Aerophilia | Page 5

balloons was not
appreciated and taken into serious consideration here until 1884. But
although British efforts were preceded by the French the latter did not
develop the idea upon accepted military lines.
The British authorities were confronted with many searching problems.
One of the earliest and greatest difficulties encountered was in
connection with the gas for inflation. Coal gas was not always readily
available, so that hydrogen had to be depended upon for the most part.
But then another difficulty arose. This was the manufacture of the
requisite gas. Various methods were tested, such as the electrolytic
decomposition of water, the decomposition of sulphuric acid by means
of iron, the reaction between slaked lime and zinc, and so forth.
But the drawbacks to every process, especially upon the field of battle,
when operations have to be conducted under extreme difficulties and at
high pressure, were speedily recognised. While other nations
concentrated their energies upon the simplification of
hydrogen-manufacturing apparatus for use upon the battle-field, Great
Britain abandoned all such processes in toto. Our military organisation
preferred to carry out the production of the necessary gas at a
convenient manufacturing centre and to transport it, stored in steel
cylinders under pressure, to the actual scene of operations. The method
proved a great success, and in this way it was found possible to inflate
a military balloon in the short space of 20 minutes, whereas, under the
conditions of making gas upon the spot, a period of four hours or more
was necessary, owing to the fact that the manufacturing process is
relatively slow and intricate. The practicability of the British idea and
its perfection served to establish the captive balloon as a military unit.
The British military ballooning department has always ranked as the
foremost of its type among the Powers, although its work has been
carried out so unostentatiously that the outside world has gleaned very

little information concerning its operations. Captain Templer was an
indefatigable worker and he brought the ballooning section to a high
degree of efficiency from the military point of view.
But the British Government was peculiarly favoured, if such a term
may be used. Our little wars in various parts of the world contributed
valuable information and experience which was fully turned to account.
Captive balloons for reconnoitring purposes were used by the British
army for the first time at Suakim in 1885, and the section established its
value very convincingly. The French military balloon department
gained its first experience in this field in the previous year, a balloon
detachment having been dispatched to Tonkin in 1884. In both the
Tonkin and Soudan campaigns, invaluable work was accomplished by
the balloon sections, with the result that this aerial vehicle has come to
be regarded as an indispensable military adjunct. Indeed the activity of
the German military ballooning section was directly attributable to the
Anglo-French achievements therewith.
In this work, however, the British force speedily displayed its
superiority and initiative. The use of compressed hydrogen was adopted,
and within the course of a few years the other Powers, realising the
advantages which the British department had thus obtained, decided to
follow its example. The gas is stored in cylinders under a pressure
varying from six to ten or more atmospheres; in other words from about
80 to 140 or more pounds per square inch. Special military wagons
have been designed for the transport of these cylinders, and they are
attached to the balloon train.
The balloon itself is light, and made of such materials as to reduce the
weight thereof to the minimum. The British balloons are probably the
smallest used by any of the Powers, but at the same time they are the
most expensive. They are made of goldbeater's skin, and range in
capacity from 7,000 to 10,000 cubic feet, the majority being of the
former capacity. The French balloon on the other hand has a capacity
exceeding 18,000 cubic feet, although a smaller vessel of 9,000 cubic
feet capacity, known as an auxiliary, and carrying a single observer, is
used.

The Germans, on the other hand, with their Teutonic love of the
immense, favour far larger vessels. At the same time the military
balloon section of the German Army eclipses that of any other nations
is attached to the Intelligence Department, and is under the direct
control of the General Staff. Balloon stations are dotted all over
thecountry, including Heligoland and Kiel, while regular sections are
attached to the Navy for operating captive balloons from warships.
Although the Zeppelin and aeroplane forces have come to the front in
Germany, and have relegated the captive balloon somewhat to the
limbo of things that were, the latter section has never been disbanded;
in fact, during the present campaign it has undergone a somewhat
spirited revival.
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