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Willenhall is a suburb of Coventry in the West Midlands of England.

Willenhall is in the south-east of the city adjacent to the suburbs of Binley, Ernesford Grange and Whitley. It covers the area bounded by the Rugby to Coventry railway line, the River Sowe and the city's boundary with Warwickshire.

For general election purposes it is part of the Coventry South Constituency and for local elections it forms part of the Binley and Willenhall ward on Coventry City Council.

Willenhall was originally a small village that was absorbed into the city as it expanded. During the Second world war the Chace National Service Hostel was built in the area to accommodate the influx of munitions workers to the City. After the war the estate became established with the building of a large number of council houses. The area today remains mainly residential though to the south-east there is 9 hectares of woodland called Willenhall Wood which has been designated a nature reserve.

Willenhall is now the location of the Chace Avenue police station which is the home of the M2 operational command unit of the West Midlands Police that covers most of the south and south-eastern areas of Coventry.
Religion
The Church of England parish church for Willenhall is St John the Divine which celebrated its 50th anniversary in 2007. The area is also served by St Anne’s Roman Catholic Church and Willenhall Free Church which is affiliated with the FIEC.

Air crash
Willenhall was the site of a major air crash when at 9:52 a.m. on 21 December 1994 an aircraft approaching Coventry Airport, in poor visibility, crashed into Willenhall Wood, killing all five crew on board. The aircraft was a Boeing 737 that was owned and operated by Air Algerie but leased by Phoenix Aviation to undertake a number of live veal calf export flights from the airport.

The Boeing 737 had been making its descent to Coventry Airport in thick fog when it spiralled out of control and plummeted to earth, killing all the men on board.

The tragedy rocked the community of Willenhall and left stunned residents in horror knowing that the housing estate had been missed by a matter of yards.

Sylvia Lanigan, who runs the Willenhall Wood Residents' Association, remembers the crash vividly.

She said: "Many people remember how traumatic the 1994 crash was and still talk about it even now.

"The part of the wood where the plane landed still hasn't grown back and we have great sympathy for the families of those killed in this recent crash.

"As terrible as it sounds I think people are just thankful that it was a small light aircraft as it could have been much worse if it had been a big Thomson aircraft.

"The people who live on the flight-path are very concerned because the planes fly very low over their houses.

"There are people who live in blocks of flats who can actually see the pilot when planes fly over.

"After the accident in 1994 the airport said there would not be another crash and now there has been a second in 14 years.

"The number of near misses they have happen far too often and we just worry there will be an even bigger accident in the future.

"As a residents' group, we have opposed expansion of the airport and have represented the people who live nearby who do not want it.

"Increasing capacity to two million people (passengers) is just too much, that would be a flight every 15 minutes.

"People are not only against the proposal because of the effects it would have on their quality of life, but also because of fear of air crashes.

"Coventry is not in a good location for an airport, it isn't like Heathrow or Birmingham which are situated in lovely big flat areas which can take the traffic. We set up a memorial plaque in the wood in 2004 and invited the families of the crew who died to a special service.

"Local residents told their stories about the crash, how pots were shaking on the walls, and the houses shook, which was just so terrifying."

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