BALLOONS: WHAT HAVE THEY EVER DONE FOR US?

 The contribution of the balloon to the history of air power

by Squadron Leader Alan Riches

 In 1996 the Royal Air Force Historical Society established, in collaboration with its American sister organisation, the Air Force Historical Foundation, the Two Air Forces Award, which was to be presented annually on each side of the Atlantic in recognition of outstanding academic work by a serving officer or airman. It is intended to reproduce some of these papers from time to time in the Journal. This one was the winning RAF submission in 2001. Ed

 Introduction 

One of the more enjoyable aspects of my job in Defence Studies (RAF) is giving lectures on air power to University Air Squadron students. I often start by asking them the following question: when was a manned aircraft first used for a military purpose? A simple enough question; however, although there are often a number of ‘spotters’ in the audience, no one has yet given me the correct answer. In fact, it is widely accepted that the first military use of a manned aircraft occurred on 26 June 1794, when the French used a balloon to observe Austrian troop movements at the Battle of Fleurus. I use this question to make two points: firstly, that air power is not just a twentieth century phenomenon – its history goes back over two hundred years; and secondly, that for the first half of its history, air power could only be generated by means of the humble balloon. Given that balloons have played such a seminal part in the history of air power, it is perhaps surprising that so little has been written about their use. What may also be surprising is the wide range of military uses to which the balloon has been put. British Air Power Doctrine (AP 3000 3rd Edition), which was published last year, identifies seven core capabilities of air power and outlines the roles.

That are derived from them. For those who are not familiar with this publication, the seven core capabilities are: Information Exploitation; Control of the Air; Strategic Effect; Indirect and Direct Air Operations; Combat Support Air Operations; Force Protection; and 25 Sustainability. The purpose of this article is to show that a role for balloons has been found, or at least envisaged, in respect of all seven core capabilities. It is important to stress at the outset that I shall only be considering the use of balloons - not airships, dirigibles, blimps or zeppelins. The addition of a source of power – other than the wind - makes for an entirely different kind of platform, one which is beyond the scope of this article.

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