The age-herald., 1902-03-30
BALLOONS IN WAR.
Account of Their Utility to British In
 South African War.
From the London Times.

From the London Times.
 At a meeting of the Society of Arts, General Sir G. w. A. Higginson being in the chair MT. B.. H. Stuart Bruce read E paper on ''The Use of Balloons in War;" He began by giving a. short historical ac- count of their employment in war, which he pointed out had been the stimulus to their practical invention. The balloon section of the British army, as 1t existed today, was of comparatively modern date, and so recently as 1SS5-S6 there was so much skepticism as to its utility that fears were entertained by some as to the ultimate position of the British military balloon. Perhaps the strongest point in our national balloon equipment was the use of goldbeater's skin in construction. The adoption of this was nothing short of a strike of genius on the part of Col onel Ternpler and the other officers asso- ciated with the balloons, and on the fact of it's adoption depended the success of the balloons in the South African war. It had been said that the naval guns saved Ladysmith, but they owed much of their success to the observer in the captive balloon, for he, from his elevated position, could locate the Boer guns and direct the operations of the British artillery. Captain Philips balloon soction accomplished magnificent work with General Butler at Coense and up the Tugela river; at Spiontop 1t discov cred that our army was going to march into a death trap Colonel Jones' section went up with Lord Methuen on Modder river, and in the opinion of experts there was not a single day on which it's ob- servations were not of the highest import ance. Lord Kitchener also used balloons, and it had been stated that through the information they supplied the British army was enabled to march on Paarde- berg At Pretoria. too. the balloon render ed the greatest service, for on one occa- sion, when it's observations prevented the Boers from relieving Fourteen Streams, a balloon was worked for thir- teen days continuously with one imitation. This was the best test of the retentive power of goldbeater's skin possible. Much had been said about the backwardness of the British nation in aeronautical mat ters, but in the opinion of the lecturer no other nation in the world could have produced a balloon of the same size that could have thus worked for thirteen days with one load of gas. Another use for captive balloons in war was for signal ing, electric lamps being placed in the interior, and by means of a metallic con- ductor illuminated for longer or shorter periods so as to give signals in the Morse or other code The free balloon also had its use in war. but its utility would be largely increased if it could be steered against a wind of considerable power, which, however, in the present state of knowledge, was Impossible. To further the solution of the problem, careful quan- titative experiments would be more useful than any number of more sensational journays under the conditions of money prizes in which scientific desiderata were not sufficiently taken into account Tn saying this he did not wish to belittle the work of such heroes of aerial navigation as M. Santos-Dumont, but in future the problem must be more seriously attacked than for the purpose of sport. The time had arrived for the endowment of aero nautical research.