Aerial views of Coventry

It's certainly new to me, if it was taken from a German plane it must have been flying pretty low so definitely just pre-war. What amazes me is how busy Broadgate looks so I should think it was taken around midday on a busy weekday but, then again, maybe not. I'm so used to seeing street scenes from the ground and from the air from pre-war with not that much traffic and not so many people milling.

It's one of mine! It is hiding among my collection on here, but admittedly without much additional information. It was a U.S. press photo I found on eBay in 2010, and to help a bit here's the other side of it, which had their notes sheet attached.... Their information appears slightly misleading, too, because it almost implies that this is the "post-blitzed" view, but I think the press were trying to get across what the scene looked like before it was ruined.

Sorry mate I hadn't seen it before and it's been 'hoicked' on to Facebook!

I probably saw it here then All Coventry roads lead to HC. Since the Germans were actively collecting photos and post cards of British cities for the war it may appear in a German collection somewhere, or at least something similar. Many of the pre war aerial photos seem to revolve around factories, which is why there are relatively few of the centre.

Fascinating to see the notes on the rear, I gather World Wide Photos was a US photo agency, long gone as such, and after 84/85 years it would be almost impossible to prove this photo's provenance. They may have acquired the shot from a German source though that seems unlikely, but in 1940 the US was still neutral so possible. Interesting that they made the mistake of referring to Holy Trinity church as the Cathedral. From googling I got this link: https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/Category:Wide_World_Photos

If I did see it in a German collection, it may be that Germany acquired it from America, rather than the other way round.

You can see part of the aircraft wing on the right of the photo. It is a biplane so almost certainly not a German reconnaissance flight. Much more likely it was taken from a local aircraft up on a jolly, the Coventry Aeroplane Club started in 1932 flying from Whitley Airfield.

Hello, This is a fascinating conversation. The detective work going on is amazing. Carry on please.

Looking through the newspapers for the 1930's it is amazing how much aerial photography was being done, for instance in 1931 a series of photographs were taken by Aerofilms Ltd for the Coventry Herald. In 1935 the AA published a series of books about ancient sites. In 1935 260,000 acres around the area were photographed as an experiment to upgrade Ordnance Survey sheets, also by Aerofilms. In 1936 the City Engineers carried out a talk on the 5 year plan to bypass the City, illustrated by some fine aerial photographs. It seemed to be the latest thing.

Hello & thank you Anne, You & Helen, must have the top degree in forensic journalism. You don't miss anything. What a skill! I still go back to when we were chasing a steam roller half way around Coventry & Warwickshire. It was you who turned up the documents. Thank you for your time & commitment to our forum. Brill, brill & brill.

Well spotted, Langtonian. I had realised it was the wing of a plane but it hadn't registered that it was a biplane till you pointed it out. Were there many biplanes still in use for official aerial views by 1939? I imagined they had almost died out by then, replaced by monoplanes (is that the correct word?).

Just to revert to this photo, two points: a) I see this shot is captioned 'Coventry Aerial View No 7'. Does anyone have a record of Views 1-6 and/or any subsequent to 7 taken at the same time? b) My eye was drawn to the odd little building next to the Cocaine wall. Can anyone identify what it is or what it was doing there isolated in front of the row of cottages?

There are a few in Rob's collection but of varying dates. I have this view but it has a different number on it. The dream is to get a full set. The building is next to a feature on the map WM which I think might be a weight machine. So I think it must be a building connected to that. Although I can't think what they were weighing. Cattle? Since it was near the cattle market.

Don't know if this is relevant. Aerial view no. 5 is in 'Our Warwickshire' credited to Andy Sanders here.

Excellent argon! Zoomable too if you click on the blue magnifying glass on the bottom right.