The 1st Anti-Aircraft Division was an Air Defence formation of the British Army before and during the early years of the Second World War. It defended London during the Battle of Britain and The Blitz.
Men of a TA battery training on a 3-inch gun at their drill hall in 1938.
206 Brompton Road, the former Brompton Road tube station closed in 1934, used as the headquarters of the London Inner Artillery Zone anti-aircraft defences during the Second World War
The crew of a 4.5-inch static AA gun at Clapham Common take post in August 1940
3.7-inch gun in Richmond Park 1940
Frederick Alfred Pile
Videos
General Sir Frederick Alfred Pile, 2nd Baronet, was a senior British Army officer who served in both World Wars. In the Second World War he was General Officer Commanding Anti-Aircraft Command, one of the elements that protected Britain from aerial attack.
Major General Robert Whittaker (centre left); Lieutenant General Sydney Wason (centre), and Lieutenant General Sir Frederick Pile (centre right) at Anti-Aircraft Command on 14 February 1941 during a visit by David Margesson, the Secretary of State for War.
Pile, with Winston Churchill and Churchill's daughter, Mary, watch anti-aircraft guns in action against V1 flying bombs, 30 June 1944.
The Battle of Britain class locomotive Sir Frederick Pile at Bitton railway station in 2006