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This story is submitted to the People鈥檚 War site by a member of Market Harborough Branch, Royal British Legion on behalf of Tom Ashmore and has been added to the site with his permission. Mr Ashmore fully understands the site鈥檚 terms and conditions.

37R Installation Detachment REME
By Tom Ashmore

There must have been very many small, specialised units in the forces, some involved in secret, dangerous and exciting activities, others carrying out more mundane duties, but all contributing to the war effort. Little will have been recorded or published about the existence or purpose of many of these units. That this website provides an opportunity and an implied duty to do so, prompted me to set down what I can remember about the 37R Installation Detachment REME, in which I served from October, 1944 until it was disbanded in May 1946.

Thinking it unlikely that there would be any mention on the site of this tiny unit, I was delighted to find John Marsden鈥檚 contribution 鈥淩37 Installation by REME鈥� (there was always uncertainty whether the R preceded or followed 37). As John鈥檚 article deals with R37 as part of his wartime experience, I will concentrate here on the unit itself. My own relevant personal experience I have added as a contribution to the Forum which follows his story.

The 3.7 inch calibre anti-aircraft gun was made in two forms, one mobile on its own undercarriage and the other static (Heavy), for use on prepared foundations on 鈥減ermanent鈥� gun sites. Initially, both types were aimed manually, one man turning a crank to elevate or lower the barrel, another to rotate the gun left or right. On static sites a tracking device (eventually, radar) measured the position and speed of the target aircraft and predictor equipment calculated the elevation and bearing to which the gun should be moved for its shell to hit the target. Each gun-layer had to turn his crank so that on the instrument in front of him he kept the pointer showing his elevation or bearing in line with a pointer set by the predictor.

As aircraft speeds increased, accurate manual gun-laying became more difficult and eventually a mechanised system was designed and equipment developed which could be added to existing guns in the field. In the 1940鈥檚 this equipment was regarded as technically advanced and sophisticated, even secret. Highly skilled and experienced tradesmen would be needed and the work would require men of different traditional trades.

The 37R Installation Detachment was created to carry out this work (I do not know when). It was an independent REME unit within AA Command and outside the existing REME AA Workshop structure. Its O i/c was a Captain who answered direct to the senior REME officer, a Lieutenant Colonel, at Command HQ. He had two Lieutenants each responsible for a number of mobile parties each with five men. People with suitable skill and experience had often achieved promotion and the result was the formation of a unit nearly 鈥渁ll Chiefs and no Indians鈥�. Of a total complement of 65, 3 were officers about 36 were staff sergeants or sergeants and only 6 were without a stripe.

The unit HQ was at Golders Green, London NW11 and attached to No1 AA Workshop Company REME, its resident staff being the officers, a Cpl clerk and driver(s) for the Austin utility(ies). They arranged the deployment of the parties (and presumably, the 37R equipment) to the designated gun sites. Each party had its own 3-ton GMC truck, an enormous kit of tools and a good deal of independence. They were provided with accommodation and the facilities of the Royal Artillery unit whilst on site.

At the time that I joined 37R, its role was changing from wholly to partly mobile. Six of the parties had been concentrated in a permanent AA workshop, No 6, at Wainscot near Rochester, to which the guns were brought (on transporters) from their sites and returned after conversion. This new way of working was more efficient and more comfortable. But it meant that the parties had to adapt to a loss of independence. For me at age 21, fresh from six months technical training, the presence of so much experience, so many arms-full of chevrons and crowns and such seniority of years, it was an eye-opener. To be joining them as their boss it was daunting!

After several months the whole unit was brought together when we occupied part of the site of No 11 AA workshop at Wednesfield near Wolverhampton. As the war came to an end our numbers declined but the conversion of guns continued: they came in from sites but went out to storage areas 鈥� ready for the next war!! This activity continued until the unit was disbanded, I believe, in May 1946. During the last 5 or 6 months of its existence, the unit occupied a large workshop at Egington near Uttoxeter, vacated when an American Army Engineer unit was repatriated.

After some 60 years I am left with a number of questions:
Are any records of how many 3.7 Heavy AA guns were converted to remote control or how many we did not convert? Was there any assessment of the improved success of AA fire attributable to the equipment? Were 3.7鈥檚 eventually manufactured with this or similar equipment? What lessons were learned from this equipment that influenced the development of later control systems? What happened to all those able men I had the privilege to command? Apart from John Marsden and I, are there any other members of 37R Installation Detachment REME left?

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