Tuesday March 17th 2026
Aviation expert, Ian Brown
Written by Local Democracy Reporter, Paul Kelly
A Peebles-based aviation expert is lifting the lid on the untold story of Scotland’s air defence network during the Second World War.
The National Museum of Flight’s aviation curator, Ian Brown, has spent 35 years researching The Air Defence System in Scotland: 1938-46, which is published on Thursday, March 19.
It traces the evolution of Scotland’s air defence network throughout the war, highlighting advances in technology and tactics and exploring how radar stations, Royal Observer Corps posts, and operations rooms worked together to detect and respond to incoming enemy aircraft.
Much has previously been written about Britain’s wartime air defences, but most accounts focus on the south east of England and the events of the Battle of Britain.
This new work instead highlights Scotland’s vital strategic role in tackling the hostile air activity that occurred around the country throughout the war.
During the conflict, when weather conditions allowed flying, German aircraft were in the air around Scotland almost every day.
The first air attack after Britain declared war on Germany took place in the Firth of Forth, and the first German aircraft shot down on British soil since the First World War fell over Scapa Flow.
The book explains how the Royal Observer Corps, comprised almost entirely of volunteers, observed aircraft movements visually and by sound, passing information to Observer Group centres across Scotland including Galashiels, Glasgow, Dundee, Aberdeen, Inverness, Ayr, Dunfermline and Oban.
Reports from radar and observers were then filtered and analysed in operations rooms where highly trained teams rapidly interpreted the data to build an accurate picture of aircraft positions and movements. The process was complex and relied entirely on human skill.
One small plotting error in this high-pressure environment could send pilots to the wrong location, making them miss an interception. It was also time-critical with information needed as early as possible to give fighter aircraft time to take off and climb to height.
The work of the Movement Liaison Organisation was also vital in tracking friendly aircraft from RAF Bomber and Coastal Commands so that British fighters were not scrambled unnecessarily to intercept their own aircraft.
The new book includes first-hand testimonies and rare wartime photographs, many never published before.
A foreword by Former Air Officer Scotland (2014-2023) Air Vice-Marshal Ross Paterson (Retired) explains that the principles of Air Defence remain largely unchanged to this day and highlights the continued strategic importance of Scotland’s location on the UK’s Northern flank in maintaining control of the air.
Among the many stories featured is the tracking of Deputy Führer, Rudolf Hess, whose solo flight from Germany in 1941 in an apparently unauthorised peace mission, was plotted by the air defence system until his crash landing on Eaglesham Moor in Lanarkshire.
It also highlights how an intended joke in early April 1942 – the spotting at Drumnadrochit of a Monster at grid ref QJ 0549 (Loch Ness) travelling north-east at a height of one minus (below 1,000 ft) – was believed to be genuine and passed to the Inverness Filter Room.
Ian said: “Scotland has a unique place in aviation history, yet the story of how its air defences operated during the Second World War has never been fully told.
“This book brings that story together for the first time, revealing how the people, technology and complex organisation behind the system worked together to defend Scotland’s skies.
“It was a truly impressive operation so as well as providing a comprehensive historical account, I hope the book will serve as a reminder of the gratitude we owe to all of the men and women who developed and operated this vital service.”
The book is being published by Sidestone Press, with the support of National Museums Scotland. It is a companion volume to Ian’s previous book, Radar in Scotland 1938-46, which was published in 2022.
Ian has worked for National Museums Scotland for 27 years, most of that time as a curator at the National Museum of Flight in East Lothian.
A graduate of the University of Stirling and the University of Leicester, Ian lives in Peebles with his wife Anne.
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