History of military ballooning Balloons were the first mechanisms used in air warfare . Their role was strictly recognized for reconnaissance purposes . They provided humans with the first available method of elevating themselves well over the battle field to obtain the proverbial " birds - eye view . " They were an early instrument of definitive intelligence collection , and were also particularly useful in the preparation of accurate battlefield maps , before which time this rudimentary craft had led to many a battlefield failure . Kongming lantern . Kongming lantern s were used as military signalling . The lantern was invented in late Han dynasty , when the Han dynasty chancellor Zhuge Liang ( Kongming ) was surrounded by Wei dynasty General Sima Yi at Pinlo , Sichuan . Zhuge Liang used paper made " lanterns " , or hot balloons , to signal the rescue forces . The Kongming lantern become a common military signal in China , and it was inherited by the Mongolian troops , seen in the Battle of Legnica . Flying the Kongming lantern is now a civilian festival of memorizing chancellor Zhuge Liang in the Lantern Festival . Early French balloons . The first successfully flown balloons were made in France by the Montgolfier brothers in 1782 - 1783 . They were rigid - style spheres made of cotton or silk stretched over a simple light wood frame resembling a large egg . These rigid balloons were held up over a fire so that the smoke billowed well into the cavity of the sphere . It was thought that the smoke made the balloons rise , but actually it was the hot air of the smoke that caused the elevating . The first decisive use of a balloon for aerial observation was performed by the French Aerostatic Corps using the aerostat " l ’ Entreprenant " ( " The enterprising one " ) at the Battle of Fleurus in 1794 . The following year , during the Siege of Mainz an observation ballon was employed again . However , the French military use of the balloon did not continue uninterrupted , as in 1799 Napoleon disbanded the French balloon corps . American ballooning . American ballooning began in the early half of the 19th century using light coke gas for inflation . This gas , if inflated into a relatively well - sealed silk envelope , could sustain flight nearly indefinitely . Balloons were mainly used as amusement ride s , so initially the military had no use for them at all . Balloons in the American Civil War . With the outbreak of the American Civil War , President Abraham Lincoln did consider the possibility of an air - war mechanism . This had some of the top balloonists in the country vying for position as chief aeronaut of a would - be aeronautics division . The scientific community as well showed great support in influencing Washington to consider the use of balloons . Eventually it was Prof . Thaddeus S . C . Lowe who would be awarded the title Chief Aeronaut of the Union Army Balloon Corps . First balloon assignments . The first assignment for military balloons was given to the Union Army ' s Corps of Topographical Engineers for mapmaking . Up until that point , maps were made from ground level perspectives and their innate inaccuracy led to many a battlefield failure . The aerial perspective ostensibly improved mapmaking , especially when combined with the use of photography . General Irvin McDowell , commander of the Army of the Potomac , called on the balloon to perform aerial observations of enemy encampments and movements in the First Battle of Bull Run . With Lowe ’ s techniques proven to the top commanders , he was eventually tasked to build seven balloons and a series of hydrogen gas generators to inflate them in the battlefield . Even though Thaddeus Lowe was Chief Aeronaut , his bitter rival John La Mountain is credited with having made the first aerial observations of intelligence value while stationed independently at Fortress Monroe . The balloon , under flight direction of Prof . Lowe , was also used to direct artillery fire from an unseen location onto a Confederate encampment . The balloon , Eagle , was ascended with tether and telegraph from Fort Corcoran north of Falls Church , Virginia . ( The use of a telegraph to a balloon was previously successfully tested by Lowe on June 18 , 1861 . ) An artillery battery was located at the easterly Camp Advance . With a series of predetermined flag signals , Lowe directed fire onto the Rebel encampment until the shots were landing on target . This first - used concept was the predecessor to the Forward Artillery Observer ( FAO ) and revolutionized the use of artillery even to modern day . Prof . Lowe was once approached by the young " Graf " Ferdinand von Zeppelin in 1863 , who was at the time acting as a then - civilian observer for the Union Army , about possibly serving as an aerial observer with Lowe , but this was forbidden by Union military authorities during the Civil War years , due to von Zeppelin ' s then - civilian status . The future rigid airship pioneer was instead directed to the camp of John Steiner , a German aeronaut already in the United States , to get his first flight experience in a balloon , which von Zeppelin was able to do at a slightly later time while he still was in the US . The first aircraft carrier . Balloons and generators were loaded onto the " USS George Washington Parke Custis " , a converted coal barge . The balloons were towed down the Potomac River and were able to ascend and make observations of the battle front as it moved toward Richmond . On November 11 , 1861 , Lowe made the first observations from a balloon based from a ship . This is the first ever recorded observation from an aerial