Balloon Basket, USA, World War I, United States Army Air Service
notes: label: Physical Description
content: Cane basket with miscellaneous rope and fittings. Military observers for the U.S. Army Air Service watched and photographed enemy troops from balloon baskets like this one.
label: Summary
content: See the basket overhead? Military observers for the U.S. Army Air Service watched and photographed enemy troops from balloon baskets like this one.
label: Summary
content: Flying close to the front lines, observers reported details to commanders using telephone lines. The balloons were tethered to a winch on the ground and floated between 1,000 and 5,000 feet (305 and 1524 meters). Each held a vast volume of flammable hydrogen gas that could fill almost half of an Olympic-sized swimming pool.
place: label: Country of Origin
content: United States of America
setName: label: See more items in
content: National Air and Space Museum Collection
label: Location
content: National Air and Space Museum in Washington, DC
label: Exhibition
content: World War I: The Birth of Military Aviation
creditLine: label: Credit Line
content: Gift of W.C. Turpin
dataSource: label: Data Source
content: National Air and Space Museum
identifier: label: Inventory Number
content: A19740670000
objectType: label: Type
content: CRAFT-Balloon
objectRights: label: Restrictions & Rights
content: CC0
physicalDescription: label: Materials
content: Cane, Wood, Iron, Hemp, Rope
label: Dimensions
content: Approximate: 116.8 × 119.4 × 114.3cm, 90.7kg (3 ft. 10 in. × 3 ft. 11 in. × 3 ft. 9 in., 200lb.)