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Topic: Barrage balloon


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In the News (Mon 16 Nov 09)

  
  Balloon - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Such balloons, which lift a payload using buoyancy, should not be confused with balloons in space, launched with a rocket, which are simply large deployable structures.
Balloons are sometimes used in form of a rockoon as carrier for rockets.
Certain catheters have balloons at their tip to keep them from slipping out, for example the balloon of a Foley catheter is insufflated when the catheter is inserted into the urinary bladder and secures its position.
en.wikipedia.org /wiki/Balloon   (1077 words)

  
 Encyclopedia: Balloon   (Site not responding. Last check: 2007-10-08)
Balloons are often used or given on special occasions, like greeting cards or flowers.
See Balloon (aircraft) and Hot air balloon Balloons are a type of lighter than air aircraft that remain aloft due to their buoyancy.
Such balloons, which lift a payload using buoyancy in an atmosphere, should not be confused with balloons in space, launched with a rocket, which are simply large deployable structures.
www.nationmaster.com /encyclopedia/Balloon   (2458 words)

  
 Barrage Balloon   (Site not responding. Last check: 2007-10-08)
The Barrage Balloon destroyed 24 piloted enemy aircraft and 278 (231 confirmed) non piloted enemy 'missiles'.
Balloons when inflated measured 66 feet long, 30 feet high and needed 20,000 cubic feet of hydrogen per fill, the gas inlet valve was situated at the rear of the upper left stabilising fin.
A large valve on left side of the balloon released hydrogen automatically as it expanded in the rarefied air and a rip-line pulled out a panel at the top rear of the balloon if it became unmanageable on the ground.
www.westallswar.org.uk /new_barrage.html   (178 words)

  
 General information about balloons from Fiddlers Green
In the early nineteen-thirties captive and barrage balloons were completely eliminated as military equipment in favour of observation aircraft with their greater mobility and reduced vulncrability.
The mobile balloons were moored to motor vehicles, ships or ligi-iters and were seldom raised to altitudes of more than 1,970 ft. There was no denying that the balloons were vulnerable, but gathered estuary and other waterways of similar importance had to be denied to enemy minelayers as much as possible.
Whenever the balloon sank to a pre-set minimum altitude, either due to loss of gas or because it was cooled down, a fuse was ignited and two of the sandbags were dropped.
www.fiddlersgreen.net /AC/aircraft/Balloon-eagle/info/info.htm   (2021 words)

  
 Barrage balloon -- Facts, Info, and Encyclopedia article   (Site not responding. Last check: 2007-10-08)
A barrage balloon is a large (Large tough non-rigid bag filled with gas or heated air) balloon used as a defence against aircraft.
They were intended to serve as a defense against the (A bomber that releases its bombs during a steep dive toward the target) dive bomber, flying at heights up to 5,000 feet, forcing the aircraft to fly higher and into the range of concentrated (Click link for more info and facts about anti-aircraft) anti-aircraft fire.
Some barrage balloons worked by allowing the part of their cable that was hit by a plane's wing to detach, after which parachutes at each end would open, breaking the plane wing.
www.absoluteastronomy.com /encyclopedia/b/ba/barrage_balloon.htm   (404 words)

  
 Barrage Balloon
Barrage balloons are hydrogen-filled balloons attached to ships or fortifications by stout, 1200 meter-long cables and equipped with a small incendiary device (a flare).
Barrage balloons are only available on ships and fortifications; they may not be used on flyers.
Barrage balloons may be raised or lowered 50 meters per turn.
aethertraveller.com /HouseRules/Equipment/weaponry/ordnance/barrageballoon.html   (187 words)

  
 Skylighters: An Introduction to Antiaircraft Artillery and Searchlights
The barrage balloon was a new tool of defensive warfare and the camp was established for the express purpose of constructing barrage balloons and training personnel in their deployment and use, an assignment commissioned by the Secretary of War on April 14, 1941.
The barrage balloon, filled with lighter-than-air gas, was attached to a steel cable that could be raised or lowered using a motorized winch.
All of the barrage balloons flying over Omaha (like those at right, showing the beach littered with debris late on the afternoon of June 6) were flown by the African-American troops of the 320th, a little-known fact about the invasion.
www.skylighters.org /barrageballoons   (3866 words)

