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| A Spad XIII of the 22nd Aero Squadron in combat. Charles R. "Chuck" Faust (Source) |
As an American, I always think of Frank Luke as the premier balloon-buster, though being something of an amateur historian I knew that a Belgian pilot was number one on the list of "balloon aces." (Yes, there is such a thing.) Frank Luke is actually ninth on the list (tied with a German pilot) with fourteen balloon kills.
The top guy on the list is Willy Coppens, with thirty-five balloon kills. That's a lot.
Now you might be thinking, "Isn't shooting down an aircraft harder than shooting down a balloon?"
Well ...
When fighting an aircraft, you're going up against a fellow human being, in another aircraft. But, that other guy might be a crappy pilot in a crappy aircraft. He might also be better and be flying a superior aircraft to boot. A lot of variables, but going after balloons was a bit different. (Note that I use "he" as to my knowledge there were no female military pilots in WWI, at least not on the front lines.)
Balloons were stationary in the horizontal plane (more or less) but they could go up and down (ahem, ya mean the "vertical plane" right?), albeit slowly. So you're thinking, "Ah ha, sitting duck then?"
Well ...
Balloons were used to look behind enemy lines, to observe, gather intel on enemy forces, and also to direct artillery fire. You did not want a balloon on the other side of the lines watching your every move, and directing gunfire at your guys. So balloons were an important asset.
Being stationary you would have lots of anti-aircraft artillery (can you hear juvat, "boo-hissing" in the background?) all around that balloon to keep enemy aircraft away. You would also have your own fighters up to protect the balloon. Attacking a balloon was a very dangerous proposition during the "Great War." Lots of AAA and enemy fighters protecting that balloon.
No fun at all.
Seems that these days the most dangerous thing protecting "enemy" balloons is idiot politicians. (Enemy being in quotes because technically we're not at war with Red China, not sure the Chinese see it that way but ...)
You can read more the balloon busters here, it even has the list of balloon aces! (Kinda sounds weird if you say "balloon ace" out loud.)
No, the Muse has not returned, she claims she's tired and I don't pay enough attention to her. Also my wee companion and best furry friend Anya seems to be heading towards the exit. She's 19 and getting very feeble. Makes me lose sleep that does, I cannot picture what comes next. Rather, I don't want to picture what comes next.
Praying for Anya and for you. You will do the right thing for Anya and it will be hard, but you will make it through and the future will bring what it brings and the memories of Anya will make you smile. Good on you.
ReplyDeleteThanks Mark.
DeleteSeconding Mark Sarge, Anya is more important than posting here. She and yours are in the prayer rotation.
ReplyDeleteThanks Nylon12.
DeleteAs I am also facing the inevitable loss of pets ( dogs in my case) one of the things that ameliorated the pain somewhat is that they have no real concept of mortality. Each moment and each day are "now". I am confident that Anya has had a great life with you and that's what she knows.
DeleteBoat Guy
They certainly do live in the "here and now." She knows her humans very well, she has certainly enriched our lives.
DeleteThanks BG.
Mom worked for the school district at the warehouse. They would receive discards from all the libraries, then were told to dump them in the trash. We were all readers, so she'd bring boxes of books home. One box held a treasure. 'Flying Aces of World War 1'. One of the balloon killers actually landed on the top of one. While pushing his attack, he saw he wasn't going to miss it. He cut his engine and "landed" on it. He rolled across it, and dived away. I think he was able to restart his engine and make it back to base. They used incendiary bullets. Most of those were filled with hydrogen. IIRC the observers were the first to use parachutes to escape. One of the last aces mentioned was the guy that ran the GM dealership where dad grew up in Oklahoma. He was pretty surprised I knew the guys name. "How do you know that name?" "He was an ace in World War One, dad!" "Well how about that...."
ReplyDeleteMaybe we need to reactivate a few Spads and Jennies. We could send them up to pop the gas bags and recover the hardware to see what's what.
I'm sorry about your kitty. 19 is a long life. There had to be much love and care to get her here. You are an honorable man, Sarge. Prayers up for you.
I vaguely recall that story of the guy landing on a balloon. I'll need to track that down.
DeleteThanks STxAR.
Sarge, what is old is new. I had not thought of Balloons in the military sense until you just mentioned it - but they were top rate technology in the from the 1860's to 1918. Funny how things can be revolutionary - and then become irrelevant so quickly.
ReplyDeleteI think I remember the same book that STxAR references. World War I aces interested me as a child - at one point I tried to build a model of Richtofen's Final Tri-wing aircraft (in my case, if he had actually used the aircraft, likely he would not have been an ace).
Watching our furry companions decline is hard. I can only take solace in the fact that we can offer them a far better decline that what they would see in Nature.
