143rd (Mixed) Heavy Anti-Aircraft Regiment, Royal Artillery
143rd Heavy Anti-Aircraft Regiment was an air defence unit of Britain's Royal Artillery formed during World War II. It started out as a 'Mixed' regiment with around two-thirds of its personnel being women from the Auxiliary Territorial Service (ATS). The regiment defended the West of England from 1942 to the end of the war when it moved to South East England. The regiment continued in the postwar British Army.
Royal Artillery cap badge
An ATS member of a mixed 3.7-inch HAA gun battery, December 1942.
ATS women operating a height and range finder on an HAA gun site, December 1942.
Badgeworth Court: Regimental HQ.
5th Searchlight Brigade (United Kingdom)
The 5th Anti-Aircraft Brigade was an air defence formation of the British Army during the Second World War. It was formed as a searchlight brigade to protect the British Expeditionary Force's bases just before the Battle of France. After the Dunkirk evacuation it was reformed as a conventional anti-aircraft (AA) brigade and served through the rest of the war in Anti-Aircraft Command, defending various parts of the United Kingdom against bombing raids and V-1 flying bombs. It continued to serve in the Regular Army during the early postwar years.
90 cm Searchlight of 10 S/L Bty, 3rd S/L Rgt, in France, May 1940.
British prisoners being marched away after the fall of Calais, 26 May 1940
3.7-inch gun preserved at Imperial War Museum Duxford.
150 cm Searchlight fitted with SLC radar.