55th Australian Anti Aircraft Company RAE

Colour patch while part of Engineers

Brief History

Raised at Artillery Barracks in Fremantle in early 1941 the unit developed the searchlight scheme for Fremantle which in time compromised 27 stations. The unit was mobilised n December 1941 and it moved to Attadale in February 1942. Here it was split to form a unit caring for searchlight units north of the river (66th Anti Aircraft Company) and one south of the river (55th Anti Aircraft Company) which had sections at Riverton, Melville, Beaconsfield, Mt Brown and Fremantle. Re-organised in November 1942, the unit was renamed 55th Australian Anti Aircraft Searchlight Company. In May 1943 searchlight personnel were transferred from the Engineer Corp to Artillery. An increasing number of VDC personnel were in the unit and it was again renamed, this time to 55th Australian Search Light Battery (Mixed).

With Cockburn Sound being developed as a naval base, coverage to the south increased, but without an VDC element. As the air defences of the Perth region were reduced, many units moved east or were disbanded and this unit to a skeleton of AMF crews. All Anti Aircraft defences in southern Australia were closed in December 1944 and the 55th Australian Anti Aircraft Company was disbanded at Attadale in January 1945.

Unit Personnel

• Garnet Lyndsay Adams 21 Oct 1940 - 30 Nov 1942
• Edward Hamilton Gregson 2 Dec 1940 - 29 Mar 1944
• Douglas Victor Wilkinson 18 Feb 1942 - 1 Aug 1944
• Harold George Bell 18 May 1942 - 30 Sep 1943

Notes

Content has come from The Unit Guide - Volume 3 - The Australian Army 1939-1945, page 3.324 - Graham R McKenzie-Smith - Big Sky Publishing - 2018