German target photo of the Sutton Coldfield balloon centre, 1940

The Luftwaffe's target photograph of the barrage-balloon depot at Sutton Coldfield ('Sperrballonlager mit Spezialtruppenlager'), stamped 14 July 1940. This was the centre that ran north Birmingham's balloon barrage.

Sheet GB 25 3 bc from Luftwaffe target folder LBY LUFT 526. A German aerial photograph at about 1:7,600 (Kriegsaufnahme 608 R 44, annotations 21 October 1939) is stamped '14 Juli 1940'. It shows the balloon depot outlined in red, with numbered hangars for inflated balloons, winch-lorry sheds, barracks, workshops and practice mooring circles. An arrow points 12 km to central Birmingham.

Notes

Place: the sheet gives 52°34'5"N 1°47'45"W. That is Whitehouse Common, Sutton Coldfield, about 6 km north-east of Kingstanding Circle, and matches No. 5 Balloon Centre, RAF Sutton Coldfield. No. 5 Balloon Centre controlled 911 and 913 (Auxiliary Air Force) Squadrons, which flew the balloons over north Birmingham. Birmingham had 168 balloons by summer 1940 (bbrclub.org, 'Beware! Balloons over Birmingham'; TNA AIR 29/62/5 is the unit record). Residents remember a balloon coming down on a house in Dulwich Road (Voices of Kingstanding, REPORTED), and a site at Witton Lakes (Birmingham History Forum, REPORTED). Date: the 1940 stamp is exact. The photograph itself is 1939 or earlier. Location confidence: probable (coordinates on the sheet). Identification confidence: confirmed (target title); probable (unit identification).