The first military use of a man-carrying balloon The first use of hot-air balloons, in the 18th century, were for the collection of intelligence, although in subsequent years tethered balloons were deployed for artillery spotting and eventually for photography. In more modern times, it was used as a platform, codenamed FILBERT, to deceive enemy radar during the D-Day landings, and then as vehicles for remote GOPHER cameras, released in Europe and intended to drift over the Soviet Union. Ballooning dates back to 1783, when the Montgolfier brothers first flew, and within the decade a balloon corps had been formed in France to exploit the military applications. Two years later, in 1795, Captain Jean Marie Coutelle was the first soldier to come under fire while airborne, while making observations over many hours during the Battle of Fleurus in Belgium. Encouraged by a report made by the famous mathematician Gaspard Monge, Lazare Carnot, known as “the Organizer of Victory,” and his fellow members of the Committee of Public Safety authorized chemist Jean Marie-Joseph Coutelle to construct balloons for reconnaissance and observation, signaling, and disseminating propaganda. Based at the Chateau de Meudon, located on the outskirts of Paris, Coutelle and his crew eventually developed twelve balloons, using the Lavoisier-Meusnier method- which had been developed in 1784 by Antoine-Laurent Lavoisier and Lieutentant Jean-Baptiste Meusnier-to produce hydrogen by heating iron tubes filled with metal filings and then separating hydrogen from steam-a process that was cheaper than using sulfuric acid and that produced enough hydrogen to fill a balloon in approximately 15 hours. 2 In addition, Coutelle also developed a special varnish to seal the envelope and prevent the loss of hydrogen. By March 1794 Coutelle perfected the first military observation balloon, L’Entreprenant, which was to be anchored at approximately 1,700 ft and manned by two passengers, one to observe enemy positions and movements with a telescope and the other to signal to ground crews either by flag signal or dropped messages. Coutelle’s successful demonstration of L’Entreprenant convinced the Committee of its feasibility and on 2 April 1794 it pushed through the National Convention an act creating a balloon company (the Premiere Compagnie d’Aérostiers). Appointed Brevet-Captain, Coutelle was given command of the First Company and put in charge of organizing new recruits, many of whom were chosen for their technical and scientific backgrounds. By the first of June, Coutelle and the First Company had brought L’Entreprenant to Maubeuge, headquarters of the French Army of the North, which was commanded by General Jean Baptiste Jourdan. Although Jourdan was initially skeptical, asserting that he needed battalions not balloons, Carnot and the Committee of Public Safety insisted that he cooperate with Coutelle. After an initial military reconnaissance of enemy positions around Maubeuge on 2 June proved the balloon’s usefulness, Coutelle’s company moved to Charleroi, where Jourdan’s adjutant, General Antoine Morelot, accompanied Coutelle on ascents to observe Austrian positions. The information gained convinced Morelot that the Austrian garrison was on the verge of collapse; in fact, it surrendered on 24 June 1794. Much more significant, however, was the role played by L’Entreprenant on 26 June 1794 at Fleurus, where Coutelle and Morelot remained aloft for approximately 9 hours and reported on the position of Austrian forces by dropping messages in small bags that were weighted with sand and equipped with rings that allowed them to slide down the tether cable. These aerial reports gave Jourdan an important advantage in the disposition of his troops and were used to direct French artillery fire against the enemy, contributing greatly to the French victory at Fleurus, which in turn helped secure the Revolution. In addition to the intelligence acquired in these engagements, the use of the balloon also raised the morale of French troops, who cheered upon its ascent. Its value can also be seen in the attempt of Austrian forces to shoot it down with artillery. Although the extent to which the use of L’Entreprenant contributed to the French victory at Fleurus was debated at the time, most authorities recognized that it was at the least a useful tool for observing enemy positions and movements. As a result, the Convention, which had actually ordered the creation of a second balloon company prior to Fleurus, decided in October to establish the first military school devoted to aviation, the École Nationale Aérostatique, in order to train balloonists, repair and construct balloons, and develop balloon tactics. Once the Second Company joined the Army of the Rhine in 1795, it participated in the Battles of Mayence and Mannheim in 1795 and Rastadt, Stuttgart, and Donauwerth in 1796. The First Company was captured by the Austrians at Würzburg in 1796. Although Coutelle and his company joined Napoleon’s Egyptian Exhibition in 1797, their equipment was left on ship, resulting in its destruction by the British in the Battle of Aboukir Bay. The mixed results of balloons and the lack of support given by military commanders, who preferred using cavalry for reconnaissance, led the Directory to disband the Second Company in 1799, a fate that befell the First Company in 1802. Until 1856, soldiers going aloft in balloons were dependent on their eyesight, but the French conducted experiments in aerial photography, the first of which ended in disappointment. However, in 1858 Felix Tourachon carried a darkroom into the air on a balloon to process images on glass plates, thereby establishing the camera as an essential component of air reconnaissance, and in 1866 photographs were taken of Boston, Massachusetts. This breakthrough amounted to airborne espionage, as the meteorologist Thaddeus Lowe discovered in 1861, when he was arrested as a Union spy when he landed accidentally in South Carolina in the Eagle. The Confederates were also exploiting balloons, and in 1862 Professor Lowe’s balloon, the Intrepid, was deployed during the Battle of Fair Oaks. In Europe, balloons were used during the Franco-Prussian War in 1870 to fly agents and documents out of besieged Paris. Over the next 10 years, balloons became widely accepted as part of the military arsenal. In 1884, the British Army in Bechuanaland was equipped with them, and a year later the Sudan Expedition used observation balloons. By 1890, the Royal Engineers introduced a Balloon Section, and this would play an active role in Natal during the Boer War. In the United States, the army established a balloon unit at Fort Myer, Virginia, in 1908.
Posted on: Tue, 03 Dec 2013 13:21:08 +0000
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