A Balloon Site, Coventry
A Balloon Site, Coventry is an oil on canvas painting undertaken in 1942 by the British artist Laura Knight. It portrays a group of people—mostly women—working to launch a barrage balloon on the outside of Coventry, an industrial city in the Midlands that was the target of a German bombing raid in November 1940, when over 10,000 incendiary bombs were dropped on the city.

Knight had painted "In for Repairs", showing members of the Women's Auxiliary Air Force (WAAF) repairing a damaged barrage balloon, in early 1942. The Air Ministry was so impressed that they asked her to paint the WAAF in action. She was commissioned by the War Artists' Advisory Committee (WAAC) and paid 100 guineas for the work, which was undertaken in July and August 1942. "A Balloon Site" was displayed at the 1943 Royal Academy Summer Exhibition, along with "Ruby Loftus Screwing a Breech Ring" (1943).
Q174705
oil on canvas
Concept
Q2693890
Laura Knight
PER
Q733252
barrage balloon
Concept
Q6225
Coventry
LOC
Q850235
Midlands
LOC
Q6900329
bombing raid
EVE
Q897842
incendiary bombs
Concept
Q2914968
Women's Auxiliary Air Force
ORG
Q407586
Air Ministry
ORG
Q17033163
War Artists' Advisory Committee
ORG
Q918094
guineas
Concept
Q7373579
Royal Academy Summer Exhibition
EVE
Q15930386
Ruby Loftus Screwing a Breech Ring
MEDIA
Q95096905
A Balloon Site, Coventry
MEDIA
1942-01-01T00:00:00Z^^http://www.w3.org/2001/XMLSchema#dateTime
1942
DATE
1940-11-01T00:00:00Z^^http://www.w3.org/2001/XMLSchema#dateTime
November 1940
DATE
1942-01-01T00:00:00Z^^http://www.w3.org/2001/XMLSchema#dateTime
1942
DATE
1942-08-01T00:00:00Z^^http://www.w3.org/2001/XMLSchema#dateTime
August 1942
DATE
1943-01-01T00:00:00Z^^http://www.w3.org/2001/XMLSchema#dateTime
1943
DATE
+1943^^http://www.w3.org/2001/XMLSchema#decimal
1943
NUMBER
creator
inception
inception