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WWII Barrage Balloon Sites

  • Thread starter Thread starter Phil Bonner
  • Start date Start date
Radiorails said:
I do remember being encouraged to say 'night, night" to this balloon who, it seemed, was called Barry.:D .
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A nice memory, Alan. Another example of how our parents protected us young children from the worst of the horrors which were occurring in the world.

Chris
 
Did Phil ever finish his research/book on barrage balloons? A cousin of mine, around ten years old at the height of the war, sent me a written memory. At the time, she was living on Daisy Farm Road, Warstock, south of central Birmingham. She said there were barrage balloons located near Daisy Farm Park, which I believe was near Gorleston Road. There were anti-aircraft guns on Daisy Farm Road, and a German aircraft crashed in a local field, known as The Stiles. The Prince of Wales Pub was very close by. Don't know if this is in an area Phil was looking at and/or researching, or if he's maybe already done, but throw this out just in case it's of any interest.

Ann
 
Phil, If you ever update your record of Barrage Balloon Sites, there was one located on the Handsworth Grammar School Playing Field site in Romilly Avenue, Handsworth. Regards willey
 
I stumbled across William Gell recently as an officer and then CO 1/5th Warwicks in the First World War. His medals are on display in the Fusiliers Museum at Warwick. In the Second World War he commanded all Balloon Groups in Britain. Life history below...

William Charles Coleman Gell, 1/5th Battalion Royal Warwickshire Regiment
1888 July 10. Born Birmingham. Son of William James Gell (born 1856) of Cora Lyn, Solihull and Catherine born at Maidstone in 1859. Parents were married in 1885.
1891 Census records him living with his Birmingham born grandfather, Joseph C Gell, a retired accountant, at 45, Wordsworth Road, Bordesley, Birmingham and his wife, Catherine. His parents were at 172, Golden Hillock Road, Bordesley at the time of the census.
1901. Census records him living with his parents at 111, Gough Road, Edgbaston, his older sister Catherine and his younger sister, Mary. His father was a manager of an umbrella works. There were two servants.
Educated Malvern College and Caius College, Cambridge where he achieved a law degree. Also OTC there.
1911 May 12 Joined the 1/5 Royal Warwicks as a Second Lieutenant. At the same address as 1901. He was described as a solicitor’s articled clerk. His father was now director of a firm which manufactured umbrella ribs and ‘furniture wire files’.
1913 Articled in Birmingham and London. Passed the solicitor’s final examination with honours.
1914 January-August. Solicitor in London
1914 December 16. Lieutenant
1916 June 1. Captain
1916 Wounded on the Somme
1916 October 3 to June 28 1917. Acting Major
1917-19 Commanded 1/5 Warwicks from August 23 1917 having held acting command summer 1917. Served in France and Italy. DSO (January 1 1918) with bar(June 3 1919) and MC (January 1 1917). Italian Silver Medal for Valour. Mentioned in despatches
1923 Married Edith Maud, daughter of William Francis Gosling
1928 Became official referee under the Landlord and Tenant Act
1924-9 Commanded 1/5 Royal Warwicks
1929 Son William Roy Gell born (also daughters Diane and Sheila)
1934. Recorded as a solicitor at 36, Waterloo Street, Birmingham practicing since 1919 (Johnson and Company) and living at Dorridge House, Dorridge. Deputy Lieutenant of Warwickshire (from 1931).
1935 Joined the Anti-Aircraft Service (TA) as an officer
1938 Transferred to the Auxiliary Air Force when Balloon Command formed
1940 September 1. By this date Group Captain with No 5 Balloon Centre
1941 Commanded No 6 Balloon Centre
1941 July 1. Became A.O.C No 30 (Balloon Group) - London area
1944 February 1. Air Officer Commanding RAF Balloon Command
1944 June 8. Awarded the CB
1944 September. Attends service of thanksgiving and parade on the anniversary of the Battle of Britain
1945 March 26. Resigned his commission but retained his rank
1945 December. Still at Dorridge House
1954 August. Now living at The Knoll, Warwick Road, Solihull
1969 Died May 16.
 
