Historic Moments in Balloon Flying
By Robert L. Harrison
The recent intrusion of a Chinese aerial surveillance balloon over the United States has created a major public furor. Yet it is not the first nor the most lethal effect of a balloon experienced in this country. It turns out that several such intrusions were detected during previous presidential administrations. The technology of the recent visitor from China is expected to be far less sophisticated than the Chinese satellites passing daily overhead.
Balloons fly because they are typically a bag filled with a gas that is lighter than air. The size of balloons ranges from the familiar birthday party version, to those seen at the Macy’s Parade, to the very large three-school-bus sized balloon recently seen over America. Airships, also known as dirigibles or zeppelins, are balloons that have a rigid frame holding the ship into a specific shape and can be nearly 1,000 feet long.
The history of balloons began in 18th century France when the Montgolfier brothers confirmed a fabric bag would rise when filled with hot air. In 1783 at Versailles they sent three small farm animals aloft to demonstrate their finding. Later that year two men sailed over Paris in a Montgolfier balloon.
Military and international spying activities using balloons were soon developed. From Napoleon to the American Civil War to Japan’s attack on the United States in World War II, balloons were thought to have some wartime value. In the American Civil War the military developed balloons primarily for aerial surveillance of the front lines of the enemy. The army generally conducted only tethered ascents rising to 500 feet which afforded a visual range of about 15 miles. The effect of the spy balloon was limited and led to the disbandment of the Army’s Balloon Corps after the war.
The usefulness of the free floating balloon was enhanced by the addition of power and directional control. Thomas Baldwin (1854–1923), trapeze artist, balloon expert and inventor, was the builder of the powered dirigible California Arrow. On August 3, 1904 in Oakland’s Idora Park, his machine was the first aircraft to make a controlled powered circular flight, takeoff and landing at the same spot. The Wright Brothers famous first flight was a wind-aided downhill, one-way hop in December 1903, just seven months before the California Arrow’s more advanced accomplishment. In 1908, Baldwin built the first dirigible used by the military and became known as “Father of the American Dirigible.” Two years later, he was first to fly over the Mississippi River in an airplane he designed and built. Baldwin served as a flight instructor in World War I.
In the 20th century both military and civilian uses were explored. In the 1920s and 30s the long distance flights of the German Zeppelins attracted a large number of civilian travelers. Perhaps the 1937 crash of the Hindenburg was the best known example of the dangers of dirigible travel. As the aircraft attempted a landing in New Jersey it exploded in fire. The fire was exceptionally fierce because the craft was filled with incendiary hydrogen. The Germans used hydrogen because they did not have an adequate supply of the inert gas helium. Surprisingly, of the 97 on board 62 survived. Civilian dirigible journeys declined after the Hindenburg disaster.
In 1944–45 near the end of World War II the Japanese launched 9,300 Fu-Go balloon bombs over the Pacific Ocean. Of those that made it across the 6,500 miles of the ocean, fewer than 300 were found or seen in the United States. Of these most were found in the Pacific coastal region while a few flew into the Rocky Mountains. The most easterly remnants of two Fu-Go balloons were found in Kansas and Michigan.
The Japanese considered the Fu-Go bombs a response to the 1942 Doolittle bombing raid on Tokyo. They also expected the balloon bombs would have a terrorist effect, but they did not. To avoid a public panic, the United States government requested the media not report on them. By the end of May 1945, the military decided the greatest danger to the public were uninformed citizens not aware of bombs that may have landed and remained a threat to explode. The media blackout was then lifted.
Following the end of the blackout this report appeared in the June 14, 1945 Mill Valley Record:
JAP BALLOON BOMBS.
It will not do to regard lightly the effects of the Japanese to land bombs in America by means of balloons set adrift in the home land. One sailed within a matter of miles of this section last week but happily no damage resulted…. It would be well for everyone to keep a sharp lookout for these airborne engines of destruction…. The menace has not assumed serious proportions and will not, but a percentage of the balloons will land their cargoes.
The impact of the balloon bombs was minimal. In March 1945, one hit a high-tension wire as it floated down causing a temporary power outage at the Hanford Washington atomic bomb plant where material was made for the bomb dropped three months later on Nagasaki. Some may have started a few small forest fires but no fire was officially recognized. Recently at the headquarters of California’s Prairie Creek Redwoods State Park, a visitor was told an anecdotal story about a grandfather who fought a forest fire started by one of the bombs in 1945.
Just four months before the end of World War II on May 5, 1945 near Bly Oregon, the one fatal impact of the bombs took six lives. Reverend Archie Mitchell drove his wife and five teenagers into the forest for a church picnic. While he parked the car, the others discovered a balloon lying on the ground. They apparently tried to move it causing an explosion that killed the four boys instantly. Mitchell’s pregnant wife and a teen age girl died several minutes later. The casualties caused by the bombs were five innocent children and a pregnant woman. Militarily, the Fu-Go bombs were a failure.
Balloons have also been hugely valuable to civilian science. In 1912 the existence of cosmic rays was confirmed by an Austrian physicist rising as high as three miles in a balloon gondola. A Swiss scientist designed and in 1931 rode in the first pressurized cabin demonstrating the possibility of that technology for very high altitude human flight. The use of unmanned balloons to track high altitude weather conditions was ongoing throughout the 20th century.
Around the country sport balloon festivals are gaining in popularity. In the Bay Area, sport balloon festivals are held every year in Napa County. The use of balloons for military surveillance, scientific studies and sporting adventures is expected to continue in the 21st century.