station by water , essentially the first - ever aircraft carrier ( balloon tender ) . Lowe went on to make observations at Fair Oaks , Sharpsburg , Vicksburg and Fredericksburg before political ambush both from within the military and in Congress forced him to resign in April 1863 at which point he returned to the private sector . The Balloon Corps all but ceased to exist by August 1863 . Confederate ballooning . The Confederates tried their hand at ballooning as well , more only to counter the balloons of the Federals . One type of balloon was a Montgolfier style of a rigid , cotton , “ hot smoke ” balloon . The attempts worked , but their handling techniques were poor at best and the balloon was easily lost and captured by the North . Another style is referred to as the “ silk dress balloon , ” aerostat envelopes made of multicolored dress making silk ( not actually silk dresses ) which , when gas was available , were used effectively over Richmond . Again , these were easily lost , destroyed or captured , and the lack of supply made it impossible to replace them . They were relieved when the Union Army had discontinued the use of balloons . The Confederate Balloon Corps also made use of an aircraft carrier , the CSS Teaser . The Teaser transported and launched one of the Confederate balloons to several observation posisitions before being captured by the Union Navy in July 1862 . Paraguayan War . In 1867 during the Paraguayan War , balloons were used in the fighting between Brazil and Paraguay . British ballooning . Between 1862 – 71 efforts by two Royal Engineers officers , were made to catch the attention of senior British officers to the potential use of balloons . In July 1863 experimental balloon ascents for reconnaissance purposes were conducted by the Royal Engineers on behalf of the British Army , but although the experiments were successful it was considered not worth pursuing further because it was too expensive . However , by 1878 a Balloon Equipment Store was established at Woolwich by the Royal Engineers . By this time the limitations imposed by the need to produce hydrogen in the field by some portable apparatus and finding a suitable material for the envelope of a war balloon had been resolved . In 1888 a School of Ballooning was established at Chatham , Medway , Kent . It moved to Stanhope Lines , Aldershot in 1890 when a balloon section and depot were formed as permanent units of the Royal Engineers establishment . Balloons were first deployed by the British Army during the expeditions to Bechuanaland and Suakin in 1885 . They were also deployed during the Second Boer War ( 1899 – 1902 ) , where they were used in artillery observation with the Kimberley column and during the Siege of Ladysmith . On October 5 , 1907 , Colonel John Capper ( late Royal Engineers ) and team flew the military airship " Nulli Secundus " from Farnborough around St . Paul ' s Cathedral in London and back with a view to raising public interest . Late 19th century . The use of manned air - war mechanisms would not be seen for nearly 30 years after the Civil War when the airship ( a dirigible , blimp , or Zeppelin ) would come into existence with their motorized propulsion and mechanical means of steering . Up to this point , the idea of dropping ordnance on the enemy was not seriously considered , although there were mechanical drawings made up depicting bomb dropping devices that could be floated aloft by balloons . These depictions were paper theory at best designed by mechanical wizzes with no idea about aviation , in particular , balloons , and all that it takes to successfully launch gas - filled aerostats . There weren ' t really any practical types of grenade s or bombs to use during the Civil War . Weight was a great factor in determining the size of balloons to be used and the amount of gas they needed to ascend . Carrying heavy ordnance and ungainly mechanisms in balloons would have been out of the question . ( And if Prof . Lowe thought that he would have to drop bombs on enemy positions , he would have never offered his services . ) With the newer , larger and more manageable aerostats , and smaller munitions , the use of bombs would make aerial warfare much more appealing in later days . Although there is no record of it ever having been deployed , during the 1900 Boxer Uprising in China , the French forces did bring a balloon with them . World War I . Military observation balloons were used over the trenches of the Western Front . Germany used Zeppelins for aerial bombing and reconnaissance . One famous raid conducted by Zeppelin on London . Inter - War Period . Zeppelin forces were established by Great Britain and the United States . World War II . The United States Navy used its blimp force to hunt submarines . Barrage balloon s were used by the United Kingdom to intercept air attacks by V - 1 cruise missile s . Japan used recently discovered high - altitude air currents to send fire balloon s ( or " fu - go " ) carrying explosive payloads to the American mainland . About 300 make it across the Pacific , causing some property damage and at least six deaths . The US government calls for a press blackout on all balloon incidents , fearing what might happen if the Japanese start using fu - go to deliver biological weapons . Post - War Period . The US military developed high - altitude ballooning programs for nuclear detection and surveillance , such as Project Mogul ( linked to the Roswell Incident ) , Project Genetrix and Project Moby Dick . They also worked on the E77 balloon bomb , refining the principles of the Japanese fire balloon explosive - delivery system .