  
 Æ Aeragon - Balloons
Balloons used for this purpose are known as barrage balloons and they were used for this purpose beyond World War II.
Barrage balloons have not been commonly used in some time, but their usefulness may not be entirely past.
Balloons continue to be used for many different purposes and a significant number of the great firsts in aviation history were achieved with them.
www.aeragon.com /air/bal   (2473 words)

  
 BBC Online - Beyond the Broadcast - Making History   (Site not responding. Last check: 2007-10-08)
Kelly Shannon, a wartime balloon operator, described the difficult and dangerous business of operating a barrage balloon, and John Christopher from Cumbria, who is writing a book about the use of the balloon in the war, discussed its effectiveness.
Barrage balloons, which were set at heights of up to 5,000 feet, would force these aircraft to fly high, making them less accurate, and bring them within range of the anti-aircraft guns, or ack-ack.
The balloons were filled with hydrogen and flown from winch lorries used at static sites, but their mobility became essential when the barrage was moved to face the V1 menace.
bbc.co.uk /education/beyond/factsheets/makhist/makhist3_prog11d.shtml   (535 words)

  
 The Definition of "Balloon"   (Site not responding. Last check: 2007-10-08)
88 The balloon or wind-ball resembled the follis of the Romans.
Also balloon barrage, a defence against hostile aircraft consisting of a connected system of balloons carrying wire cables reaching to the ground; also called balloon apron; balloon-brasser (cf.
73/2 Balloon framing, a cheap and rapid method of construction in which all timbers are of light scantling, and are held together entirely by nails and spikes, only the corner posts being tenoned: used in place of braced framing.
www.balloonhq.com /faq/definition.html   (2529 words)

  
 A.R.P. Cigarette Card No.46
The balloon barrage forms an important part of the co-ordinated scheme - consisting of guns, searchlights, fighter aeroplanes and balloons - for the air defence of London.
The balloons are organized in flights and squadrons, the squadrons being on an auxiliary basis manned by volunteers with a small nucleus of fully trained regular personnel.
Barrage balloons were intended to force enemy aircraft to either avoid the area they protected, or fly higher and lose bombing accuracy.
www.nbcd.org.uk /arp/cigarette_cards/detail.asp?card=46   (239 words)

  
 BARRAGE BALLOONS   (Site not responding. Last check: 2007-10-08)
Balloons would be just as useful today as they were in the forties and would effectively complement the SAMs, rapid-fire AA guns, and fighters of the modern air defense system.
Barrage balloons were developed in World War I to counter one of the most advanced technological threats of the time--the airplane.
In conjunction with other arms, barrage balloons constitute an element in the antiaircraft defense system complementary to antiaircraft artillery and pursuit aviation, the balloons being most effective at low altitudes where the complementary arms are least efficient.
www.airpower.maxwell.af.mil /airchronicles/apj/apj89/hillson.html   (5130 words)

  
 barrage 2. The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language: Fourth Edition. 2000.
A rapid, concentrated discharge of missiles, as from small arms.
An overwhelming, concentrated outpouring, as of words: a barrage of criticism.
These verbs mean to direct a concentrated outpouring at something or someone: barraged the speaker with questions; bombarded the box office with ticket orders; peppered the senator with protests; showered the child with gifts.
www.bartleby.com /61/69/B0086900.html   (136 words)

  
 BUILDING BB   (Site not responding. Last check: 2007-10-08)
Barrage balloons were used by the Marines over amphibious landing sites to impede enemy aircraft from attacking the ship-to-shore movement of troops and materiel, and over beachhead ammunition and supply depots.
Completed by September 1942, the Courthouse Bay barrage balloon school facilities featured a balloon training classroom, an administration building, a balloon building, a storage and supply building, and a central heating plant, in addition to a battalion-sized barracks complex and officers’ family quarters located south of the school buildings overlooking the New River.
Although associated with the Barrage Balloon School for a relatively short period, Building BB-28’s use as a training facility continued under the Infantry Battalion School and the Engineers School.
www.lejeune.usmc.mil /EMD/Cultural/Eng..htm   (320 words)