Is there anyone who remembers a barrage balloon site on the fields in Kitwell Lane (now Clent Way)?
I have been chatting to my mum who has many memories of our time in Bartley Green from February 1952 – 1979. We lived at 186 Hasbury Road next door to the midwives Phyllis Dell and Pat Igoe, sadly both no longer with us.
She said she remembers Mrs James, who lived in one of the Kitwell cottages at the time, telling my father about the barrage balloons that were there during the war. She said Mrs James thought they were there because of the Birmetals factory and Bartley Reservoir. I remember the huge concrete slabs with metal rings in that we used to play on in the fields down Kitwell Lane. In fact they were there until they built the houses in Clent Way on that side of the road and I am sure many locals will remember them too.
 
Only just found this thread.

Brings back memories of watching the barrage balloon from our garden in Kingsbury Road Erdington.
 
My family was living in Handsworth Wood at the time that WW2 was declared. I cannot remember the name of the road on which we lived, but the house was called Highfield, and backed onto a large recreation field, on the other side of which was a council housing estate. A barrage balloon was sited on the rec. field just behind the house, and my mother used to make cakes, etc., for the men manning the site. As a mark of gratitude, the balloon was named Susie after my mother, which led to a rather amusing incident involving my sister (who was 15 years my senior) when she was returning home from a party with a boy friend, who remarked "I see Susie's still up", to which my sister responded "Oh no, Mum wouldn't stay up this late for me". If anyone can suggest what the name of the road was, I would be very grateful.

Arrow
 
Arrow, I believe the barrage balloon site in Handsworth Wood was sited on the Handsworth Grammar School playing field in Romilly Avenue. Not 100% sure but I think it to be so. Regards. willey
 
Romilly Avenue off Wood Lane - my parents lived in Wood Lane, and my mother in law lived in Handsworth Wood for 59 years, so I know it fairly well. I have to say I am not aware of any council housing in Handsworth Wood at all. Is it possible that you could mean somewhere around Cherry Orchard Road perhaps? - the open land at the back is I think Perry Barr Park, and there are houses the other side of that, in Perry Barr, but I don't think they are council houses. There was open land off Beauchamp Avenue (some still there). Is there anything else you remember about the area, that could give us a clue? Then we might be able to locate the road, between us.
 
Hello Shortie and Willey, Thank you for your responses. Romilley Avenue rang no bells, although Wood Lane caused a faint tinkle (but that might be due to it being such a common street name). Looking at the area on Google Earth, it appears that the area has been considerably redeveloped. All I remember about the houses that were there then was that they appeared to my very young eyes to be very tall and thin. As I remember them, they were probably late Edwardian, on three floors, semi-detached, with sloping front gardens, and long narrow rear gardens at the end of which was a rough access lane, on the other side of which was the rec. Many of the houses had garages at the end of the garden, opening onto the lane.
 
Could be Hamstead Road near to Brown's Green. Further down Hamstead Road, towards the hill into Hamstead Village, the houses were extremely large and probably 1920's. I know of no other part of Handsworth Wood that has Edwardian houses in, they are mostly post-war. The area has been redeveloped, yes, but not much recently, mostly just prior to and just after the war. On Hamstead Road the gardens slope towards the pavement, at least I think they do, but there is not a council estate anywhere near. You may mean Grestone Avenue and the surrounding area, but they are private. Apart from this, I can be of little help, although I know the area very well. Wood Lane may be common in name, but that particular Wood Lane has been there since the early 1800's if not earlier. There is a cottage there which was built in the late 1700's, it may have been part of a farm. I wish I could help further!
 
Thanks, Shortie, much appreciated. I am writing a family history for my grandchildren, and have been able to trace most of the houses in which my family have lived, but the Handsworth house remains a mystery. Thanks anyway. Arrow
 
Hi Arrow - you now say Handsowrth and not Handsworth Wood - I presume you know they are different? I would suggest you ask someone on the Forum to look for them on the Electoral Roll, I am sure someone will oblige and then you will know for sure.
 
