Aerophilia | Page 7

transported in cylinders, which are
weighty, it is incumbent that the waste of this commodity should be
reduced to the minimum. The balloon cannot be deflated at night and
re-inflated in the morning--it must be maintained in the inflated
condition the whole time it is required for operation.
There are various methods of consummating this end. One method is to
haul in the balloon and to peg it down on all sides, completing the
anchorage by the attachment of bags filled with earth to the network.
While this process is satisfactory in calm weather, it is impracticable in
heavy winds, which are likely to spring up suddenly. Consequently a
second method is practised. This is to dig a pit into the ground of
sufficient size to receive the balloon. When the latter is hauled in it is

lowered into this pit and there pegged down and anchored. Thus it is
perfectly safe during the roughest weather, as none of its bulk is
exposed above the ground level. Furthermore it is not a conspicuous
object for the concentration of hostile fire.
In some instances, and where the military department is possessed of an
elaborate equipment such as characterises the German army, when
reconnaissance is completed and the balloon is to be removed to
another point, the gas is pumped back into the cylinders for further use.
Such an economical proceeding is pretty and well adapted to
manoeuvres, but it is scarcely feasible in actual warfare, for the simple
reason that the pumping takes time. Consequently the general
procedure, when the balloon has completed its work, is to permit the
gas to escape into the air in the usual manner, and to draw a fresh
supply of gas from further cylinders when the occasion arises for
re-inflation.
Although the familiar spherical balloon has proved perfectly adequate
for reconnoitring in the British and French armies, the German
authorities maintained that it was not satisfactory in anything but calm
weather. Accordingly scientific initiative was stimulated with a view to
the evolution of a superior vessel. These endeavours culminated in the
Parseval-Siegsfeld captive balloon, which has a quaint appearance. It
has the form of a bulky cylinder with hemispherical extremities. At one
end of the balloon there is a surrounding outer bag, reminiscent of a
cancerous growth. The lower end of this is open. This attachment
serves the purpose of a ballonet. The wind blowing against the opening,
which faces it, charges the ballonet with air. This action, it is claimed,
serves to steady the main vessel, somewhat in the manner of the tail of
a kite, thereby enabling observations to be made as easily and correctly
in rough as in calm weather. The appearance of the balloon while aloft
is certainly curious. It appears to be rearing up on end, as if the
extremity saddled with the ballonet were weighted.
British and French captive balloon authorities are disposed to discount
the steadying effect of this attachment, and, indeed, to maintain that it
is a distinct disadvantage. It may hold the vessel steadier for the

purpose of observation, but at the same time it renders the balloon a
steadier target for hostile fire. On the other hand, the swaying of a
spherical balloon with the wind materially contributes to its safety. A
moving object, particularly when its oscillations are irregular and
incalculable, is an extremely difficult object at which to take effective
aim.
Seeing that even a small captive balloon is of appreciable
dimensions--from 25 to 33 feet or more in diameter--one might
consider it an easy object to hit. But experience has proved otherwise.
In the first place the colour of the balloon is distinctly protective. The
golden or yellowish tinge harmonises well with the daylight, even in
gloomy weather, while at night-time it blends excellently with the
moonlight. For effective observations a high altitude is undesirable. At
a height of 600 feet the horizon is about 28 miles from the observer, as
compared with the 3 miles constituting the range of vision from the
ground over perfectly flat country. Thus it will be seen that the
"spotter" up aloft has the command of a considerable tract.
Various ways and means of finding the range of a captive balloon have
been prepared, and tables innumerable are available for committal to
memory, while those weapons especially designed for aerial targets are
fitted with excellent range-finders and other instruments. The Germans,
with characteristic thoroughness, have devoted considerable attention
to this subject, but from the results which they have achieved up to the
present this guiding knowledge appears to be more spectacular and
impressive than effective.
To put a captive balloon out of action one must either riddle the
envelope, causing it to leak like a sieve, blow the vessel to pieces, or
ignite the highly inflammable gas with