Anti-Aircraft Command – Black Bow and Arrow aimed upwards on a scarlet square – original

Anti-Aircraft Command – Black Bow and Arrow aimed upwards on a scarlet square – original

– printed cotton.

The formation of a Command-level body of anti-aircraft defences had been announced in 1938, but Anti-Aircraft Command was not formed until 1 April 1939 under General Sir Alan Brooke, who had been commander of Anti-Aircraft Corps. He then passed control to Sir Frederick Pile, who would remain in command until the end of the war.^[1][2][3]

AA Command was under the operational direction of RAF Fighter Command as part of Air Defence of Great Britain, and occupied a headquarters known as Glenthorn in the grounds of Bentley Priory, home of Fighter Command.^[1][4]

The majority of AA Command’s guns and searchlights were operated by Territorial Army units. Some Regular Armyunits joined after they returned from the Dunkirk evacuation. Later, as the war progressed, Regulars and TA were freed up for overseas service by the use of men of the Home Guard (loading and firing the guns) and women of the Auxiliary Territorial Service (handling ammunition and operating gun directors)