war Commandant ROC.

Howe also spearheaded the rapid improvement of inter-group communications over the coming years with the introduction of computerised message switching and modern integrated, EMP hardened telephone systems.

During his time with the ROC Howe additionally oversaw the Corps’ contributions to the Silver Jubilee of Elizabeth II celebrations and events and ensured that every advantage was taken to publicise the unsung work of the Corps. On 30 June 1977 Howe led an ROC contingent that took part in the Royal Review of Reserve and Cadet Forces at Wembley Stadium. On 29 July 1977 he attended when the ROC was represented in the indoor exhibition at the Royal Review of the Royal Air Force at RAF Finningley.

Air Commodore Howe handed over command of the ROC to Air Commodore R J Offord on 12 April 1981.