I built a model of Werner Voss's triplane, it had a cool paint scheme.
DeleteAnya has had a really good life, things will be different after she's gone. Not necessarily in a bad way as we'll still have a lot of fond memories.
I shall shed tears, when it happens, I know she is your Lazarus.
ReplyDeleteOne of many, I tend to bond with my feline and canine friends very easily.
DeleteSarge,
ReplyDelete"Isn't shooting down an aircraft harder than shooting down a balloon?"
Good Question and, as usual, it depends.
WWI Shooting down balloons was an excellent way for a fighter pilot to get killed. The Balloon owners, hereafter referred to as "The Bad Guys", knew where the target was located, not only the X/Y coordinates on the ground, but the Z coordinate (Altitude). So they could zero their guns in. Additionally, machine guns on fighters at the time were extremely limited in range, measured in hundreds of feet. (As an aside, the Phantom gun could score hits out to about 6000'. Those were acoustically scored, so the bullet was still supersonic. The bullet would travel further). So...The Bad Guy gunners could set their weapons on a very confined kill zone. Unfortunately, the attacking aircraft wasn't all that fast, so while the Phantom might only be in the gunner's range (assuming the gunner was near the target) for a couple of seconds, the Good Guys could be there for the better part of a minute. Probability of a hit and therefore Probability of a Kill goes up exponentially as the time in the target area increases.
As to modern aircraft and Balloons, it's still a difficult game. Granted there are no AAA batteries protecting them, (Score one for the good guys). However, modern fighter radars are built to detect aircraft and have a minimum closure rate for a target to be shown on the screen. Believe it or not, the ground has a radar return. The ground is not usually the target, so that return is not shown. So...Depending on the winds aloft, the balloon may or may not be seen on radar. Which limits the use of long range Aim-7 Radar missiles. (I never flew with an AMRAAM, so don't know it's slow speed capabilities if any). The Aim-9 Sidewinder doesn't have that limitation, but is a heat seaker, and could be effective if the target is reflecting sunlight (or any other heat source of course). It's got a small warhead, but lots of sharp metal, so should do quite a bit of damage assuming guidance. The last weapon is the gun. Easy to use, lots of bullets, will generally hit what it's aimed at, but as mentioned, will probably just punch holes. The bullets do explode, but they have to hit something relatively solid to do so.
Were it me, I'd probably look at shooting at the payload. Probably more solid than the balloon itself, so the AIM-7 might guide, Metal/dense material, would generally absorb more heat so Ditto the AIM-9 and the gun would love a solid target. Plus, even though you may not have brought it down, it's mission is more likely to be kaput.
My $.02 soon to be worth $.0000002 Thanks Joe!
Sorry to hear about Anya. Got a few of our menagerie that are getting close to that situation. Difficult to prepare for. Hang in there.
juvat
Firefox is being unfriendly today
Thanks for quantifying the difficulties involved in balloon busting (then and now).
DeleteWhen is software ever friendly?
As to Anya, doesn't matter how many times you go through it, it never gets easy. The Missus Herself is pretty set against getting another furry companion, she doesn't want to go through the "end time" again. I get where she's coming from, but in Anya's case there are almost twenty years of fond memories and companionship. Seems worth the few weeks of sorrow at the end.
But like The Nuke pointed out, we're not getting any younger and another cat might outlive us!
Prayers for Anya. My dear Kitten (her name, all 14 pounds of her) and I have about the same expiration date. Just in case, she is provided for in my will if she outlasts me.
DeleteThanks Don. I like that name, "Kitten." Hope she is a comfort to you, and you to her.
DeleteYou could get an old cat from a shelter. They tend not to get adopted.
DeleteHot air balloons were used by both sides in the Civil War/War of Northern Aggression. Countermeasures must have been tried but not a lot of information is available.
ReplyDeleteThey were effective for observation, but that's about it.
DeleteThanks for this post Sarge. That is a fascinating painting. Looks like the guy got a streamer on his chute. I hope not. The artist depicted the AAA explosions very interestingly (?). Since I flew at night most of the time, all I ever saw was the flash. The details of the tracers on the machine guns is another interesting detail. I followed the link to the balloon page and saw the listing of all of the "balloon aces". I had no idea. Thanks so much for putting up this kind of post. I learn so much. Where do you find the art?
ReplyDeleteAnya has had a wonderful life with you and your family. I am sure of that. It is hard, but shows mercy, when we deal with these issues as we know we must. I'm praying that the Lord will comfort you, my digital brother. D4
I find the paintings by stumbling over them, in a digital way. I go to Google Images then search for something along the lines of "ww1 aviation art," browse through until I find something to my liking. Which is how I found this one. Mr. Faust has a number of paintings at that source. (Which just so happens to be the San Diego Air and Space Museum, a lovely place I've actually been to.)
