US Marine Corps barrage balloon, Parris Island, May 1942

A barrage balloon is a large balloon tethered with metal cables, used to defend against bombardment by aircraft by damaging the aircraft on collision with the cables. Some versions carried small explosive charges that would be pulled up against the aircraft to ensure its destruction. Barrage balloons were only regularly employed against low-flying aircraft, the weight of a longer cable making them impractical for higher altitudes. Marine Corps barrage balloons, Parris Island, 1942. ... Marine Corps barrage balloons, Parris Island, 1942. ... Moored balloons can carry instruments and sensors for long durations that are impractical for other aircraft. ...

World War II

Landing ships putting cargo ashore on one of the invasion beaches during the Battle of Normandy. Note the barrage ballons.

The remnants of a US Navy Balloon lying wrecked on the ground in a Nevada test site after collapsing from the shockwave of a nuclear blast.

In 1938 the British Balloon Command was established to protect cities and key targets such as industrial areas, ports and harbours. Balloons were intended to defend against dive bombers flying at heights up to 5,000 feet (1500 m), forcing them to fly higher and into the range of concentrated anti-aircraft fire—anti-aircraft guns could not traverse fast enough to attack aircraft flying at low altitude and high speed. By the middle of 1940 there were 1,400 balloons, a third of them over the London area. Supplying Normandy coast Photo # 26-G-2517 LSTs landing vehicles and cargo on a Normandy beach, June 1944 From [1] File history Legend: (cur) = this is the current file, (del) = delete this old version, (rev) = revert to this old version. ... Supplying Normandy coast Photo # 26-G-2517 LSTs landing vehicles and cargo on a Normandy beach, June 1944 From [1] File history Legend: (cur) = this is the current file, (del) = delete this old version, (rev) = revert to this old version. ... Combatants United States United Kingdom Canada Free France Poland Germany Commanders Dwight Eisenhower (Supreme Allied Commander) Bernard Montgomery (land) Bertram Ramsay (sea) Trafford Leigh-Mallory (air) Omar Bradley (US 1st Army) Miles Dempsey (UK 2nd Army) Harry Crerar (Canadian 1st Army) Gerd von Rundstedt (OB WEST) Erwin Rommel (Heeresgruppe B... Image File history File linksMetadata Download high-resolution version (2404x3000, 3537 KB) This page may meet Wikipedia’s criteria for speedy deletion. ... Image File history File linksMetadata Download high-resolution version (2404x3000, 3537 KB) This page may meet Wikipedia’s criteria for speedy deletion. ... The United States Navy (USN) is the branch of the United States armed forces responsible for naval operations. ... Balloon Command was the Royal Air Force command which was responsible for controlling all the United Kingdom-based barrage balloon units during World War II. Balloon Command was formed on 1 November 1938 at Stanmore in Middlesex. ... A dive bomber is a bomber aircraft that dives directly at its targets in order to provide greater accuracy. ... American troops man an anti-aircraft gun near the Algerian coastline in 1943 Anti-aircraft, or air defense, is any method of combating military aircraft from the ground. ... In fortification, a traverse is a mass of earth or other material employed to protect troops against enfilade. ...

While dive-bombers were devastatingly effective against undefended targets, such as Guernica and Rotterdam, they were very vulnerable to attack by fighter aircraft, and their use by Germany against Britain with its effective Royal Air Force was rapidly discontinued. Balloons proved to be of little use against the German high-level bombers with which the dive-bombers were replaced, but continued to be manufactured nonetheless, until there were almost 3,000 in 1944. They proved to be mildly effective against the V-1 flying bomb, which usually flew at 2,000 feet (600 m) or lower but had wire-cutters on its wings to counter balloon barrages. 231 V-1s are officially claimed to have been destroyed by balloons^[1]. Guernica or Guernica y Lumo (Basque Gernika-Lumo, pronounced in IPA [gernika]) is a small city in the Spanish Basque Country that was the meeting place of the Biscayne assembly under an oak tree, the Gernikako Arbola, which was a symbol of traditional freedoms of the Basque people. ... Rotterdam Location Coat of arms The coat of arms of Rotterdam. ... The Royal Air Force (RAF) is the air force branch of the British Armed Forces. ... The Vergeltungswaffe-1, V-1, also designated Fieseler Fi 103/FZG-76, known colloquially in English as the Flying bomb, Buzz bomb or Doodlebug, was the first guided missile used in war and the forerunner of todays cruise missile. ...

Many bombers were equipped with devices to cut barrage balloon cables. Britain used large numbers of balloons, so Germany developed the most capable cable-cutters. Their systems consisted of small C-shaped devices attached to the leading edge of the wing. When a cable entered the device after sliding down the wing, it triggered a small explosive charge that drove a blade through the cable. British bombers were also equipped with cable-cutters although the Germans used few barrage balloons.

