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WWII Barrage Balloon Sites

  • Thread starter Thread starter Phil Bonner
  • Start date Start date
Banjo said:
In the early 1960s I regularly cycled from Aston to Drayton Manor Park to fish for pike and remember seeing one opposite the Tyburn Pub.
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This could have been at Castle Bromwich Aerodrome as they used balloons there to jump out of.
Mind you 1960 was a bit late as the airfield closed in 1958.
 
My father joined the RAF in 1939 and due to his age,38, was posted to a Balloon Barage Site opposite the WBA Football Ground behind Hawleys Bakery and Webley and Scott where there was a small park. I visited him there many times before he was moved to a site in Highgate Bham. Hope that this might help.
 
Radiorails said:
From my bedroom window, when a child, I could see one of the RAF Wythall balloons. I must have been worried by its appearance in the sky initially, but it seems I was persuaded to call it Barry and say "night night Barry". This was, I guess, in the early part of WW2, probably 1940/41 at the time of the blitz and heaviest bombing.
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Where were you living, at the time you could see the balloon ?
 
Radiorails said:
Quite possibly Baz. After all I was young and had not yet got around to 'clocking the joint'. Wythall and Maypole were not that far apart I guess.
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I was visualising a line of sight from Shirley station that went over the aqueduct (Peterbrook Rd), the sandpits, Berry Mound and The Stiles. Not a great distance, as the crow flies. Last time I was over those fields you could see the Druids Heath tower blocks from there, so I imagine the Maypole Lane balloon would be quite visible too.
 
JohnWish said:
Perhaps slightly off topic but was an ack ack gun in Digby Park Small Heath. Just after the war, when there was snow we used to build a 'fort' where it had been. (Imagine an igloo without a roof.) There were some fierce snowball fights to try to capture it.
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After sending my post I began to dig deep in my memory banks. How did I know about this gun? In Autumn 1941, after just 2 weeks at Marlborough Road Infants, I went to Yorkshire. My father was in a reserved occupation and had been sent there. We returned to Small Heath sometime after VE day. Digging very deep now ... by that time there was only some sort of hard standing in Digby Park. Who told me what it was for? Were they trying to mislead this young lad who wore clogs with what seemed to have horseshoes on their soles and did not have a collection of shrapnel?
 
I put the photo below in another thread. It is a view from Charles Henry Street across towards Highgate Park and Rowton House and shows a barrage balloon centre of the pic just below the skyline. Presumably it is connected to the Highgate site.
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from https://birminghamhistory.co.uk/forum/index.php?threads/then-now.44065/post-641968 image only visible if logged in.
 
oldMohawk said:
I put the photo below in another thread. It is a view from Charles Henry Street across towards Highgate Park and Rowton House and shows a barrage balloon centre of the pic just below the skyline. Presumably it is connected to the Highgate site.
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from https://birminghamhistory.co.uk/forum/index.php?threads/then-now.44065/post-641968 image only visible if logged in.
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Wow, I have never seen a barrage balloon, but seeing that one I didnt realise they were situated that low in the sky. Its funny how you visualise things you hear about but have never seen...Wendy
 
perry commoner said:
There was a BB site in Perry Common Recreation Ground immediately behind the houses on the corner of Dovedale Road and Witton Lodge Road. Until at least 1954, there were several heavy iron mooring rings concreted into the ground. I left Birmingham in 1965 so I have no idea what has happened to the area. I doubt if they are still there.
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Hi Yes i remember a concrete slab and a large metal ring attached in the park/ grassland behind our house in common lane, sheldon, and dad told me it was a mooring ring for a barrage balloon. It is now called the sheldon country park and the rings may have been removed but now.
 
Morturn said:
I think they pulled them down on winches when not in use.
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Morturn said:
I think they pulled them down on winches when not in use.
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Hi Morturn, Yes they did and it was mainly women that manned them as most of the men were fighting as someone stated in an earlier post.
I enjoyed reading a fiction book a while ago about the "balloon girls" it was a dangerous job and extremely hard work getting the balloons up and down especially in high winds.I have googled balloon girls and there are lots of images of the women operating them , I was surprised to see the odd shape of the balloons!!!
Wendy
 
wendylee said:
Hi Morturn, Yes they did and it was mainly women that manned them as most of the men were fighting as someone stated in an earlier post.
I enjoyed reading a fiction book a while ago about the "balloon girls" it was a dangerous job and extremely hard work getting the balloons up and down especially in high winds.I have googled balloon girls and there are lots of images of the women operating them , I was surprised to see the odd shape of the balloons!!!
Wendy
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Thanks Wendy

A couple of stories I recall from talking to some WWII veterans over the years are:

The German pilots would try to shoot the barrage balloon down and did this on one occasion in Birmingham. I cannot remember the location.

