Re the Black Country.
Unless you have experenced the Birmingham/Black Country divide; Its virtually unimaginable to understand the gulf that exsists.
In geo-social terms part of it begins quite close to B'ham city centre. About 3.5 to 4 NM infact. The boundary is amasingly well defined:by about Smethwick/Old Hill/Lye accents and social identities change markedly.
In geological terms we are looking at the boundaries of the old South Staffs coal fields -See Wikipedia for more details.
Differences in social and Historical outlook go back at least as far as the English Civil War.
This actually may have historicly contributed to the relative lack of demand for Airiline services as people would look to Wolverhampton & Manchester - espcially those north of Birmingham
Yes Wolverhampton did have an "Airport"
CAT III.