132nd Light Anti-Aircraft Regiment, Royal Artillery

The 132nd Light Anti-Aircraft Regiment (132nd LAA Rgt), was an air defence unit of the British Army's Royal Artillery during World War II.

The cluster system was an attempt to improve the chances of picking up enemy bombers and keeping them illuminated for engagement by AA guns or night fighters.

By the autumn of 1941 the brigade began to receive its first purpose-built SLC radar (AA Radar No 2) in sufficient numbers to allow the sites to be 'declustered' into single-light sites spaced at 6,000 yards (5,500 m) intervals in a 'Killer Belt' cooperating with RAF night fighters.

[13][14] The AA defences of Southern England were severely tested in the summer of 1942 by the Luftwaffe's 'hit-and-run' attacks against coastal towns, and there was much redeployment of LAA units to deal with these raids.

[14][17][18] With the lower threat of attack by the weakened Luftwaffe, AA Command was now being forced to release manpower for the planned invasion of Normandy (Operation Overlord).

[7][21] The beginning of the V-1 campaign against London came on 13 June, a week after Overlord was launched on D Day, and Operation Diver was put into immediate effect.

The V-1 presented AA Command's biggest challenge since the Blitz: the small fast-moving targets often cruising above the effective range of LAA guns presented a severe problem for AA defences, and after two weeks' experience AA Command carried out a major reorganisation, stripping guns from other areas and repositioning them along the South Coast to target V-1s coming in over the English Channel.

28th AA Bde moved to this new formation in December 1944, giving up its previous units and taking over fresh ones.

150 cm S/L with AA Radar No 2
A Bofors crew undergoing training in early 1942.
Bofors gun and crew, summer 1944.
V-1 slung under the wing of a Heinkel He 111 bomber.