A chap who was a Lancaster navigator told me that the balloons had wires that would cut an aeroplanes wing off, and almost did so on one he was flying in.
 
During the blitz the germans used long range ME110 fighter bombers to make daylight machine gun attacks on British cities and Birmingham took it's share of them. The barrage balloons in daylight probably acted as a deterrent to these attacks. There are some mentions on the BHF about these attacks but the links to the RAF Campaign Diaries sites giving accounts of the attacks have ceased to work ...

The Spitfire

I have more of a Huricane being reconstructed for flight and Motion with sound but the latter will not post for some reason...maybe too large. Anyway time for my flight home...hand crank undercarriage with curved rear elevator. Five hour flight.
birminghamhistory.co.uk birminghamhistory.co.uk

German Fighter machine guns bus

My mother Elsie,86 yo God Bless her,and still able to spring a huge surprise. During the Birmingham blitz my mother was on a bus from Walsall one early morning,going to her work at Turner Bros near Summer Lane. Going along the Walsall Road,Perry Barr,near the Crematorium they were attacked...
birminghamhistory.co.uk birminghamhistory.co.uk

Bombing Brum

Lining up to Bomb Brum. Which direction did the Bombers come from?.........I have many times wondered about which direction(s) the German bombers took as they made their ' bombing runs ' to attack targets in Birmingham.......Anyone got any views or information on this? One Luftwaffe bomber...
birminghamhistory.co.uk birminghamhistory.co.uk
 
I've seen a picture somewhere, (possibly on this forum ?), of a downed Heinkel III. The plane had a structure built across its nose which had been fitted to deflect balloon wires. It must've been a swine to fly !
 
I would think that barrage balloon has been wound down, they were much higher than that, probably up to 2000 feet ,may be more to catch the enemy aircraft coming in on a raid. Not much use at that height in photo. They would be wound back to earth after the raid, ready to be wound back out on the next raid.
 
Elmdon Boy said:
I would think that barrage balloon has been wound down, they were much higher than that, probably up to 2000 feet ,may be more to catch the enemy aircraft coming in on a raid. Not much use at that height in photo. They would be wound back to earth after the raid, ready to be wound back out on the next raid.
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Ohhh of course, I thought it looked low haha.
 
open google Earth and view the area around Lyndon Playing fields on Wagon Lane, B92. Once there, there is a facility [ or WAS a facility] to view historical maps of that location. Somewhere at the top there's a menu for it somewhere. This will overlay older maps. There's a slider that you can use to go back in time. Over Lyndon playing fields, there's an old map which shows barrage balloons anchored there. This map is an aerial photograph which was taken at the time.
 
JohnWish said:
Perhaps slightly off topic but was an ack ack gun in Digby Park Small Heath. Just after the war, when there was snow we used to build a 'fort' where it had been. (Imagine an igloo without a roof.) There were some fierce snowball fights to try to capture it.
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Hi John, I don't know about Digby Park but there were anti aircraft guns on Hay Barn Rec. My father who was in the Home Guard (reserved occupation) was stationed there assisting the gunners. He used to call them " rockets" so l don't know if they were ack ack guns or something else.
I was told that before the guns were installed a single ex naval gun was installed on the rec. This was useless and could not hit anything. But we had nothing else and it made a lot of noise. It sent a clear message to the local population " we are fighting back and will carry on till we win".
 
When we moved from Vauxhall to Glebe Farm in 1949 if you stood in Easthope Rd you could watch the still used Barage Balloons to train the Parachuteists at Castle Bromwich Airfield.And my father used to take me to see the Spitfire come out of the hangers after being made
 
My pop remembers one at Wright's playing field in Aston also it broke free dragging the cables, also a bomb landing in Longacre in front of the church my mom and dad got married in the same church, my pops house 90 Nechells Park road
 
Hi guys, wondering if anyone can give me any information on barrage balloons in and around the area of Bordesley Green and what squadrons were stationed there?
Many Thanks in advance!
 
Hi, yea I've been through it. There is mention of balloon emplacements near my area of search, but nothing that I think I could use for my specific project!
 
I was born in Highters Heath Lane in 1941 and remember the balloon barrage on the corner of Highters Heath and Maypole Lane. My earliest recollection was being carried to an underground shelter and the sound of the planes coming over.
 
Pete W.W said:
I was born in Highters Heath Lane in 1941 and remember the balloon barrage on the corner of Highters Heath and Maypole Lane. My earliest recollection was being carried to an underground shelter and the sound of the planes coming over.
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Born the same year as you, I lived in Sladepool farm Rd. When we were kids we called the site you mention "The balloon field".
 
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