The British added two refinements to their balloons, "Double Parachute Link" (DPL)and "Double Parachute/Ripping" (DP/R). The former was triggered by the shock of a enemy bomber snagging the cable, causing that section of cable to be explosively released complete with parachutes at either end; the combined weight and drag bringing down the aircraft. The latter was intended to render the balloon safe if it broke free accidentally. The heavy mooring cable would separate at the balloon and fall to the ground under a parachute; at the same time a panel would be ripped away from the balloon causing it to deflate and fall independently to the ground.^[2]

Disadvantages

Balloons were sometimes more trouble than they were worth. In 1942 Canadian and American forces began joint operations to protect the sensitive locks and shipping channel at Sault Ste. Marie along their common border among the Great Lakes against possible air attack. During severe storms in August and October of 1942 some barrage balloons broke loose, and the trailing cables short-circuited power lines, causing serious disruption to mining and manufacturing. In particular, the metals production vital to the war effort was disrupted. Canadian military historical records indicate that "The October incident, the most serious, caused an estimated loss of 400 tons of steel and 10 tons of ferro-alloys." Sault Sainte Marie — pronounced Soo Saint Marie (IPA ) — is the name of two cities on the Saint Marys River, which forms part of the boundary between the United States and Canada. ... The Great Lakes from space The Great Lakes are a group of five large lakes in North America on or near the Canada-United States border. ... Tree limbs cause a short circuit during a storm A short circuit (sometimes abbreviated to short or s/c) allows a charge to flow along a different path from the one intended. ... Transmission towers Transmission lines in Lund, Sweden Electric power transmission, or more accurately Electrical energy transmission, is the second process in the delivery of electricity to consumers. ... This article is about mineral extraction. ... Manufacturing , a branch of industry, is the application of tools and a processing medium to the transformation of raw materials into finished goods for sale. ...

Following these incidents new procedures were put in place, which included stowing the balloons during the winter months, with regular deployment exercises and a standby team on alert to deploy the balloons in case of attack.

In the media

Barrage Ballons played a minor but important part in the T.V. series of Doctor Who in 2005. They featured in The Empty Child and The Doctor Dances. The two linked episodes about World War II won the 2006 Hugo Award for Best Dramatic Presentation, Short Form.^[3] There is also reference to these items in an episode of the popular British sictom Dad's Army. 'The Day the Balloon Went Up' shows, rather humerously, the importance of proper ancorage. Doctor Who is a long-running British science fiction television programme (and 1996 television movie) produced by the BBC about the adventures of a mysterious time-traveller known as the Doctor, who explores time and space with his companions, solving problems and righting wrongs. ... The Empty Child is an episode in the British science fiction television series Doctor Who, which was first broadcast on May 21, 2005. ... The Doctor Dances is an episode in the British science fiction television series Doctor Who, which was first broadcast on May 28, 2005. ... The Hugo Awards are given annually by members of the World Science Fiction Convention for the best science fiction or fantasy works. ... Dads Army was a British sitcom about the Home Guard in the Second World War, written by Jimmy Perry and David Croft and broadcast on BBC television between 1968 and 1977. ... The Day the Balloon Went Up is the eighth episode of the third series of the British comedy series Dads Army that was originally transmitted on Thursday 30 October 1969. ...

References

1. ^ Barrage Balloons for Low-Level Air Defense. Air & Space Power Journal (Summer 1989). Retrieved on 2007-04-16.
2. ^ [1] RAF Museum online exhibition "Air Diagrams"
3. ^ Hugo and Campbell Awards Winners. Locus Online (2006-08-26). Retrieved on 2006-08-27.

Airpower Journal may refer to one of the following publications. ... Summer is a season of the year that is defined as beginning on June 21st, and ending in September in the Northern Hemisphere. ... 1989 (MCMLXXXIX) was a common year starting on Sunday of the Gregorian calendar. ... 2007 (MMVII) is the current year, a common year starting on Monday of the Gregorian calendar and the Anno Domini (common) era. ... April 16 is the 106th day of the year in the Gregorian calendar (107th in leap years). ... Locus Magazine is subtitled The Magazine Of The Science Fiction & Fantasy Field. It reports on the science fiction writing industry, including comprehensive listings of new books published in the field. ... For the Manfred Mann album, see 2006 (album). ... August 26 is the 238th day of the year in the Gregorian calendar (239th in leap years). ... For the Manfred Mann album, see 2006 (album). ... August 27 is the 239th day of the year in the Gregorian calendar (240th in leap years), with 126 days remaining. ...

See also

• Aerostat
• Moored balloon

Uncrewed aerostats can carry instruments and sensors for long durations that are impractical for humans and other aircraft. ... Moored balloons can carry instruments and sensors for long durations that are impractical for other aircraft. ...

External links

• Barrage Balloons during WWII

• Barrage Balloon Reunion Club