INTRODUCTION TO  RAF SIGNALS AND COMMUNICATIONS

View of the Museum showing some of the Telegraphic and Telephone exhibits

Signals have been an essential part of warfare since prehistoric tribes first discovered that collective violence offered a viable and generally more exciting alternative to starvation poverty and subjugation. In the early days communication was limited to verbal signals supplemented by hunting horns, beacons and drums. Later on the development of writing permitted the exchange of more complex information, but the rôle of signals remained essentially the same; the communication of intelligence about the enemy and the dissemination of orders to friendly troops.

The advent of the telegraph in the 19th century represented the most significant advance in signalling for over 4,000 years, but its dependence on fixed infrastructure limited its utility to strategic communication. However, the development of wireless in the later part of that century offered the possibility of mobile communications suitable for use on the battlefield. Powered flight became a practical reality at about the same time and the two technologies, signals and aviation, were soon brought together over the bloody battlefields of the Western Front and the story of RAF Signals began.

One of the many pictures on show. This one shows Wireless Operator training at Cranwell in 1930

Some early signalling equipment - Semaphore Flags and Morse Signalling Lamps

A Revophone Crystal Set Receiver from World War I to the 1920's