Originally based at Northholt aerodrome, in May 1916 the section moved to the National Physical Laboratory[1] at Bushy House, Teddington before moving to HMS Excellent on Whale Island near Portsmouth in Hampshire in September 1916.
[2] The section was led by the physiologist A. V. Hill, who was previously a Captain in the Cambridgeshire Regiment.
While on leave suffering from flu in January 1916, Horace Darwin approached him to work on anti-aircraft measures.
[3] Members of the section included Ralph H. Fowler Douglas Hartree, Arthur Milne and James Crowther.
In the 1880s he had developed a method of locating the position of a military balloon according to the x, y and z axes of Cartesian co-ordinates.