Anti-Aircraft Command

Anti-Aircraft Command
Active	1 April 1939-10 March 1955
Country	United Kingdom
Branch	British Army
Type	Command
Garrison/HQ	Bentley Priory
Engagements	Battle of Britain The Blitz Baedeker Raids Baby Blitz Operation Diver
Commanders
Notable commanders	Lt-Gen Alan Brooke Lt-Gen Sir Frederick Pile

Anti-Aircraft Command (AA Command, or 'Ack-Ack Command') was a British Army command of the Second World War that controlled the Territorial Army anti-aircraft artillery and searchlight formations and units defending the British Isles.

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.

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.

The majority of AA Command's guns and searchlights were operated by Territorial Army units. Some Regular Army units 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).

Divisions under the command were:

AA Command was also responsible for the Orkney and Shetland Defences (OSDEF).

At the end of 1940, the Command created three Corps to supervise this expanding organisation:

In October 1942, the corps and divisions were abolished and replaced by seven flexible AA Groups more closely aligned with the operational structure of Fighter Command:

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