Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1896-06-20
BALLOONS IN WARFARE.

RulIet. Make Little ImpressiOn Upon
Them. but Shrnpnel is More Effective.
From Journal des Debats.
The aerial spy has for some time been
closely studied by French, German. Aus
trian and Russian officers and the results
Of recent experiments are noteworthy. 1t
appears that 1t is not easy to shoot down
q captive balloon. The balls OF the modern
rifles don't harm it much. The holes which
they make in 1t are SO small that the es-
cape Of gas Is Insignificant. This has been
clearly proved by the result Of infantry fire
at a balloon held at an elevation OF 800
meters. The only possible enemy of bal
loon Is the shrapnel shell. Experiments
with these shells have been made with bal
looms at elevations ranging from 200 10 500
meters, and at a distance of from 5000 to
5000 meters from the firing ground. Out
of thirty shrapnel shells. the Russian ar
tillerymen put twenty-five balls through
balloon 800 meters high and $500 me:ers
from the firing ground. At 5000 meters
from the firing ground the Germans made
twenty holes in balloon go meters high
out of twenty-six shrapnel shells. But
when the airship was 800 meters in the air
and the distance 5000 meters. only two
balls struck 1t out of sixty-five shells. and
three balls out of eighty shells during the
experiments last year in Austria.
not generally mortal. Indeed. it often hap
pens that the shrapnel and the broken
fragments of the shells produce no more
effect upon the balloon than the bullets of
the small-bore rifles With eight holes in
the envelope the balloon still preserves It's
ascending power. and those that are
brought down fall very slowly like para
chutea But, on the other hand, when
huge rent happens to be made in 1t, the
balloon drops rapidly.
From all these experiments the conclu-
sion Is that, in order to keep the balloon
beyond the reach of dangerous projectiles,
my and at an altitude Of 800 meters. These
conditions are severe, especially in the
experiments the oscillations Of the airship
were calculated at twenty meters only,
whereas in reality they are greater.
The trials were then recommended with
the balloon rolling and with frequent
changes in its position. The Budapest,
which was the target. is a balloon ten
meters IN diameter and fourteen in height.
A battery Of eight guns was placed at $3.50
meters from the windass. Firing was be-
gun. but the balloon constantly changed its
position. Men in shelter moved the wind
lass by means of cable. This obliged the
gunners to alter their pointing constantly.
They fired eighty shells at it; that is to
say. all that were allowed for the expert
ment and when the balloon was hauled
down it was found that there were only
three Insignificant holes in it, which had
little or no effect upon its ascending power.
Now 1t should be remembered that the
eighty shrapnel shells represented 10000
balls and pieces of broken shells. So the
Austrian officers came to the conclusion
that a balloon at that elevation and moved
in the manner described had very many
chances to escape all danger from the fire
of an enemy, and that the efforts Of the
artillerymen should be directed against the
windlass and the servants of the balloon
An altitude Of 800 meters is considered
the maximum. Beyond that observations
are uncertain. The distance from the
enemy should be from eight to ten kilo-
meters. Maj. Renard, who has charge Of
the department of military aerostatien at
Meudon-C halais, who compiled the docu-
ments that we have here condensed, says
that, in order to foil the fire Of an enemy s
artillery, it is not sufficient to move a hal
loon in a straight line, because it Is clear
that, instead of following 1t in it's back
ward and forward movements. the enemy
would confine his attention to the extreme
points of It's reach and fire upon 1t only
when it came within the line of range. 1t
is necessary to vary the direction of it's
movements and even its altitude. In this
way the enemy would be compelled to alter
the pointing of his guns constantly, and
while this operation went on the aeronaut
could quietly attend to his business in the
line of observations.
To put the thing in a nutshell, the cap
tive balloon is able to defend itself with
considerable facility.