The 86th (Honourable Artillery Company) Heavy Anti-Aircraft Regiment (86th (HAC) HAA Rgt) was an air defence unit of Britain's Territorial Army (TA) that served throughout World War II. It defended London during The Blitz, landed on Juno Beach on D-Day, and defended the cities of Belgium against V-1 flying bombs.

Origin See main article Honourable Artillery Company

The Honourable Artillery Company (HAC) of London is the senior regiment of the British Army's Reserve Forces, with a history dating back to 1537. Between the two World Wars, it provided a TA unit of the Royal Horse Artillery. With the expansion of the TA after the 1938 Munich Crisis, the HAC formed several new units, including 86th (HAC) Anti-Aircraft Regiment ('Heavy' was only added to titles on 1 June 1940 to distinguish Heavy Anti-Aircraft (HAA) units from the new Light AA (LAA) units being formed). It was formally raised on 1 April 1939 at the HAC's Headquarters at Armoury House, Finsbury.Frederick, pp. 756–60, 777.HAC at Regiments.orgLitchfield, pp. 147–9.Money Barnes, p. 356.'The Part Played by 86 (HAC) HAA Regt RA in the Defence of Antwerp Against Flying Bombs from Oct 44 to Mar 45', 86 (HAC) HAA Rgt War Diary, March 1945, TNA file WO 171/4908.Lt-Col G.H. Champness, Special Order of the Day, 21 September 1945, 86 HAA Rgt War Diary, 1945, The National Archives (TNA), Kew file WO 171/4908.

The new regiment comprised Regimental Headquarters (RHQ) with 273, 274 and 275 HAA Batteries, forming part of 26th (London) Anti-Aircraft Brigade in 1st Anti-Aircraft Division of Anti-Aircraft Command.Routledge, Table LX, p. 378.AA Command 3 September 1939 at Patriot Files.

Mobilisation

In June 1939, as the international situation worsened, a partial mobilisation of the TA was begun in a process known as 'couverture', whereby each AA unit did a month's tour of duty in rotation to man selected AA gun and searchlight positions.Routledge, pp. 65–6. On 19 August, 86th (HAC) Rgt took its turn, manning AA gun sites in the London Inner Artillery Zone (IAZ), with 273 Bty at the Burnt Farm and Asylum sites at Finsbury Park, 274 Bty at Hyde Park and Southwark Park, and 275 Bty at Bostall Heath, Brockley and Hayes, Kent. The regiment was thus fully deployed when AA Command was fully mobilised on 24 August, ahead of the declaration of war on 3 September.86 (HAC) HAA Rgt War Diary, 1939–41, TNA file WO 166/2337.Routledge, p. 371.

Phoney War Once war was declared, the regiment handed back its gunsites to the units that normally manned them, and began double manning them as relief crews. RHQ moved to Eton Manor Sports Ground, and then to the Manor House at High Beech, Loughton. Several regiments from 26th AA Bde were sent to France as part of the British Expeditionary Force, taking their modern 3.7-inch AA guns with them, leaving 86th (HAC) to man their sites with obsolete 3-inch AA guns, or even old Lewis guns in a light AA (LAA) role. By October, the regiment was deployed with 273 Bty at Chadwell Heath and Burnt Farm (4 x 3-inch guns at each), 275 Bty at the Asylum site (4 x 3-inch guns), while 274 Bty under 38th LAA Brigade was defending the Handley Page aircraft factory at Radlett and Fairey aircraft factory at Hayes, Middlesex with 20 Lewis guns at each. The latter vulnerable points (VPs) were later handed over to specialist LAA units. The batteries moved around during the winter of 1939–40 as further gunsites of the London Inner Artillery Zone (IAZ) were established, but the regiment broadly remained covering the northern and eastern approaches to London.

