The Washington herald., 1907-04-28

military field. During the civil war the
women of the South surrendered their
last ana priced silk dresses to make a
war balloon. which the Yankees gleefully
captured soon after. The use Of balloons
TO send messages out Of Paris during its
siege by the Germans in the Franco-Prus-
sian war is historic. Gambetta, afterward
premier Of France, sailed out that way
through a hail OF ineffective bullets from
needle guns.
But the war balloon Is a captive. not a
free balloon. It's purpose Is 20 lift an
officer into the air, where he can see the
enemy. or the country over which his own
army is preparing TO move. These war
BALLOONS are smaller than the America,
CentaUrer and Orient. Of the Aero Club,
which hold respectively 1900, $1,000. and
5000 cubic feet Of gas. They range from
1900 to @,0Oo cubic feet capacity, but
then it is hydrogen gas. Of greater lifting
power. They are not allowed to escape
from the rope. which holds them 10 the
ground Ia one spot. 4 telephone wire also
runs down, and the observer aloft rapidly
reports what he sees, while mounted or
derlies dash off. with the information as
fast as it Is acquired 20 the chief in COM
mand. The balloon outfit, envelope. bas-
ket and small. foot long hydrogen tanks.
weighing 50 pounds each, are transported
in wagons The whole weight is roughly
1900 pounds. and the Signal Corps men
say balloon train can 90 anywhere d
battery Of artillery can go. Such use OF
balloons was attempted by our army be-
fore Santiago. and by the British IN South
Africa In neither case was there much
result, although the British balloon an
noyed the Beers.
Use I'm the Future.
But balloons win be used I'm any big
war in the future this way. that is Ger
tain. They are tried during the maneuv-
ers Of every European country. A Ger
man army balloon broke away during the
maneuyers Of year or two ago and
carried an officer and men over the North
Sea our army has not reached the point
Of developing a regular balloon train, or
the wagons or equipment for one The
Signal Corps men had q hard enough
struggle TO get the hydrogen plant. and
they have just got that Congress SHES
at appropriating money for balloons since
the joking that followed Prof. Langley's
successful effort 10 hypnotic the law
makers into giving him cash 70 spend on
aeroplanes.
The first Hague peace conference for
babe the use OF balloons 70 drop down
explosives on the heads OF an enemy IN
warfare. There is much misunderstood
ing about that too. ana much nonsense
has been written in a vivid style about
the horrible possibilities IN this sort Of
fighting. What you want to remember is
that the balloon seeks an equilibrium in
the air and that its balance in the ether
is delicate. The dropping Of a few ounces
OF sand out Of ballast bag will shoot
the monster upward with q rush. Bal
ioon men say that dropping fifteen pounds
Of explosives. and the standard shrapnel
shell is OF that weight might send the
balloon upward with such a rush as TO
burst the envelope. Then. the bag trav-
els with a speed that is disconceTting and
hard 20 gauge. a speed OF nifty miles an
hour IS not percepuble to the occupants
Of the car.
Would BE GuessvvorI.
Artillery practice by the force of gravity
on troops below would be guesswork Of
the purest ray serene. Like the old dy-
Mantle cruiser Vesuyius, that was TO
blow up Santiago so fast. this sort OF
thing Is fine IN theory and rich food
for a literary imagination. but not prac-
teal The agreement against the use Of
balloons in an aggressive fashion had
lapsed when the Russians fought The
Japs. but. although each took every ad-
vantage he could. neither turned to bal
looms. The experts say the aerOplane Is
the only fashion Of a flying machine that
viii ever be used in war. and the Wright
brothers have not revealed, as yet, how
successful seropianes are made.
For a while, then, the balloon races Of
the Aero Club will be & most important
phase Of American ballooning. Entries
for the flight from St. Louis, on October
70. have been received from Germany,
England, France. and Spain. Each
country viii be represented by three bal
looms. The American contestants viii be
J. O. Mccoy. A. r. Hawley, and Lieut.
Lahm. The big balloon, America. will be
one OF the American racers.