Country United Kingdom Type Anti-Aircraft Brigade | Branch Territorial Army Role Air Defence | |
Active 29 September 1938–31 October 1955 Part of 2nd AA Division
1st AA Group | ||
The 41st (London) Anti-Aircraft Brigade was an air defence formation of Anti-Aircraft Command in the British Territorial Army, formed shortly before the outbreak of World War II. Its role was to defend East Anglia.
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Origin
The brigade was formed on 29 September 1938 at Ebury Street, London, as part of 2nd Anti-Aircraft Division. By the outbreak of war on 3 September 1939, it had the following units under command:
World War II
Although based in London, the brigade's war station was in East Anglia, and its units deployed across the region on the outbreak of World War II. The first months of the war were quiet, but on the night of 7/8 June 1940, 32nd AA Battalion was the first searchlight unit to bring down an enemy aircraft, the crew of a Heinkel He 115 coastal reconnaissance aircraft being dazzled by a detachment at Rendelsham and crashing nearby.
By the summer of 1940, all TA searchlight regiments had been transferred to the Royal Artillery (RA), and AA regiments had been redesignated Heavy Anti-Aircraft (HAA) to distinguish them from the new Light Anti-Aircraft (LAA) regiments being formed. During the intense period of activity of the Battle of Britain and subsequent Blitz, 41 AA Bde's organisation changed in other ways as well, giving it the following order of battle by November 1940:
Postwar
On 1 January 1947, 41 AA Bde was redesignated 67 AA Bde in the reformed TA, with its HQ at Shepherd's Bush and constituting part of 1 AA Group. It had the following units under command:
The brigade was placed in 'suspended animation' on 31 October 1955, shortly after the abolition of AA Command, and formally disbanded on 31 December 1957.