DeleteThe observer's 'chute may not be deployed yet as you can see he's just jumped from the balloon's basket. Hopefully it isn't a streamer!
We want to do what's best for Anya, she's not suffering, she's just really old. But her time isn't that far off. So we'll make her comfortable and try to make her happy. She still purrs when I sit with her. we enjoy each other's company, always have. That's what I'll miss the most, just sitting with her and watching the world go by ...
Have you considered CBD for your cat? My friend had a couple of dogs that got cancer, and the CBD seemed to improve their lives significantly for an extended period. Just do not overdose unless you want a loopy cat wandering around...
DeleteI'll let the vet make that call.
DeleteI believe that the chute is in the process of deploying, not streamered. Don't know about ww1 technology, but today the lines must deploy from stows before the canopy can inflate. I think the observer chutes deployed from bags on the side of the passenger basket, and probably deployed the lines first.
DeleteA streamer would likely have enough drag to turn the jumper feet-down. I'll bet the jumpers skivvies are brown!
Mike
We are using CBD for one of our dogs who has " Canine Cognitive Disorder" aka dementia. It seems to help quite a bit.
DeleteBG
Mike - You're right.
DeleteBG - Depending on Anya's prognosis I might talk to the vet about it.
DeleteInteresting!
ReplyDeleteYou've been a great servant for the felines (dang sure not masters!), and we cannot escape nature's expiration dates. As much as I love critters (canine more so than feline) the "not wanting to go thru the end again" has deterred us from replacing our beloved furry family member. As with our human friends, let us rejoice that they have lived.
JB
Amen!
DeleteThanks JB.
One of the main problems with airships and balloons is that the gas envelope is sooooo big and the bullets sooooo small in comparison that you have to score lots and lots of hits on the envelope(s) to affect much of a change. It's not like shooting a carnival balloon and it pops immediately. Nope, the envelopes leak after puncturing. More or bigger holes means more leakage. And sparky-fire bullets only work if there's enough oxygen in the envelope to allow the chemical reaction to work.
ReplyDeleteShooting the crew or the payload has always been a more-sure bet.
Shooting the launch/support crew is even better.
Shooting the damned things and the people who work with them while the damned things are on the ground? Better and better.
Shooting/bombing/defenestrating/hanging the bastids that start the wars and surveillance bullscat? Best.
Dittos on Anya. Sucks. Had to do that way too many times with cats and dogs. Life sucks sometimes.
That 'Dittos' was about supporting you and yours. Not shooting/bombing/defenestrating/hanging Anya or you and yours. I realized it did not scan well about 0.0000000000000001 seconds after I posted.
DeleteIn other words, Aw, Crap,
Alright, Mr. Keyboard, quit being so sensitive and posting and entering keystrokes where they aren't supposed to be. Dangit. Hyperactively sensitive keyboards suck. Especially since I learned on a manual typewriter how to type.
DeleteBeans,
DeleteEarly balloons were filled with Hydrogen. Until they found out that was a very, very bad idea and started using Helium.
Thanks Beans. (I knew what you meant, I am fluent in Beanssprache.)
Deletejuvat - From a cursory search of the Internet it appears that the switch to helium took place after the Hindenburg disaster. Helium was apparently rather expensive and hard to produce. As hydrogen was cheaper and relatively easy to produce t's no wonder that it has been used for so long. (Those barrage balloons you see over England in WWII were mostly filled with hydrogen.)
DeleteThis topic is interesting enough (to me at any rate) that you might see a future post on it. Lots of conflicting information out there which I need to nail down before I can do that.
Interesting, I had read that (long ago) in a balloon buster book. Be interesting to see what you discover.
DeleteYes, juvat, I know the balloons were, pre-Hindenburg, filled with hydrogen. But hydrogen won't burn in a pure hydrogen environment because it needs oxygen to combine to make water. A lot of little incendiary bullets won't set the hydrogen 'on fire'. You have to set the actual envelope or protective outer envelope on fire and then the leaking hydrogen will combine with oxygen and you'll get fire.
DeleteAs to the Hindenburg, it was the extremely flammable aluminum paint on the exterior canvas that caught fire. Then the heat burnt the gas envelopes and the aforementioned air mixing occurred and 'poof' there she went.
The gas envelopes full of hydrogen always leaked. Always. Hydrogen is a slippery molecule to start with, and pressure makes it more so. Interesting fact, Zeps and other early airships, blimps and balloons used cow stomach lining as the gas-(mostly)impermeable part of the gas envelope. Better even than rubber, especially when your rubber supply has been embargoed.
