31 Group S.A.A.D. 1940

[Michael Dobbs]

Nick Colley and I were contacted by Peter Burrows with the following query:

I have a post card from 31 Group S.A.A.D. Shrivenham, it is dated 30 May 1940
Do you know what SAAD stands for?

My response was: I did come across SAAD = School of Anti-Aircraft Defence, but that was only in one list and I cannot find any reference to such a School.

As for Shrivenham, it has military connections, but I cannot find out about its history. The website for the Defence Academy does not appear to work and looking at Wikipedia I cannot find any clear reference to Anti-Aircraft Defence. Shrivenham connections are:

Joint Services Command and Staff College (JSCSC), Shrivenham
Defence Academy of the United Kingdom - the Defence Academy is headquartered at what used to be the Royal Military College of Science

I cannot find any reference to 31 Group SAAD.

Nick Colley came back with the following suggestion:

Presumably we can deduce it has RAF affiliation, since the return address is 31 Group? If so, then see [url=http://www.rafweb.org/Organsation/Grp04.htm]http://www.rafweb.org/Organsation/Grp04.htm[/url] and you will note that 31 Group was part of Balloon Command 1939-1941. Mike's suggestion of School of Anti-Aircraft Defence would align with that, don't you think?

However, 31 Group is shown as: No. 31 Group (1 April 1939 to 13 November 1941), Birmingham

Can anyone add to the above please ?

Thanks, Mike