Pre-fab housing, Coventry, West Midlands

Photograph taken 11 July 1949 © Historic England Archive Aerofilms Collection ref: aerofilms/a24755

New pre-fabricated houses being put in place on a site on the edge of Coventry. Prefabricated housing was made to 11 designs as part of the Temporary Housing Programme to relieve the post war housing shortage. About 156,623 temporary bungalows were put up across Britain between 1944 and 1948.

Location

West Midlands Coventry

Period

1940s (1946 - 1949)

Themes

"Wills, Shaw and Friese-Greene Ready to Film". This was a publicity shot for the foundation of the Aerofilms aerial photography company. It was taken at the London Aerodrome, Hendon. Francis Lewis Wills was a former Royal Naval Air Service Observer and co-founder of Aerofilms. Claude Friese-Greene, holding the cine-camera, was technical director for Aerofilms in its early days, but is best known as a pioneering cinematographer. We know very little about Shaw, the pilot, probably an AirCo employee.

Pre-fab housing, Coventry, West Midlands

Location

Period

Themes

Tags