Plotting Rooms and Ground Observer Corps

At the beginning of the Cold War, radar equipment was similar to the Second World War.  Thus, plotting boards were still heavily used to show an up to date image of aircrat.  All of the information gained from the radar would be "plotted" on this board, to understand what was happening in the skies.

The Identification Section of Air Surveillance would find if the aircraft was friend, foe or unknown, using radar.  The Aircraft Movement Information Section of the Department of Transportation (DOT AMIS) gave all flight plans of friends to the stations.  These could therefore already be plotted on the table ahead of time for comparison.    

All of this information could then be passed on to friendly aircraft who needed it as well.  There would be certain frequencies they could turn to which would provide the information.  Weather, which was also considered in the plotting room, could be passed on as well.

The plotting tables could be horizontal plotting boards which were usually wooden and used symbols placed onto the board intself.  They could also be vertical boards which were made of see-through plastic and marked with grease pencil.  Both types had static geographical information painted on to be used as reference points.

All of this information was also further updated onto tote boards, where one could see the entire situation taking place.

In the early Cold War, air defence also still relied on the Ground Observer Corps, or GobC.  These people watched the skies and passed on information.  Even as radar advanced, they were still used because they could see low levels that radar could not.