Flight Officer Joan Fanshawe (nee Moxon) The Dowding System was fundamental to delivering victory in the Battle of Britain and other air battles over the United Kingdom during the Second World War. The system was many faceted, extensive and complex for its day; the operational roles within the system can be broadly described as those that made the system function, those that produced the tactical picture and those that exercised command and control of the air battles. The operations room plotters played a vital role in producing a display, on a large map table, of the tactical picture for commanders at all levels of command. It was from the tactical picture on the map displays that all battle management decisions flowed and at the lowest level of control from which the Sector Controllers managed the minute-to-minute air battle. For this reason the plotters had to be quick and accurate because the difference of only a few miles could mean an enemy air attack reaching its target unopposed. Joan Fanshawe joined the WAAF in mid 1940 at 19 years of age and was selected to be a Clerk Special Duties; this was the highly secret RAF trade group that had been formed especially to populate the Dowding System. After basic training she was sent directly to Uxbridge the Headquarters of Number 11 (Fighter) Group from which Air Vice Marshal Keith Park was responsible for defending the South East of England and London. It was usual for plotters to be sent to Leighton Buzzard for training but the demand for plotters was so urgent that Joan, along with some others, was trained on the job. She recalled that it was a most frightening experience and remembers well the terrifying Flight Sergeant that trained them. By September Joan was an experienced plotter and had witnessed directly the ebb and flow of what was to become known as the Battle of Britain. She was on duty on the 15th September, the fateful day when Churchill visited the operations room; the raids started to formate over France around 1100 hours and the first major enemy advance crossed the coast at around 1130. Joan recalled that they were extremely busy but was annoyed at Churchill because his presence delayed the watch change and they had to do another hour on duty. HQ 11 Group operations room was the most fiercely engaged operational centre in the UK from which Joan made a direct operational contribution to the Battle of Britain and the Blitz; she continued on operational plotting duties until early 1942 when she was commissioned as an Assistant Section Officer. She became an Operations B (Ops B) officer; these officers were employed in Sector Headquarters as assistants to the Sector Controllers and with especial responsibility for the efficient operation of the operations centre. She rose to the rank of Flight Officer and was at the Sector Operations Centre at Tangmere on D Day. Tangmere was the control centre responsible for the tactical control of aircraft crossing to the invasion area and providing air defence of the air corridors in conjunction with seaborne Fighter Direction Tenders. As one of the Dowding System veterans of the Association of RAF Fighter Control Officers Joan has taken part in numerous national events over the last several years. A particular highlight was when she read a prayer at the national celebration commemorating the 75th anniversary of the Battle of Britain at Westminster Abbey in September 2015. She also played a role in the opening of the Dowding System apse at Bentley Priory on the 1st April 2017. Like so many of her colleagues Joan was self deprecating about her work but the fact remains that Joan and her colleagues were a key operational component of ‘a most elaborate instrument of war,’ as Churchill dubbed the Dowding System, and that any error they made would have had immediate and grave consequences. Joan was the last known witness to events at the 11 Group operations centre on the 15th September 1940. For most of the last two decades Joan has travelled to New Zealand for 3 months over the Christmas period to be with her two daughters. Undaunted she set off in early December, arrived safely and enjoyed a few days good health before falling ill making the Christmas cake. She died in Hospital in Auckland on 19th December. Joan married Captain Thomas Fanshawe RN in 1944 and they had a two daughters and a son. The Association of RAF Fighter Control Officers 2nd January 2019

Thank you for setting up this memorial to Joan. We hope that you find it a positive experience developing the site and that it becomes a place of comfort and inspiration for you to visit whenever you want or need to.

I am I and you are you, whatever we were to each other that we still are. Speak to me in the easy way which you always used. Why should I be out of mind because I am out of sight? Life means all that it ever meant, it is the same as it ever was.