BALLOON BARRAGE

New Zealand Herald, Volume LXXV, Issue 23181, 29 October 1938, Page 13 (Supplement)

BALLOON BARRAGE

THE "balloon barrage" scheme is making good headway in Britain and there appears to be no lack of volunteer personnel for .this considerable addition to the air defences of the country. It is tapping, moreover, an age section of our man-power which does ir>t put it in competition with any other auxiliary service, for our '"balloon titics," as they are quite sure to be called, may be recruited from the age of 50 downwards. There will be a large outlay on this bold effort to deter the bomber, and it is most ..fondly to be hoped that the scheme will prove effective. There can 'be little doubt that the barrage will deny to hostile aircraft that stratum of the atmosphere, somewhat optimistically computed at I*2,oooft. in thickness, which lies immediately above the ground, and this, not alone on account of its actual presence iu the sky, but equally because of its repute and the uncertainty- of its precise whereabouts. "Keep Out" Sign The nightmare of an airman is to brush bis wings against an obstacle, and sparrows are no less disinclined to penetrate the black thread barrage over grass seed, than is the pilot to encounter the aeronautical rendering of ■ihat "keep out" sign, s Acting in deterrent fashion thus we need no longer apprehend the low-fly-

form of attack, the danger from which so exercises our French allies, and if the cables are to he electrically charged; or in some other way made lethal, it will he long before a countermeasure could be devised by which they would be cut, or swept aside. Cases are on record of aircraft Hying into the cables of the war-time observation apron, the crews of which have survived to tell the tale. On January '2B, 1918, a giant bomber (lew into the Chingford apron, doing it considerable damage and carrying off with it a couple of the streamers. Nearly Sawn in Half The German pilot reported that he fell some hundreds of feet before regaining control and eventually landed with a damaged 'plane. A French aeroplane crashed in 191(5 alter fouling a balloon and again, in 1918, an F.F.21) of No. 100 Squadron ran into similar trouble on its way hack from Treves. The pilot and observer got safely to the ground and were taken prisoners, hut their aircraft was nearly sawn in half by the friction of the cable as it dragged balloon and net to earth with it. Low-Hying attack is a torni which presents great difficulties to the defence. A modern aircraft going past quite close overhead too swift a moving object, and too soon on its way tor either* gun or searchlight to lay their sights, while it is impossible to conceive of air combat betwixt the bomber and the fighter at such low altitude when a split second would suffice to prolong a dive into the ground. If the

Expert Opinion On the Plan of Against

(World Copyright Reserved) By Air Commodore L. E. O. Charlton, barrage scheme merely acted to assure the safety of localities from this particular danger, it will fully justify itself. .Viid yet there is this consideration if Avar conies. London is, at first, at any rate, almost certain to be thy lodestone of the hostile homher, which will he anxious to reduce the populace to panic and dismay rather than to hit specific objects for the sake juf the material damage which would result. In such a case the accuracy of aim conferred by low-Hying would not be necessary, for both by night and day, though especially the former, the seeds of panic can be better broadcast by bombing indiscriminately as a sower sows than by planting carefully, as a bulb is placed in the ground. A gigantic city such as London, with its regular inhabitants and its dependent population, is practically all target, with no distinction between the bull's-eye and the outer, and that this is fully recognised was shown by its bomb chart when it was under air attack during the Great War. It is far too big to miss if only the enemy can get overhead to hit it. and in the attempt to do so, it is to be expected that his bombers will come in at "ceiling" height. I'p there they will encounter the full force of the active defence, fighter, guns and searchlights (if at night) working in co-operation, and if. happily, they do encounter them the invaders may regret their enterprise. The Height Question But the balloon barrage must not he lost sight of in the picture thus presented, for then its hapless role will be to keep the enemy at a height below which they have no wish to fly. Aircraft "ceilings'' are improving every day, and war-time flying in the substratosphere is 110 longer the fancy of the imaginative writer. On the other hand, there are precise limitations to the heights at which captive balloons may float. If the balloon barrage system could respond to ever-increasing altitudes on the part of aircraft, then, no matter what the cost might be, each nation's frontiers would be ringed around as is a birthday cake with candles, for no amount of money is too <:reat if certain security can be procured by its outlay. There would rapidly ensue a slump in bomber building, and warfare would at once revert to that more humane type which involves the fighting man alone, and not his kith and kin. in the far background of affairs. Alas, a development Mich as that is unrealisable in our day. anil meanwhile we must make shift with what we have in hand. Nations are singularly imitative in their measures for defence. We must have, for instance, submarines and battleships because others insist on building them. We all have gas. Is it a fact, or isn't it, that our rivals are "going nap" on balloon barrages!' And if not, why not?