The original personnel of the regiment and its recruits were of high quality and many of the other ranks (ORs) were selected for officer training (over 800 by September 1940, and 1,178 by the end of the war). Large numbers of young soldiers were transferred in from other RA regiments that were joining the BEF, but unusually, from November 1939, 86th (HAC) was permitted to recruit volunteers directly into the regiment, as well as receiving drafts from the RA training regiments. By July 1940, 274 Bty was running a training camp for 250 recruits at a time. It formed and trained 128 AA Z Battery in September 1940, and in November the camp commandant, Captain Geoffrey Champness, was sent to the AA training regiments at Arborfield Garrison with a cadre of experienced officers and ORs to form a new 383 HAA Bty, which joined 86th (HAC) in February 1941.Order of Battle of Non-Field Force Units in the United Kingdom, Part 27: AA Command, 12 May 1941, TNA file WO 212/79.

302 HAA Bty was attached from 99th (London Welsh) HAA Rgt in the spring of 1940, allowing 86th (HAC)'s batteries to attend practice camps in other parts of the country. RHQ moved to Bush Hill Park Golf Club at Enfield in May and Lieutenant-Colonel Basil Trappes-Lomax, MC, took command of the regiment. He left in November on promotion, and was replaced by Lt-Col John Ross.Farndale, Annex J.Trappes-Lomax at Generals of World War II.

The Blitz During the summer of 1940, the Battle of Britain was raging over Southern England, and 273 Bty fired the regiment's first shots at a hostile aircraft on 22 August. 275 Bty scored a confirmed 'kill' on the night of 9/10 September. In November, four ORs of the regiment were wounded when an unexploded AA shell fell into their gun pit.

By now, the night-time Blitz over London was at its height, with the London IAZ in action every night. AA Command decided to move guns out of the centre of the IAZ to thicken up the defences of the approaches. 86th (HAC) Rgt, still operating in 26th AA Bde, was given four 8-gun sites to control, with a battery temporarily brought in from another regiment to reinforce its own batteries – first 171 HAA Bty from 61st (Middlesex) HAA Rgt and then 157 HAA Bty from 53rd (City of London) HAA Rgt. 341 HAA Battery joined the regiment from 108th HAA Rgt on 16 December, but it left for 116th HAA Rgt on 4 January 1941. The regiment supplied a Cadre of experienced officers and other ranks to provide the basis for 383 HAA Bty formed on 14 November 1940 by 206th HAA Training Rgt at Arborfield; this was regimented with 86th (HAC) HAA Rgt on 8 February 1941.

By March 1941, the static 3.7-inch guns at several of the regiment's sites were being converted to mobile equipment, and one of the 8-gun sites was equipped with 4.5-inch guns. On 20 April, a so-called Land mine landed near one of the regiment's gunsites, killing one man and injuring nine.Routledge, Table LXV, p. 396.

The Blitz effectively ended in May 1941. There was no general air raid alarm over London between 27/28 July and November that year. In June, the second-in-command, Major A. Mills, went with another cadre and began to form 446 HAA Bty at 207th HAA Training Regt, Devizes. The new battery joined 86th (HAC) Rgt on 19 September, when 275 Bty left the regiment to join 118th HAA Rgt in Wales. In November, 86th (HAC) sent another cadre to 206th HAA Training Regt at Arborfield, where it was joined by an intake of soldiers from 225 and 233 LAA Troops, which had been formed in August 1939 for airfield defence and were now being disbanded. On 17 December 1941, they formed 499 (Mixed) HAA Bty for 141st (Mixed) HAA Rgt – 'Mixed' indicating that the unit's operational personnel included women of the Auxiliary Territorial Service (ATS). All of AA Command's regiments had ATS detachments in administrative roles.Frederick, p. 812.Order of Battle of Non-Field Force Units in the United Kingdom, Part 27: AA Command, 2 December 1941, TNA file WO 212/80.Order of Battle of Non-Field Force Units in the United Kingdom, Part 27: AA Command, 12 May 1941, TNA file WO 212/79Order of Battle of Non-Field Force Units in the United Kingdom, Part 27: AA Command, 14 May 1942, TNA file WO 212/81. A further cadre formed 532 (M) HAA Bty on 12 February 1942 at 207th HAA Training Rgt, Arborfield, which joined 156th (Mixed) HAA Rgt.