Ann Steiner said:
Did Phil ever finish his research/book on barrage balloons? A cousin of mine, around ten years old at the height of the war, sent me a written memory. At the time, she was living on Daisy Farm Road, Warstock, south of central Birmingham. She said there were barrage balloons located near Daisy Farm Park, which I believe was near Gorleston Road. There were anti-aircraft guns on Daisy Farm Road, and a German aircraft crashed in a local field, known as The Stiles. The Prince of Wales Pub was very close by. Don't know if this is in an area Phil was looking at and/or researching, or if he's maybe already done, but throw this out just in case it's of any interest.

Ann
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Hi Anne,
I've just found your post.
I grew up near Daisy Farm park and the balloon barrage your cousin mentioned was just across the road, in a field bordered by Maypole lane and Highters Heath lane. We kids played in there after the war and (not surprisingly) called it "The Balloon Field".
Talking to my (95 year-old) mother today, she remembers a balloon catching fire on the site. From what I read here, this was quite a common occurrence !
 
Shortie said:
Hi Arrow - you now say Handsowrth and not Handsworth Wood - I presume you know they are different? I would suggest you ask someone on the Forum to look for them on the Electoral Roll, I am sure someone will oblige and then you will know for sure.
Click to expand...

Hello, Shortie, Yes, sorry, I hadn't fully taken in that Handsworth and Handsworth Wood are different entities. I am pretty certain that where we were living was in Handsworth Wood. And thanks for the tip re: electoral rolls. I'm not sure that my parents would have been in residence long enough to appear on an ER as I think we only lived there for about a year.
 
Hello Anne, I know my wife is american and it is not easy if you are not here in the UK!
Would you like to create a word document about what you are trying to do with any dead ends or queries you have and I can then publish it on our website and can also put it into our newletters to see if any of ex-balloon operators can help.

Peter
 
Is there any way the missing images can be reinstated or are they lost forever. ?
It's sad that there are so many memories but only a few real images.
 
I remember seeing a Balloon site in Digby Park Small Heath. My dad told me that a balloon broke away from its moorings and came down in Heather Road with its cables draped over the roofs of houses causing a great deal of damage. aggie
 
On a quick look through the Posts I haven't seen mention of a Balloon located at the Yatching Pool Bournville. I passed one there on my way to Bournville School.
 
Does anyone know the location of 915 Squadron's Barrage Balloon site number 17? This concerns the balloon cable which engaged an already stricken Heinkel in the early hours of 10th April 1941 which crashed at Smethwick.
 
There was a barrage balloon (largely female) crew sited in playing fields half way down Oakhurst Road, Acocks Green. Used to watch them inflating the balloon and raising it up into the sky attached to its steel cable. One night we also had an anti aircraft gun in the road firing away (mainly to boost public morale I think, rather than to shoot planes down). A prized shrapnel find to us boys was a frgment of the brass vernier gauge from the end of a shell, used to set the height at which the shell would explode.
 
I may have added this to subject some time ago but just for the record, there was a balloon site in the park on the corner of Witton Lodge Road and Dovedale Road. The mooring rings where still to be found in the grass well into the 1950s.
 
perry commoner said:
I may have added this to subject some time ago but just for the record, there was a balloon site in the park on the corner of Witton Lodge Road and Dovedale Road. The mooring rings where still to be found in the grass well into the 1950s.
Click to expand...
have just uncovererd what i belive to be barrage balloon anchor point in my garden in solihull near ice rink 28x28 inch concrete slab with 1inch dia steel eye bolt and 1inch dia steel ring. was there a site in this area to protect the rover plant or elmdon air port would be grateful any info on this site
 
hello elmdon that sounds very interesting...would it be possible for you to post a photo of it please...

all the best

lyn
 
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