One lady asked us where we came from and on telling her we were from Cardiff, she smiled and said she was stationed at the
Balloon Barrage during the war and she too had met her husband there.
At one time, before joining that mainly Geordie regiment the Coldstream Guards, I served as an under-officer with V Company 3rd Battalion, Northumberland Army Cadet Force, based at the
Balloon Barrage Headquarters, Benton, Newcastle for up to nine months.
The
balloon barrage was flying at its normal operational height, which was determined by the weight of cable which each balloon had to carry, and which was meant to prevent low-level bombing.
IMPORTANT information about the role Birmingham's
Balloon Barrage Squadrons played in preventing raids has been painstakingly documented by a relative of one of their members.
She confessed, to our reporter that the girls, including herself, were flabbergasted when they were put on fabric repair work with the
Balloon Barrage.
During the Second World War RAF Wythall was a
balloon barrage centre.
Ray, who was born in June, 1930, in Humber Road, Stoke, to Raymond and Beatrice Holl, also recalls
balloon barrages being installed in strategic places.