  
 Employment of Barrage Balloons: Ch. 22, German Antiaircraft Artillery, Military Intelligence Service, Special Series ...   (Site not responding. Last check: 2007-10-08)
Although extensive use of barrage balloons was not planned by the Germans prior to commencement of World War II, very early in the war they made their appearance in certain industrial and strategic towns in western Germany.
The balloons are flown at varying heights at different times, the exact height and numbers of balloons flown depending on the time of day, the weather, and the threat of aerial attack.
The purpose of the balloon barrage is to form an irregular pattern of perpendicular steel cables in the vicinity of the defended area, presenting a real as well as a mental hazard to any hostile aviator attempting to fly below the level of the balloons.
www.lonesentry.com /manuals/german_aa/gaa22_german_antiaircraft_barrage_balloons.html   (337 words)

  
 A short history of Pucklechurch Balloon Centre and RAF station
Balloon barrages were a passive form of defence designed to force enemy raiders to fly higher, and thus bomb much less accurately.
In each locality depots were to be formed to administer, to provide a peacetime HQ for the balloon squadrons, and to be responsible for the assembly and testing of balloons and the training of balloon crews in time of war, and that serving the Bristol area was to be located at Pucklechurch.
The completing of balloon barrages at Filton, Bristol and Avonmouth by early June 1940 was a most sensible precaution, for it was on the night of June 19th that the Luftwaffe carried out its first attack on the West Country.
www.fishponds.freeuk.com /puckle.htm   (6052 words)

  
 320th ANTI
The balloons were flown across the channel from hundreds of landing craft, three men to a balloon, and taken ashore under savage fire from enemy batteries.
But the majority struggled to shore with their balloons and light winches and set up for operation in foxholes on the beach.
The balloons are armed with a lethal device attached to the cable.
www.bjmjr.com /ww2/320aabb_index.htm   (374 words)

  
 Caquot Type R Observation Balloon on display at the US Air Force Museum in Dayton Ohio   (Site not responding. Last check: 2007-10-08)
In good weather, the balloon could ascend to over 4,000 ft. with operations normally conducted between 1,000 and 4,000 ft. Depending on terrain and weather conditions, balloon observers could see as far as 40 miles.
During their months at the Front, American balloon observers directed artillery fire at 316 targets such as troop concentrations and supply dumps, noted 11,856 enemy airplane sightings, 1,113 instances of military traffic on railroads and roads, and 400 artillery batteries.
It was located in 1975 with the aid of American and British World War I balloon veterans and was subsequently presented to the USAF Museum by the British Ministry of Defense, Royal Aircraft Establishment.
www.wpafb.af.mil /museum/early_years/ey5a.htm   (320 words)

  
 Balloon Units Help Protect Land Troops   (Site not responding. Last check: 2007-10-08)
A Negro AAA Barrage Balloon Battalion conducted extensive experiments in Britain toward reducing the weight of balloon base equipment, primarily the winch, and running up the hydrogen-inflated bottles from odd places such as moving jeeps and tanks.
Each balloon is handled by a crew of four men, typified by the little band headed by Sgt. Jesse L. Sumlin, of Fruitdale, Ala.
Flight manipulation of these balloons has become a highly-specialized technique, in the success of which the weather is a prime element.
www.bjmjr.com /ww2/320_balloon.htm   (407 words)

  
 MSN Encarta - Search Results - barrage balloon
During World War II (1939-1945) the barrage balloon (a large fabric balloon tethered to a steel cable) was used extensively to protect London from...
Balloon Vine, vine that is native to the East and West Indies, member of the soapberry family.
Other, less common mortgages include the balloon mortgage and the graduated payment mortgage.
encarta.msn.com /barrage+balloon.html   (121 words)

  
 HistoryLink Essay:Barrage balloon strikes Seattle again from the air on October 12, 1942.
Barrage balloon strikes Seattle again from the air on October 12, 1942.
Barrage balloons, tethered by long cables, were used during World War II as a defense against air attack.
Fifty-four balloons of the 303rd Balloon Barrage Battalion protected the Boeing Plant at Boeing Field.
www.historylink.org /essays/printer_friendly/index.cfm?file_id=2897   (371 words)

