H.M.S. "SAUSAGE"

Dominion, Volume 11, Issue 48, 20 November 1917, Page 9

H.M.S. "SAUSAGE"

THE KITE-BALLOON AND ITS WORK

A JUNIOR BRANCH OF THE ' AIR SERVICE

To-daf (fays ;i contributor to lbs "Morning Post") tho praiso of cur ilyingmcn is deservedly in everyone's mouth, as their achievements nro in the forefront of all the fighting. Hut (hcrn_ is another brauch of tho .Air Service which has hitherto worked below tho threshold of public perception, and which line claim to a good deal more acknowledgment than it' has received.' This is the Kite Balloon branch of tho Air Sen-ice. Its tasks are not less dangerous, if they are less dramatic, than thoso performed by tho heavier-thnji-air machines Indeed. they require even more fortitude, perhaps, "becauso they aro dissociated from tho exhilaration of the offensive, and are executed in conditions of complete defencelessncss against attack. But tho public know nothing of them! How should they? They have seen from time to time a strango "and slightly ridiculous shape floating over London, up above, the world so high) like a sausage in the sky. That ii all they know of H.M.5'. "Sausage," which is, notwithstanding, a not unimportant item of our Air Fleet. A New Type. To-<la,y these kite balloons are employed along tho whole length of tho battleluie, "spotting". for the artillery at heights and distances from the firing-line which expose them all the time, not only to shell tire, but to attack from enemy aeroplanes.. Picture the situation of the devoted observer, perched some thousands of feot above the ground, swaying hour after hour at the end of his cable like a ship at her moorings, ami offering a tempting and conspicuous mark for every enemy gunner in search of a target, and for every enemy airman on a roving commissiou over our lines. It is a duty that asks some nerve in the txue performance of it, is it not?

But, if the kite balloon is the ready prey of enemy attack, it i 3 sot in itself discomfortablo to the occupant Its design has been vastly improved from the typo of the old German Dragon balloon which hold the field at tho outbreak of war. By an ingenious and simple arrangement if. has been found possible to make the kite balloon keep always head to wind. That is the explanation of that "bustle"-like arrangement at the end of the ship, by which tho wind is transformed from a disturbing into a steadying influence. The sausage shape of the balloon is another device for preserving steadiness and avoiding the teetotum motion to which tho spherical balloon is liable.

In days of high and gusty wind the sansage-balloon naturally pitches a good deal—the resultant motion from the wind-foroe and the resistance of tho tethering-cnble—and tho inexperienced observer may suffer severely from seasickness in such conditions; but in genial weathor the sensation is soothing and even luxurious! and tho fiercest ground heat givos place to a delicious coolness at quite a moderate altitude. But the observer has to bo trained not only to tho work of observation but to toleration, as the doctors would say, of height. He has not only.to learn to watch his pressure gauges and other instruments, while picking out every significant object.alid portont on the horizon and maintaining constant telephonic communication with the earth; he has also to become accustomed to the sensation of height—of completo detachment from mother earth—and to tho changed aspect of tho landscapo and its most familiar objects from his new point of view. No one who has not experienced it can believe what "tho bird's oye view" really 'is—how rare and strange the faco of the countryside appears at a height of three or four hundred feet. It is to accustom observers to these conditions that the old spherical balloons are ctiU useful. That accounts for the spectacle, which is often presented on a fine day of several of tlicso spherical balloons drifting with leisured serenity over London. They carry probationers training for tlio. cortificato of tho Koyal Aero Club, and the popular idea that these balloons are a part of London's defences aeainst air-raids is, ono fears, fallacious. Overcoming Prejudice. As has been mentioned already, the kito balloon as an instrument of observation is now in high favour with the Army, and the rate at which balloons and pilots aro being turned out has been immonsely expedited. Tho special advantages of the kite balloon for observation purposes are at last fully recognised. Tho observer in this case is carrying out his work from a fixed and comparatively stable position; he is provided with highpowor field-glasses, and ho is in direct communication with the ground all the time. The aeroplano observer, on the other hand, is necessarily in rapid movement, and therefore his. position is ft'toring all the timo, and his glimpse of his object, is fleeting; while his means of communication with the .ground are much less simple and direct But it took somo time for the force ol these considerations to be fully admitted. The achievement and potentiality of the aeroplane not unnaturally overshadowed everything else; and so it fell out | that the kite balloon was neglected. Aitillcry commanders , insisted on aeroplanes for their "spotting," and the officers of the kite balloon sections too often met witli "greetings where no kindness is. Indeed, it is related—though it would not be wise to take these mess-room pleasantries too literally—that kite balloon officers at one time bad to go. down the lino recommending their services much in the manner of a commercial travellor pushing his wares. They had to dine gunner-officers well-to woo them p an indulgent inood-and then insmuatinjdy to suggest arrangements for a iriai "shoot? almost on the principle, rf I "monfty returned if goods not found satisfactory." But tho soods were satSffl satisfactory that gunners quickly camo to'ask for the kite balloon and to see that they got it. In the Day's Work. A pilot one day was at work in a high wind, when the elevator and rudder arrangements buist. Witn out more ado-as if to celebrato release from a hated bondage-tlie balloon loopoi the loop twicc, leaving the unhappy observer hanging to the car (now . hw sido up, now that) as best lio_ might. Then exhilarated l>y this exercise, the balloon mado a bid for compieto free dom with an . almost . Eu^V?^H n r and succeeded m snapping the cable. Again in th.e revolutionary manner, it next conceivcd Uio .idea of fra ternising with the enemy, and dnftea towards his lines at a velocity of forty, milos an hour. liio a !f ma J ''c v; s naturally thought that tho day of his usefulness on earth was over, ieo ho < tore up nil his maps and ' bis cimera nlates, and took to his para c.u,te. im He landed safely 1000 .yards ftom +1m flprm/in lines, with no gieater m jury than ti had shaking ami Ppmo ewere cut's ami contusions from falling among trees. To-day ho is well and at. work Mother airman had tho /'W' 1 ': oNnnricncp of having his kite-balloon shot down, not once, but twice in one day. by enemy aircraft; nnd yet be mm e a third ascent as soon as a new bal oon could be found for him. Remember that each time after the destruction of Ins balloon this airman's only escape by parachute, and though in. hl.net theory and in favourable circumstances descent by paraehutp is reasonably safe it is an exploit that lints no mean strain on tho nerves. To jump into space at ft height of several thousand feet, trusting that the littlp folded ha.. attached to you will presently open out umbrella-wise and "softly descend like the dew or the rain.' is _a tiling that tho hardiest men would not choose twice in the same day, to say nothing of inviting a third repetition of tho ordeal.