THE BALLOON IN WAR.

Press, Volume LVI, Issue 10482, 21 October 1899, Page 9

THE BALLOON IN WAR.

A PERFECT MEANS OF RECONNOITRING. INTERVIEW WITH CAPTAIN LORRAINE. fBV OCR SPECIAL RIPOMEH.) Captain Lorraine, the daring aeronaut, who.. _tartl__g balloon ascents have been one of the chic. topics of conversation in the city during the last few days, holds the po-ition of instructor in ballooning to the Ist battalion of the Northamptonshire regkn_i_t which has been ordered to South Africa, and" will arrive there in the course of a fortnight. Captain Lorraine himself is an ex-New Zealander, and has held the position of instructor in ballooning since 1892, although at present be is on leave of absence for a year. Yesterday he courteously gave an interview to a representative of "The Press" on the subject of "War Ballooning."

"Reconnaissances from balloons," he said, in answer to a question "were made as far back as 1794 during the war of the French revolution, and later in the Italian war of 1815 and the American civil war. During the siege of Paris, as you are doubtless aware, they were extensively used, and nearly two and a-haJf million letters, etc., found their way out of the city by that means. It was first employed by a British force in war at Suakim in 1895, although in 1887 the war department conducted a series uf experiments a* Chatham, on the use of captive balloons for observation, and since then have carried them out periodically and with great success." "A balloon corps'consists".of a captain, assistant captain, and fifty noti-commissioned officers and men. The apparatus consists of two generators drawn by four horses each, two balloons also drawn by four horses, and «.n acid cart drawn by two horses. One balloon _oirta_na 18,000 cubic feet of gas and the other 26,000 cubic feet. Hydrogen gas i_ used to inflate the balloons, it is thirteen and a-haif times lighter than the atmosphere, while coal g*~s is on.y two and a-hali times an light. The balloons are pear shaped and carry a car known as a trapeze car, so arranged that it rem-ins perpendicular no matter whatj-the slope of the balloon. The large bailoon is for reconnoitring, and the car contains apparatus for t-U-u-mitting message-, while the smaller balloon usua-iy eccompanie. the comma—ding officer and has a sma-1 receiver connected by a wire with the ground so that he can receive messages from the reconnoitring balloon in a few seconds.

"The - bt-l-oor_. are also used for taking photographs of the surrounding country, amd ihe position and strength of the enemy can be u-certained without risk. In this way the war balloon will be invaluable ia the Transvaal troub.e, especially when the country is hilly. The war balloon, as you are of course aware, is always a captive balloon, but it can be put up out of reach of gun shot by letting out cable. If a shot happens to strike a balloon the hole made is always so small that before sufficient gas has ecaped to do any damage, it is drawn down to the lines from which it has been sent up. The problem at present is to construct a mortar which wili throw a shell that will burst above, amd thus destroy a balloon by allowing the gas to escape Irom the top. "There is also a telegraph from the balloon to the ground, and signals are also used. We use the Morse code, the semaphore and the flashlight. Recently experiments have been made with wireless telegraphy from balloons. As you are probably aware, the distance over which ar message can be transmitted along the etherial waves depends on the heights from the ground at which the wires of the transmitting and receiving apparatus respectively are placed. In the experiments carried out .between Boulogne and the English coast, the wires at each station were run up the sides of poles, and in later experiments the masts of ships have afforded the required altitude. From poles to balloons is on easy and almost obvious transition, and for months past the military authorities have been keenly alive to the value of wireless telegraphy for warlike purposes, but it is only within the last few weeks that practical demonstrations on a large scale have been attempted, and it is pleasant to lyiow that they were an undoubted success. It is pretty generally understood that for the present our army is content to use the balloon almost exclusively for tbe purposes of reconnaissance, but when any other nation wants us to 'grapple in the central blue,' we shall doubtless be ab.e to oblige it, but for the present the captive balloon is the only recognised adjunct to military operations. At the same time it lias the disadvantage of being a cumbrous piece of apparatus, which cannot always conveniently follow or even remain in serviceable.touch with the general officer commanding. It. chief use, as I have said, is for overlooking ranges of mountains and hills, aoid determining the position of the enemy. At the same time, we can take up dynamite, and throw it down on the enemy's lines. The balloon corps always works in conjunction with the Royal Engineers. It is part of the regular equipment of an army corps. "Small captive balloons are used in the Navy. They are run up from torpedo destroyers generally, and by their aid a view of 150 miles radius can be obtained. From the crow's-nest of a man-of-war it is only possibly to see about fourteen miles or so. Chatting on the subject of the more fascinating, but more dangerous, ordinary ballooning, Captain Lorraine remarked that be had twice crossed the English (_hannel to France, and added that on his return to England he intended to attempt a trip from France to England, which had not yet been accomplished owing to the prevailing winds being contrary. Captain Lorraine will give another balloon ascent in Christchiirch before he leaves, at the Canterbury Athletic Club's sports on November 10th.