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Old 06-14-2021, 07:09 PM   #13 (permalink)
Trollheart
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Death from Above: Military Balloons

Almost since man first looked up into the sky and dreamed of flying, he has dreamed of using that power to destroy his enemies. Or, to put it another way, any new advance in technology, especially transport, tends to have the military sticking their noses in to see how they can exploit it. And so it was with balloons. Naturally, the first and most obvious use they were put to was that of observation, as balloons allowed an army the unprecedented view from the sky where they could spy on the enemy and relate troop positions and movements, or warn of planned attacks or manoeuvres. Lanterns had of course been used by the Chinese for yonks, as already noted in the introduction to this section, first to scare off the enemy but later too as a way of signalling their own troops.

Discounting that use though, it was once again our friends the French who cottoned to the idea of using balloons in warfare. Well, they had really invented them, hadn’t they? During the Battle of Fleurus in 1794, and again at the Battle of Mainz the following year the French Aerostatics Corps deployed balloons as observational tools. Austrian Emperor Franz Joseph had cause to rue his approval of the French balloons in 1854 when France went to war against Austria five years later, and these powerful new weapons were turned against him, sealing his country’s defeat. Six years earlier (1849) the Austrians themselves had tried to make weapons of balloons, loading over 200 with small bombs intended to be floated in over the city of Venice. However, the wind was as ever a cruel and fickle mistress, and most of the balloons got blown off course, some even sent back to the forces that had launched them!

The outbreak of the American Civil War provided another opportunity for balloons to be used, though wisely only in reconnaissance, as any sort of aggression on the part of a balloon against enemy forces would likely have resulted in the balloon being fired upon, and the pilot would have no means of defending himself. Two types of balloon observation were considered: tethered and free flight. Tethered was safer, as the balloon always remained anchored to the ground by men holding on to its ropes, allowed it to be returned to its point of origin despite the wind direction, and also enabled its pilot to send telegraph messages down the lines to report his findings. Free flight, on the other hand, risked a balloon drifting defenceless and directionless into enemy territory, and precluded any report until the balloon had returned and landed.

In charge of the newly-formed Union Army Balloon Corps was a man we met in the last section, Profesor Thaddeus S.C. Lowe, a keen and successful balloonist who had been preparing for an Atlantic crossing when war broke out, and who instead offered his services to the President. Lowe had his detractors, including men under him, like John Wise and John LaMountain, who hated him and tried to discredit him. In the case of the latter, this may have been brought about by jealousy of Lowe’s achievements in ballooning, whereas LaMountain had, in concert with Wise, crippled his balloon, the Atlantic, and lost another one, the Saratoga, in a windstorm. LaMountain fought for free flight to be the standard in the UABC, while Lowe favoured tethered flight, and being in charge, this is what was chosen. Rather darkly hilariously, after an argument over which should be used eventually spilled out into a challenge, and LaMountain conducted a successful free flight reconnaissance, he was shot down by his own troops on his return, as they did not recognise him! By 1862 Lowe had had enough of LaMountain’s constant attacks on him and had him dismissed.

In September 1861 Lowe became the very first military spotter, ascending in his balloon over the Confederate camp at Falls Church, Virginia, and by having the Union artillery fire on the camp he was able to advise them by flag signal how to adjust their angle until the camp was quickly taking accurate fire. Balloons had, for the first time, progressed from being merely an observational tool of the army to actually taking part in, or at least assisting in an attack. Later, when the battle turned inwards to forested areas which were hazardous to balloon flight, Lowe achieved another first as he had his balloons launched from the decks of Union ships, thereby effectively becoming the first airborne vehicles to take off from a seabound vessel, turning the simple coal barges into embryonic aircraft carriers.

And what were the Johnny Rebs doing while all of this was going on, you may ask? Go on: I said you may ask, and I may answer. In fact, I will. Answer, that is. Well, the fact is that the Confederates came late to the party, saw what the Union boys was doing, and thought we can do that too. But they lacked a proper expert of the calibre of Lowe, or even LaMountain or Wise, all of whom supported the Union cause, so they were left to rely on inexperienced men, leading to one of the balloons spinning helplessly in the air, while another was shot down - again - by their own troops when it drifted over their territory. As well as this, the lack of coke gas, used extensively in the Union balloons, meant that the South had to put up with hot-air-filled Montgolfier style balloons, and short of silk for making the balloons the call was put out to the good ladies of the South to sacrifice their silk dresses, which were gathered up and made into one huge balloon. Which was promptly stranded on its boat and snaffled by the Union, surely another reason for those young ladies to have to blush.

Because the Union Army Balloon Corps was never formally inducted as a military organisation, none of those who served in it gained any sort of rank, which effectively made them civilians and meant that, should they come down in enemy territory during a reconnaissance mission, they would be liable to be treated as spies and executed. Further, the rank-and-file of the army treated them with disdain, considering them mere showmen and not appreciating or realising the important role people like Lowe and Wise had played in the war. Their impact was soon forgotten, as Lowe contracted malaria in June 1862, and when he returned a month later found all his equipment had been handed back. Having been then reduced to the rank of a common soldier (though still a civilian) he was sent to Fredericksburg to fight, but within a year he had resigned and the Balloon Corps died with his departure.

Tally-Ho Chaps! British Efforts in Military Ballooning

Just as the Americans were losing interest in ballooning the British were kindling theirs. Royal Army Engineers tried to plead their case in 1862, however the cost of hydrogen gas was at the time too expensive. By the time the Second Boer War began though (1899-1902) the idea of using balloons for military observation was accepted, and balloons were put into service, but it was the outbreak of World War I (1914-1918) that really saw observation balloons come into their own, as they emulated the Yankees in the Civil War by using them to direct artillery. Of course, large and mostly stationary balloons such as those presented tempting targets to fighter aces, who often took on the challenge of taking them down. The balloons were protected by anti-aircraft batteries, so it could be a dangerous risk.

Later, of course, barrage balloons and dirigibles would feature in the war effort, and of course the feared and hated airships of Count Von Zeppelin would become the doodlebugs of the Great War.
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