Balloons in War

BALLOONS IN WAR. The French were probably the first to recognize the value of balloons for war purposes, a special study being given to the subject during the French revolutionary wars. Reconnoitring balloons were subsequently used in the French campaign in Italy in 1859. During the siege of Paris (187o-71) communication was effected between the besieged and the prov inces by means of balloons. These balloons carried pigeons which afterwards were liberated to bring back news. Military balloons were used by the Federals during the American Civil War (1861).

It was not until the year 1883 that most of the Powers recog nized the balloon as an essential part of an army's equipment. In 1884-85, the French used balloons during their campaign in Tongking; and the British Government also despatched balloons with the Bechuanaland expedi tion. All these early military bal loons were spherical in shape and mostly used in the free state, whereas the modern observational balloon is designed specially for kiting and is properly stabilized for use in the captive state. The old spherical balloon when teth ered to the ground would spin round, causing discomfort to the passengers and making observa tion very difficult. The balloon drifted rather than kited, and to such an extent that a great length of cable had to be paid out, with little or no increase of altitude. In the War the Japanese used an old airship as a kite balloon, a large fin being built on so as to prevent the gas bag from rotating. This was the first attempt to stabilize a captive aerostat.

World War Development.

With the outbreak of the World War the development of the war balloon received a great impetus, resulting in the production of a highly efficient observation balloon. The Germans produced the Drachen kite balloon. In this type, popularly known as the sausage balloon, the gas is contained in the cylindrically-shaped envelope, and stability is maintained by a pair of small sails and by a large air inflated bag situated at the rear which acts as a rudder in keeping the nose of the balloon to the wind. The Belgian army had in its possession several Drachen balloons, and it was whilst watching their operations in 1915 that the late Gen. Maitland, one of the pioneers of the British airship service, decided to have a balloon sent to England for tests as to its suitability for use at sea in combined military and naval operations. For some considerable time both the German and Allied armies made use of the Drachen type of balloon. It could be flown in winds approaching io miles an hour while the spherical balloon was quite unmanageable in a wind of only 20 miles an hour. After some experiments with the Drachen balloon in England, chiefly with winch arrangements for towing the bal loon from a ship, H.M.S. "Manica" was equipped as a balloon carrying ship and despatched to Gallipoli for spotting and direct ing gunfire from the sea. So valuable was the balloon for this class of work that further ships were equipped as balloon-carriers and eventually some of the cruisers of the main battle fleet were equipped with the balloon. In the Gallipoli campaign, a kite bal loon would be flown from a balloon ship at about 2,000f t. altitude and the observers could locate targets which were quite invisible to the gunnery officer of a man-of-war, the latter officer relying entirely on the range and position of the target given him by the balloon officer. In the core of the balloon cable is run the tele phone wire from the observer to the ship's officer who signals to the firing ship whether shot is short, long or O.K., rapid fire or salvos being given on the O.K. signal. Much damage was done to Turkish batteries and ships which were hidden away and impos sible to locate otherwise than by use of the balloon. One advan tage of the balloon was to minimize enemy gunfire. As soon as the balloon was let up gunfire would cease, for the flash would give away the concealed positions to the ships.

The Drachen balloon, whilst showing a great improvement over the captive spherical balloon as regards stability, left much to be desired for flying in really high winds. The steep angle of flight necessary for the kiting effect with the consequent large surface presented to the wind caused great strains to be put on the cable and snapping often happened. At home efforts were made to pro duce a balloon for flying in winds up to 9om. an hour and even tually Capt. Caquot of the French Army designed the streamlined kite balloon. The Drachen balloon was now super seded by the three-tailed Caquot, which soon became the standard observation balloon in the British and French Armies and for the British Naval forces. The Army Caquot balloon is of about 35,000 cu.ft. capacity, has a length of 91 f t. and can reach an altitude of about 6,000ft. The Naval bal loon is slightly smaller and is not used at much above 3,000f t. al Litude.

The Balloon at

Sea.—During the anti-submarine warfare, bal loons were towed from a destroyer whereby a look-out was kept for the wake of a submarine which could be discerned beneath the surface in much the same way as fish can be seen in a pond. The balloon observer, on locating the submarine, would telephone to the ship so that depth charges were released from the ship to destroy the under-water craft. Sometimes a small dummy bal loon was flown from a ship and this was sufficient to keep the submarine below the surface, for the commander would deem it more discreet to remain inactive under the water than to come to the surface and reveal his position when eyes were watching from a balloon. These small balloons invariably carried dummy men and their smallness would be mistaken for a normal size bal loon flying at a great height. In this way many of the food ships were safely convoyed by the balloon ship.

In land operations and in conjunction with artillery, spotting from a balloon is more accurate than by the moving aeroplane. The kite balloon observer is better able to see the contour of the country; to the aeroplane observer in hilly country the land is likely to appear almost flat. The balloon occupants are equipped with parachutes as there is no time for the balloon to be hauled down on the approach of attacking aeroplanes. The jump must be made quickly for if left too late there is danger of being en tangled in or hit by the falling cables as the balloon is fired by the aeroplane. There is another use for the balloon on land. During the air raids on London, balloons were used as a means of defence against the attacking aeroplanes. Large "aprons" of steel wires were raised to a height of about i o,000f t. by means of balloons having a gas capacity of 4o,000cu.f t. The aprons each consisted of long lengths of piano wire suspended from a horizontal cable supported at three points, 5oof t. apart, by a kite balloon. The purpose was to make the attacking plane either to climb to alti tudes above i o,000f t. with little chance of correct aiming and a direct hit on a target, or to force the attacker to dive dangerously low and be subjected to anti-air craft gunfire. The pilot, on per ceiving the wires, would have to act quickly. To go straight on would mean instant death and he must turn to meet the defending aeroplanes above and below him. The knowledge of the existence of this network had consider able effect on the moral of the raiders.

The type of kite balloon used by the Italians is the Prassone.

This balloon has an oval-shaped gas bag with a false conical tail built on. Three stabilizing fins, similar to those of the Caquot balloon, are sewn on. This type of balloon was used for a net defence around Italian ports. The American standard observation balloon is the Goodyear. This balloon is similar in design to the Drachen, but the rear portion is tapered off and a small rudder fitted. A string of parachutes is attached to help in the lateral stability. (P. H. S.)