THE BALLOON CORPS
The division of ballooning gave important service, although it also
had to be developed from a condition of little consequence. The few
balloons of all types possessed by both the Army and the Navy were a
small fraction of the number that would be needed. The balloon force
consisted of eight officers and sixty enlisted men. The only school
for ballooning had been rescued from complete abandonment a few months
before we entered the war, but it had accommodations for only fifteen
officers and 400 men, while its equipment was both obsolete and
meager. A program of expansion in the balloon service was instituted
and carried out that, in proportion, was comparable with that of the
airplane service. Within a year and a half both Army and Navy were
well supplied with all of the various types of balloons and up and
down the coasts of the United States and of France and over our troops
in the battle lines floated observation balloons manned by eagle-eyed
watchers, dirigibles were aiding the coast patrols of both shores of
the Atlantic and helping to escort troop and supply ships through the
danger zone, kite balloons were giving constant and valuable service
and balloons for the scattering of propaganda on and behind the enemy
lines were undermining the morale of troops and peoples.
For training purposes the one existing school was modernized and
enlarged and others were opened, great rubber plants revived the
balloon making art, and at the end of hostilities the Army had over
1,000 and the Navy 300 balloons--dirigible, semi-dirigible, supply,
target and kite--and the Balloon Corps of the Army contained more than
700 fully trained officers and 16,000 enlisted men, organized into 100
companies, of which 25 were in the battle zone. Plans were then under
way to continue the expansion at an increased rate, for developments at
the front were constantly making more useful the balloon of every type.
To comply with this overseas need arrangements had been completed to
increase the Balloon Corps by 1,200 officers and 25,000 men.
One of the most important scientific developments of the war was
the result of the endeavor of the American Air Service to find a
non-inflammable gas for balloons. Investigation and experiment by
the United States Bureau of Mines found a new source for helium in a
natural gas field in the Southwest, from which it could be produced
so cheaply as to make possible its use for this purpose. Up to that
time no more than a few hundred cubic feet had ever been obtained and
its value was $1,700 per cubic foot. When the war ended 150,000 cubic
feet of helium for balloon inflation had been shipped and plants were
under construction that would produce 50,000 cubic feet per day at a
cost of about ten cents per foot. As a helium filled balloon could
not be destroyed by incendiary bullets it would be comparatively safe
from enemy attacks and could carry on over the enemy lines operations
of the greatest importance. Both the American and British governments
had perfected their plans, when the armistice was signed, to use many
dirigibles thus filled in air attacks from which immense quantities of
bombs would have been dropped over strategic points in Germany.
Because of the assurance of safety which this non-inflammable gas
gives to balloon operations, the usefulness of all balloons, but
especially of the dirigible type, has been enormously increased and a
new era opened for their service. Working upon the problem of making
it possible to send propaganda balloons upon long journeys over the
enemy’s country, the meteorological service developed ingenious types
of balloons that did remarkable work of that kind during the last
months of war and, in addition, give promise of very great usefulness
for the days of peace.