The current focus on Chinese and other balloons in U.S. airspace probably is so popular in part because it’s so unusual. But America’s experience with hot air and other balloons goes far, far back.
The French Montgolfier brothers captured France’s imagination with their hot air creations in the 1780s. Though other nations took note, the first large-scale military use of balloons occurred during our Civil War (1861-1865). Professor Thaddeus Lowe, a prolific inventor with four years ballooning experience, emerged as President Lincoln’s “chief aeronaut.” His unit deployed several hydrogen balloons for observation of Confederate forces in the next two years, then was disbanded.
However, Lowe’s influence extended abroad. His success drew European attention, including Count Ferdinand von Zeppelin who returned to Germany with optimistic reports. Subsequently the Prussian returned to obtain more information, leading to the rigid airships of Great War fame.
Before Zeppelins caught the world’s attention in 1914, tethered balloons were recognized as excellent observation platforms. They were especially suited to modern artillery, which could engage targets far beyond visual range on the ground. Usually filled with hydrogen, depending on winds aloft, “kite balloons” could fly at 4,000 feet, bearing one or two men armed with binoculars and voice communication with the ground crew.
Nearly 80 fighter pilots became “balloon aces” by flaming five or more “gasbags.” Thirty were German or Austrian; 26 were French; 15 British Commonwealth. Due to limited opportunity, only five U.S. Air Service pilots achieved that distinction, led by Lt. Frank Luke, the famed “Arizona Balloon Buster” credited with 14 before his death in September 1918.
America’s first balloon unit arrived in France at the end of 1917, training alongside French aeronauts. By the end of the Great War in November 1918 the U.S. Army balloon corps logged nearly 7,000 hours aloft, losing 48 to all causes. Contrarily, Yank pursuit pilots were credited with 69 German drachen destroyed.
A lighter-than-air sidebar involves hydrogen-filled barrage balloons. The unmanned, tethered items were deployed by WW I combatants to deter air attack, some floating as high as 15,000 feet. They were far more prevalent in WW II, especially in Britain to foil German dive bombers and later V-1 “buzz bombs.” U.S. forces used them at the Normandy beach heads in 1944.
Though the Chinese spy balloon of early this year astounded millions of Americans, almost none knew of the offensive use of balloons almost 80 years before. Japanese scientists had discovered the high-altitude jet stream in the 1920s when weather balloons revealed extremely fast winds aloft. Eventually the northern stream was determined to flow west to east well above 30,000 feet, often at more than 100 mph, sometimes twice as much.
During WW II, Japan lacked the ability to attack the continental United States in any meaningful way. A handful of submarine shore bombardments and a single sub-launched aircraft were limited to 1942.
However, the Japanese Army proved innovative and resourceful. Beginning in late 1944, thousands of fu-go balloons were launched against America.
The paper or rubberized hydrogen balloons were about 30 feet in diameter, armed with as much as 80 pounds of incendiary and explosive bombs. The goal was to ignite forest fires in the U.S. and Canada, but the Japanese recognized the low prospects for success. One estimate held that 10 percent of fu-gos would survive a trip of perhaps 6,000 miles in two to four days. That guess proved optimistic.
Fu-go engineers devised a sophisticated system for maintaining altitude during the Pacific crossing. Aneroid barometers monitored air pressure, controlling duplicate systems for releasing weights to maintain desired altitude. At the end of the journey the balloon descended to begin releasing its ordnance. The timing of course was wildly erratic, with impacts spanning thousands of miles.
The balloons alit across the continent, in 18 states as far east as Michigan and six Canadian provinces. A few even reached Mexico. Among 9,300 launched from November 1944 to April 1945, at least 300 were found during the war, but the timing was poor. When the fu-go campaign began, a record winter in North America severely limited the balloons’ potential effects.
But one balloon inflicted lethal damage. In May 1945 a Sunday school outing in southeastern Oregon ended with six dead when youngsters found a balloon and apparently wanted to play with it.
Fast forward to this month.
For reasons yet unexplained, the Biden administration allowed a Communist Chinese surveillance balloon to complete an eight-day, 4,000-mile mission across our continent. The device finally was shot down off the East Coast on February 4.
The Pentagon embarrassed itself with obvious duplicity. A general refused to tell reporters where the balloon was at a particular time owing to National Security Concerns when civilians not only tracked the object but photographed it. Subsequently the defense secretary claimed that the U.S. refrained from downing the intruder to avoid damage on the ground.
That was absurd.
The balloon transited huge wide-open expanses in Alaska, western Canada, and the Great Plains. The odds of harm to humans hovered around Absolute Zero. According to FAA statistics, during the week-long transit, about three dozen planes crashed in the United States without any reports of harm to groundlings.
My current and retired airline friends with US Air, Delta, and Continental confirm that airliners seldom fly as high as 40,000 feet. So the balloon usually was above commercial traffic, but of course there was no way to know if it would stay there.
When the thing finally was downed, an Air Force fighter expended a missile reckoned at $400,000 to accomplish the deed. Some knowledgeable pundits asked why the far cheaper option of a jet’s 20mm cannon wasn’t used, at a cost of about $27 per round. I asked some fighter pilots and learned that at 40,000 to 60,000 feet, often jets cannot maneuver precisely enough to line up for a gun kill.
Obviously embarrassed by the growing scandal, the government tried playing catch-up in a frenzy of balloon assassinations. In the ensuing week or so, a variety of Air Force fighters downed four objects over Alaska, the Yukon, and Lake Huron. The fact that rules of engagement permitted pilots to destroy unidentified objects (apparently including a Hobby Lobby toy) demonstrates the administration’s desperation to repair its image.
As ever, politics uber alles.