Mobile training On 3 January 1942, the regiment was placed on the Army Troops Reserve Roster, indicating that while remaining in AA Command it would begin training for a future mobile role in the field force. It was relieved from its sites east of London under 26th AA Bde and moved to 49th AA Bde west of London, taking over mobile 3.7-inch gun sites at Cobham and Old Woking (274 Bty), Weybridge and Weston Green (446 Bty), all in Surrey, West Drayton in Middlesex (383 Bty), and Datchet and Dorney in Buckinghamshire (273 Bty). RHQ moved from Wanstead, where it had been since the previous summer, to Cobham and later Datchett, and the last of the ATS staff left RHQ. Major Mills left to become CO of a Mixed HAA regiment, and Maj Champness became 2iC.86 (HAC) HAA Rgt War Diary, 1942, TNA file WO 166/7460.

In February, over 200 drivers were posted to the unit for its mobile role, together with the first of the additional vehicles required, and in March the gun crews practised anti-tank shooting with 3.7-inch HAA guns at Okehampton ranges. On 15 April, Lt-Col Ross was promoted to command a brigade and Maj Champness was promoted to take over. Geoffrey Harold Champness had first been commissioned into the HAC (infantry battalion) in 1934.Monthly Army List 1934–39.

In mid-May, the regiment was relieved from its gunsites and moved to Eastleigh, where it came under 11th AA Bde for a month's mobile training, after which it returned to 49th AA Bde. 446 HAA Battery left the regiment on 19 July 1942 to join 164th HAA Rgt, reducing 86th (HAC) HAA Rgt to the three-battery establishment for overseas service. The regiment continued its training, with a fortnight at Berechurch Camp, Colchester, for infantry training in July, and then moved to Scotland in October, under 6 AA Group. In between, the regiment occupied gunsites on the Essex coast for AA Command. While in Scotland, RHQ was established at Strathleven House, Dumbarton and then Langhouse, Inverkip.Order of Battle of Non-Field Force Units in the United Kingdom, Part 27: AA Command, 1 October 1942, with amendments TNA file WO 212/82.

On 1 December 1942, 86th (HAC) HAA Rgt was formally transferred from AA Command to Home Forces, and moved to Mushroom Farm Camp, Wethersfield, Essex.Order of Battle of the Field Force in the United Kingdom, Part 3: Royal Artillery (Non-Divisional Units), 18 February 1943, with amendments, TNA file WO 212/9 Until February, its batteries were loaned out to AA Command Gun Defence Areas (GDAs) at Norwich, Lincoln and York, which had been established during the Baedeker Blitz the previous year.86 (HAC) HAA Rgt War Diary, 1943, TNA file WO 166/11580.Routledge, pp. 402–3.

By now, the regiment consisted of RHQ and 273, 274 and 383 HAA Batteries, each equipped with 8 towed 3.7-inch guns in two troops of 4, with Gun-Laying (GL) radar. As a mobile regiment, it was joined by its own Royal Electrical and Mechanical Engineers (REME) workshop and Royal Corps of Signals detachment. It formally completed its mobilisation on 30 March 1943, when it became part of the Field Force.Routledge, pp. 305–6.Order of Battle of the Field Force in the United Kingdom, Part 3: Royal Artillery (Non-Divisional Units), 18 February 1943, with amendments, TNA file WO 212/9.

After attending No 16 AA Practice Camp at Clacton-on-Sea, the regiment moved to Drake Lines at Blandford Camp in Dorset in May 1943 to join the recently formed 80th AA Brigade. This formation was assigned to Second Army for the planned invasion of Europe (Operation Overlord).80 AA Bde War Diary 1943, The National Archives (TNA), Kew, file WO 166/11248.