page_title: School of Ballooning
section_title: History
hierarchical_section_title: School of Ballooning / History
caption_attribution_description: English: British Army Dirigible No 1, a semi-rigid airship that became Britain's first military aircraft when she flew on 10 September 1907.
context_page_description: The School of Ballooning was a training and test centre for British Army experiments with balloons and airships. It was established at Chatham in Kent in 1888. The School moved to Stanhope Lines, Aldershot in 1890 when a balloon section and depot were formed as permanent units of the Royal Engineers establishment. The School was sometimes known as the Balloon Factory.
context_section_description: At Woolwich
  Initially the School was based at the Royal Arsenal, Woolwich. In 1878 the school constructed and flew a hydrogen-filled balloon of 10,000 cubic feet (280 m³) capacity. By 1879 the unit had five balloons. In 1880 military balloon training and demonstration took place at Aldershot. After a tragic incident in 1881 Templer concentrated on development of balloons rather than making ascents himself.
  At Chatham
  In 1882 the School moved to the School of Military Engineering at Chatham where they discovered that Goldbeater's skin was superior balloon fabric than the material they had used previously – in particular it was easier to stow for transport. Templer also took out a patent for the use of unmanned balloons for "balloon photography" of the ground below.
  At Aldershot
  In 1890 the School moved to Aldershot where a section of the Royal Engineers had been formed to use balloons operationally. The School of Ballooning was renamed the Balloon Factory in 1897. In 1899 the Factory increased production to supply balloons for use in the Boer War. The Factory began experiments with "dirigible balloons" (airships) in 1902.
  At Farnborough
  The Aldershot site was found to be too enclosed so in 1904-1906 the Factory moved to a site at the edge of Farnborough Common. A 72 feet (22 m) high airship shed was built at there.Samuel Cody experimented with man-lifting kites at the site. In 1906 he was appointed as Chief Instructor in Kiting.
  In 1906 Colonel John Capper took up command of the School of Ballooning. During his time in command, Capper contributed to the development of Britain's military airships and, with Cody, piloted the first successful British airship flight, that of the Nulli Secundus over London during 1907.
  In 1909–1911, part of the Factory was separated to form the Air Battalion of the Royal Engineers. In 1912 the Balloon Factory was renamed the Royal Aircraft Factory.
caption: Nulli Secundus
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