Formation badge, 1st Anti-Aircraft Division, 1935-1942

Cloth badge with an embroidered red sword piercing a black aircraft, on khaki ground.

This was the first Anti-Aircraft formation to be raised when Britain's air defences were strengthened in the 1930s. The Division was formed with Headquarters in Hillingdon, in 1935 from Territorial Army Anti-Aircraft units located around London. It was very active during the Blitz in and around London during World War Two (1939-1945). The division was disbanded in 1942 when the structure of Anti-Aircraft defences was changed.