Hydrogen is still found in balloons outside of the US of A and a few other countries. Why? Because helium is expensive and only comes from a few sources. And we're heading into a serious helium shortage. You can go on yousetubs and see videos of places like Russia and Red China and see people setting (on purpose or accidentally) their party balloon envelopes on fire and the blue flame of hydrogen turning into water vapor occurring.
And there have been lots of studies showing going back to hydrogen in lifting balloons is better than helium. Hydrogen is abundant and easy to separate from water. Hydrogen lifts more than helium, being lighter. And so forth.
DeleteProblem with hydrogen is, because it is so small, rather slippery and easily wiggles its way out of whatever medium it is stored in. One of the big problems with hydrogen-powered powerplants. Tolerances can't be standard tolerances, they must be space-standard tolerances. Even some 'solid' materials are porous enough to allow hydrogen to slip away.
Beans always has insight on these sorts of topics. Hydrogen is superior to helium for lift and yes, hydrogen is a slippery sumbitch.
DeleteActually, the US moved to helium with their big airships well before the Hindenburg. But then, virtually all the helium produced in the world came from Texas gas wells, and with the clouds of WW2 gathering, they weren't about to have Germany have any. In WW2, the USN had helium-filled blimps that were excellent at ASW and convoy escort (weather permitting). They could loiter for days. The WW2 hydrogen-filled barrage balloons did not actually bring down many aircraft, but they ensured that there were no low-level attacks for fear of running into the tethering cables (a variant was the British PAC [parachute and cable] with a rocket launching a parachute trailing a steel cable that would stay aloft for a few minutes. Very few aircraft were downed, but the threat raised the Luftwaffe attacks on small ships to a higher, much less effective altitude).
DeleteDidn't know that about the Navy's airships. I just wanted to point out that hydrogen was used in WWI and the switch to helium occurred later.
DeleteMy dad got to ride on some of the Navy's radar blimps in the early 50's. He liked them. Good stable platforms for observation. As long as one has air-superiority, of course.
DeleteMy Dad was a USN blimp pilot during WW2 and in the reserves until the lighter than air program ended in the 1960s.
DeleteJB
Very cool.
DeleteThe SHENANDOAH and AKRON class Zeppelins both used helium exclusively.
DeleteBeans,
ReplyDeleteBack in the 80's I dated a girl who liked to throw parties. She always had bundles of Helium balloons tied to little sandbags with ribbon. Well there was always some clown who kept popping the balloons with a cigarette. That didn't make her happy and if she wasn't happy, I wasn't going to have a good night. So at one of her parties, I filled several balloons with Hydrogen. Halfway through the party the room was lit up with a small fireball and the girl who popped the balloon went home to change her panties and was not invited back.
Nice!
DeleteEven more exciting is to do the electrolysis collecting both the hydrogen and oxygen in a balloon. Punctured with a flame, it does not burn. It explodes very very loudly (not saying this was learned from personal experience).
DeleteOuch!
DeleteI had a buddy blow out the windows on the garage with an acetylene / oxygen balloon. Thank you, no.
DeleteI figured Beans knows a lot about gas.... methane, hydrogen sulfide, etc.....
Back at first college, classmates used to seal dorm room doors with silicon and pump ether into the room and set fire to it, momentarily, of course. All a big shock to those actually in the room for some strange reason.
DeleteEther-filled balloons were also popular.
So were hydrogen-filled weather balloons. Of course, being an engineering college, home-made hydrogen generators were common. Until totally banned. Seems one particular clever individual sent one up the elevator shaft in the very tall but really crappy dorm building (like 8-12 floors, all the other dorms were 2-3 story.)
Ah, the good old days...
Heh, engineers.
DeleteChemists, like engineers, seem fascinated by pyrotechnics. Back In my graduate student days, a friend and fellow student (an ex Special Forces Sgt.) decided late one night to show me how to make an incendiary compound from sugar and a second (nameless) compound. There are two similarly named second compounds. One is a powerful oxidizer reacting with and igniting anything organic on contact. The other is not. He chose the "other". I suggested that was not the right one (I had read the SF manual more recently than him). He replied that he had been trained to do this and mixed them. Nothing. Applied matches. Nothing. He finally turned a Bunson burner flame on the mess. This resulted in a little bubbling and charring of the sugar along with some whisps of smoke. The most fireproof incendiary compound ever concocted. I stood by offering appropriate comments on the unmatched prowess of our elite fighting forces...
Delete🤣🤣🤣
Deleteinterestingly enough this is not first time US fighters are intercepting hostile balloons...
ReplyDeletehttps://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fu-Go_balloon_bomb
and the previous ones were actually trying to kill people and destroy things
Yup.
Delete