In this century, surveillance balloons were equipped with video cameras and sensors.Īmerican surveillance balloons equipped with infrared and color video cameras, known as aerostats, were a constant presence in Afghanistan during the war. On D-Day, the 320th Barrage Balloon Battalion, an African American unit, became the first barrage balloon battalion to land in France.īarrage balloons were large, unmanned tethered balloons whose cables created a hazard for aircraft, forcing them to fly higher and reducing the effectiveness of strafing and bombing, according to the National World War II Museum in New Orleans. “And they’re able to see periscopes or other changes in the water that can point to a submarine.” “K-Ships become a critical aspect of anti-submarine warfare because they can hover and go slow and you can have a whole bunch of people with binoculars looking in all directions at the sea from a pretty good height,” Mr. In Europe, Americans used untethered blimps called K-Ships for observation and in a few cases for attacks. There were 285 balloons found in states, including Michigan, Wyoming and Texas. The victims, Elsie Mitchell and five children from a Sunday school class, were killed when they found the bomb and it exploded.įrom November 1944 to April 1945, Japan launched around 9,000 balloons carrying bombs to travel more than 6,000 miles across the Pacific Ocean to the United States, according to the National Museum of the United States Air Force. The only people to die in an attack on the continental United States during World War II were six people who encountered a Japanese balloon bomb, known as a Fu-Go, during a picnic in Oregon in May 1945. Japan sent 9,000 balloons with bombs over the United States in World War II. “They would get attacked again, they jumped.” “There are tales of observers who jumped two or three times in one day,” Mr. After jumping over the side of the basket, the observer’s weight would cause the parachute to come out as they descended, Mr. Silk parachutes were attached to the side of the balloon basket in cone-shaped devices. They were among the early adopters of parachutes. “When an observation balloon goes up, now everything that you’ve done or everything you’re trying to hide from the enemy can be seen.” And the launch of one was often quickly followed by artillery fire, he added.Įnemy fire could cause a balloon to explode, forcing American balloon observers who saw an attack coming to jump out. Some of the earliest uses of airplanes were missions to destroy them. “As a result, balloons become a prized target of the enemy,” Mr. Hydrogen-filled balloons were crucial during World War I to help direct artillery fire, spot troop movements and note enemy positions like depots and trenches. After the accident, McClellan wrote to his wife, “You may rest assured of one thing: you won’t catch me in the confounded balloon nor will I allow any other Generals to go up in it!”īalloon operators in World War I were early adopters of the parachute. General Porter was close to General George B. Enemy soldiers took a few unsuccessful shots at him, but the general and his balloon eventually floated back over to the Union side. General Porter drifted over Confederate lines with no way to control the balloon. Those logistical challenges were evidenced during the siege of Yorktown in April 1862, when Union General Fitz John Porter decided to do some surveillance using only one tether rope, instead of the three or four recommended, according to the National Park Service. “By mid war, both sides basically give up on balloons because of the logistical challenges that they posed,” Mr. One of the Confederates’ most-used balloons was eventually captured. The Union had better balloon resources than the Confederates, including a boat to which a balloon was tethered, in what amounted to an early version of an aircraft carrier.
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