This week in my first year seminar class we researched and discussed the use of balloons for aerial imaging, especially its role in the military. Before this week, if anyone asked me if balloons were used in the civil war or world war one I would probably answer "no way." It is truly amazing to read how braze some of these individuals were that volunteered to go up in the balloon first or to test out parachuting from the balloon. Even after almost a century of innovations and safety guidelines applied to parachuting I am still not sure I would feel comfortable skydiving.
I am just shocked that anyone would come within a radius of the balloons they used back then because it is easily comparable to a floating bomb. These balloons were filled up with hydrogen gas and if you are not familiar with hydrogen gas, it is very explosive. Professor Thaddeus S.C. Lowe was the mastermind behind ballooning in the civil war and really made it possible to use them in battle. He created the portable gas generator which then led to ground crews hauling from site to site. Lucky for the balloon crew, the guns of the civil war did not have the ability to reach the balloon when it was high above the battle field. But it was not so much the same story for the balloon crews in World War I. In WWI the enemy weaponry were powerful and accurate enough to reach the balloon at times and yet the balloons were still filled with highly flammable hydrogen gas. They made some renovations since the civil war such as a parachute for the trained balloon pilots but it was just as hazardous. For example, there was an incident when the ground crew was anchoring the balloon down by rope and sandbags. As one of the crew members was tying it down the static electricity from his hands rubbing the rope caused the whole balloon to ignite. This accident killed one and injured a few others. I know it is very important to gather the information and locations of enemy lines and bases but I don't think it was a smart move to use the military balloons they had for WWI.
The ideas and innovations made by Lowe and the other balloon engineers were new and impressive but the reliance on hydrogen gas was a big safety issue. If someone tried to make similar balloon today they would surely be arrested for a possible terrorist threat. Thankfully, today our hot air balloons rely on the principles of buoyancy and are not filled with just hydrogen gas.
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