  
 U.S. Army Barrage Balloon Program (Merriam Press Monograph M315)
This is the complete, never-before-told story of the U.S. Army's barrage balloons during World War II Shock covers the development, design, manufacturing, production, and use of U.S. Army barrage balloons throughout the war, as well as the men and units involved (both training and active duty in the U.S. and overseas) and their accomplishments.
Barrage Balloons for Low Level Air Defense - USAF Major Franklin J. Hillson provides insight into potential present day uses for the defensive weapon system, as well as detailed information on the balloon program employed by the British in World War II.
Barrage Balloons Over the Panama Canal - features images of two paintings illustrating the use of balloons to protect the Panama Canal during World War II.
www.merriam-press.com /mono_200/m315.htm   (359 words)

  
 Saving Private Ryan: barrage balloon
The large balloons were anchored to winches by steel cables, and although the balloons themselves were large and easy to see and avoid, their presence severely limited enemy forces, who were often denied optimum routes of attack.
Barrage balloons were used in Operation Overlord, and many small barrage balloons were attached to larger landing craft for protection during the crossing of the English Channel.
Barrage balloons can be briefly seen in Saving Private Ryan in the D+3 scenes where Captain Miller is given his assignment to rescue Private Ryan.
www.sproe.com /b/barrage-balloon.html   (263 words)

  
 MS1739 Operation ALBINO: Free balloon barrage
This is the first documentation that has surfaced for this researcher regarding "free" balloon barrages.
The concept is similar to tethered barrage balloons, including the deployment of a parachute/bomb system which was actuated by an aircraft striking the trailing steel cable.
On impact a weak link breaks beneath the balloon which is freed, the parachute at the bottom end of the steel wire opens and drags the mine down to the aircraft, where it explodes on contact.
www.b-26marauderarchive.org /MS/MS1739/MS1739.htm   (847 words)

  
 Barrage Balloons   (Site not responding. Last check: 2007-10-08)
On the wagon was a winch that enabled the RAF Balloon Command to control the height of the barrage balloon.
It was when we had finished this and had the balloon barrage up again that we leamt we had been given the credit for shooting down a Messerschmitt 109.
At first a barrage of balloons was put up in an effort to bring them down; this proved useless, however, and the next move was to have the bombs chased by Spitfires and shot down.
www.spartacus.schoolnet.co.uk /2WWbarrage.htm   (843 words)

  
 Barrage Balloons over Pedro Miguel   (Site not responding. Last check: 2007-10-08)
What prompted this action, was our innovative game of grabbing one the six or eight tie-down ropes as the balloon was just about to be released during one of the practice drills and running and launching ourselves into a long arc; swinging "bungee-like" before dropping to the ground.
Normally the GI operating the winch would allow the balloon to rise only a few feet before stopping and making sure all of us were "off" the ropes before he slowly paid out cable.
Unfortunately, the balloon and its environs were immediately off limits to us for the duration.
www.pancanalsociety.org /Articles/Crucet_2_Canal_Zone_Stories.html   (410 words)

  
 [No title]
Before the balloons had been in place planes had attacked from a height of only a few hundred feet The presence of the balloons forced the raiders much higher at between 7,000 and 20,000 feet.
In the words of the official report - 'The Scapa Balloons achieved their aim - namely to keep the enemy at such a height that accurate bombing was impossible and all subsequent raids proved this to be the case.
During their stay on Orkney the Balloon Barrage recorded several unusual incidents In a 90 mph gale, a balloon uprooted its winch and dragged it 600 yards along the moor of cava over the cliffs and into the sea.
www.owm.org.uk /nwltrtxt.htm   (3473 words)

  
 [No title]   (Site not responding. Last check: 2007-10-08)
Sighted WW II barrage balloon at 1500' AGL (no lights) which accelerated rapidly as I approached in my light aircraft.
The "balloon" was stationary, as if tethered in the fields below, though I saw no tethering lines; it had no airfoils or control surfaces except the fin-like empennage typical of barrage ballons and blimps, and it had no engine, propellor or other visible source of power.
When I was approximately 1/4 nm from it, the balloon suddenly accelerated at a very high rate of speed to the west, toward the Olympic Mountains; I turned to follow it; in a few seconds it had gone from my sight.
www.nuforc.org /webreports/012/S12919.html   (315 words)

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