Every evening, Wilmington daily commercial., 1918-11-14
Balloons in War
Adventures OH the Way Up
By Frederic j. Hnskin

| reliable machines Of modern warfare and
prornvscs io have a useful and interesting
reaceiime career ms well But no longer
| than two wears ago IT was n curiosity, and
mn experiment which often yielded result
more surprising than satisfactory
There is quite bit of romance in this
rise Of the balloon from the condition of n
sort of bucking bronco of the air ~ that If
staid and valuable performer The story
vas told for the FIRST time nv Colonel +
| prentias Of the balloon CORPS. who IL the
only officer IN TINT branch If the service
who has followed he fortunes of the
| balloon throughout The two vcnr9 of itg
| vital development and 4 leo Stevens.
who has been for many wears, civilian
halloon,st, following the sport for love Of
IT, and ls now chief Instructor for the
| ARMY Balloon Corps
Many years ago If occurred Ia army
men that the balloon might bc made q
useful military machine, and n field for
/ experimental work was established at
! Port Omaha But after little tcntativc
work. the balloon wa officially abandoned
hy The army n 1910 and the field desert
ed
coNEs HACK tGAIH
Nothing moro vas done or thought
| about the balloon until 1916 The event
| that initiated ts present development was
| the ARRIVAL 1T Norfolk of the German super
| | boat Deutschland That atnnzing
craft appeared III American water sud
| iieulY and unexpectedly II came IN >
peaceful crraud Buf = brought to
/ American military and naval minds fhc
reflection that II 2 dozen Deutschlande
instead of ono hnd thus appeared. and
| II thet had been feut upon destruction
instead Of commerce, the nitcd states
of tmorlca would have been IN bad
way \ fleet Of such giant U-boats c9uld
have wrecked onr shipping and tlcd up
our ports before anyone know hcy were
here II may be ihat he Germans
wished 70 suggest llat this possibility TO
thoughtful Nuereans. and that ho con
veying IT such j suggestion, intended r.
Neigh strongly against declaration of
wat on Germany was more the purpose
of I'll" Deutschland VISIT than the ov-
change oi nic>el for rubber winch Il
actually affected
Al any rate the Deutschland undo the
military thinker realize that hct needed
some ncan~ # Guarding against the I'M
expected aud unwclronc arrival of such
craft PLAINLY the necessary thing Ms
Some means If patrollng tho coastal
waters rom high elevation, 20 that even
- tnCausjicuon7 thing ~ bout
could nj hope to enter them unohscrvc
Tho alrplanc did not answer the nc"d
fully because 1T can remain III the air
only II high speed and high cNrcnsc
I'lanly the balloon was he thing
Al tho same tfne that the American
military and naval experts were realizing
the need for balloons IN coast patrol work
the Frcurhmrn were working ont Ifs pos
slbiIiflrs II M aid 10 artillery and nfan-
Try work on the western front These
two lines of development have brought
the gas hag ia lf~ present stai" Of useful
ncss, both dirigihle. and 4. captive
operated and controlled from fbr ground
~ aFr nra1
The first thing which our Var Drrarr-
rHeut did was 10 -cud flTr officers. 9l.r
II whom vas Col Prcntiss, 10 the de-
serted field 81 Fort Omaha These men
had only forty thousand dollars aIth
Rhleh 10 work and their Instructions
we're IT the taplcgt character They
anticipated the Machine (irm Corrs ny
naming themselves the Suicide Club
They began by having several gas bags
htait with ar sacks ~ one end. ana j
tail like hat of a kite At he other THESE.
bags were similar III pnncipie 10 the ones
now ia gse on the western front The
trouble with them VAS thAt tile aIr--ac~.
designed 10 catch the wlrd tllled and
cmptied too easily. with tie result that
these hrst captive balloons behaved a i
most unreliable manner 0Re ID
plunge up lnd down on he eno q -
tethef IKE a hooked and Sighting trout
on I nfg Ine.
70 ridc ii one was q sicilcning AMI
l. ~
qualities Of an ocean voyage IN storm.
eNeept that the Use and fall was multi
= ied about FIVE hundred times some
times N high nind q balloon would
drop clear 10 earth and rebound gam 70
an cleyat ion oi = thousand feet Or more
That the balloonists survived thi~ period
Was due entirely 10 luck ont balloon
which began 10 perform IA ms way for
tunatcly got hung GA + he cross bar of
telegraph pole, enabling The occupant ri
the basket 10 escape mother when II
struck the ground. Was oycrpowered by il
company of men, who pounced on the
monster and wrestled with il. finally GET
ting on top and holding il down by heir
combined weights Of the FIRST three
balloons used lv these men. two dashed
themselves to pieces against The earth. and
Yet III each case the occupant ESCAPED
unln jared
MANY NARROW ESCAPES
The balloonists might almost De juSti-
ned in believing that they are under the
protection Of some deity of the air 50
often have their lives been spared when
death seemed certain One balloon foy
example WAS struck By lightning II se
elevation Of six thousand feet. and fell
to earth burning wreck The basket
struck harbed-wire fence. one of the
posts passing clean through II but moi
touching the occupant The wires Of she
fence acted as springs. so that the basket
and the man bounced of. and the man
actually landed without a scratch lie Is
IF HAIR IS TIIRNINl,