The morning times., 1897-01-10
TO BRING DOWN A BALLOON.
British ArtilIerists Essay TO Grip
pie This Implement of Warfare.

PIE MS Implement Oh warfare.
Chicago Chronicle
Next TO shooting the III oOn," taking pot
shots at balloon would probably be the
most exciting kind OF sport At all events
the inhabitants OF shoebuFyness mad
distant opportunity Of witnessing he sue
cessful attempts made recentiybythe schooI
of gunnery to bring down u captive bal
loon anchored on the sands on the sea
front OF the batteries. The authorities at
the school regarded the experiments as par
ticuIarIy confidentiaI-though balloon a
couple ofthousand feethigh overt he sandsor
ShoebUryness is u fairly conspicuous OBJ
Iceland all civilians We're vigorously ex-
Guided from any approach To the grounds.
Special instructions were Issued for the ex-
clusion of journalists
Ever since the siege OF Paris military men
have been keenly interested in the possibili-
ties of halIoonine, both as a means OF main
tanning communication with beleaguered
cities OF forts, and as 4 veTyeffectuaI way Of
making observations. 1t is in the latter d.
rection naturally that the greatest deyeI-
Oprnent OF the art of balIonning has taken
place, and every modern army now has
properly equipped train attached 10 1t. A
above the earth enables the occupant of the
car attached To il to extend his gaze over a
wide field, while the telephone and the de
velopments ufphutograp ply furnish him with
means by which hecan supply his chief with
not only verbal reports CT the disposition OF
the enemy, but with actual charts OF the
country, showing the position OF the larger
masses of troops. The British army is not
n ind in a FL
and well-equipped school OF aeronautics ex-
lists at AldershOt, and has proved useful
auxiliary in some OF the maneuvers in the
neighbOrhoOd OF the camp.
The former power, indeed, has extended
the use of the balloon to its navy, and some
remarkable experiments were recently
carried On in the channel A captive bal
loon was sent up from the warship Riche-
lieu, the retaining cable being attached in
sucha manner that the car rrenaineda always
vertical, and dsOmeyery good dresuIts were OBJ
tained. No. the least valuable was the
disclosure of the fact that vessel equipped
with a balloon could explore sea area
about four times as great as could be COW
cred from a masthead.
Having demonstrated the utility OF baE
looms, military men set about seeing how
utSl " dtSlAbA t++tAAl NAttit IL ltlC sAAl PC
cially contrived mountings We're made so as
TO enable guns 10 fire at very high angles
and extensive experiments We're made both
in France and Germany 1t was found that
upto 3,COO feet there was a far chance Of
hitting the balloon with shrapnel, but the
small toleS made by the bullets were not
sufficiently large to be rapidly fatal Com
mon shell, the splinters OF which tore the
home, butthe percentage of hits at tanyth1ng
except a very low elevation was so slight
that it was practically worthless.
Modern rifle bullets appeared TO pass
through the balloon in perfectly harmless
manner. Altogether the result Of the ex-
periments went 10 prove that unless a
balloon passed through the zone OF fire at
| an altitude of less than 8, ZOO feet IL ran
but little risk. A further consideration
with regard To these experiments was that
/ they were carried out against captive bal
| looms. Ii is questionable whether il would
, be at all possible 10 train a gun on bal
| loon travelling over a fortress or army in
| the field at the rate OF fifteen or twenty
miles an hour, while the difficulty of pick
ing up the range" is also very great.
| The experiments at ShoeburyneSs demon
strated nothing more than what was al
| ready known-namely, that it is possible
| to hit balloon at comparatively low
elevation, where the range can be fairly
| apprOximated- The balloon was anchored
| over the sands in front of the brick battery
! at a range of about 1000 yards. It's
height was about 1,500 feet. During the
l-practice there was a strong, gusty, south
west wind blowing across the range, and
taking this into account, it is credita bic
to the gunners that with the third round
| OF time shrapneI they managed TO damage
| the balloon sufficiently TO bring it 10
/ earth.