Info on Observation Corp

[Captain Dave]

When I was but a 17 year old fresh out of school, I used to work with a chap whos father had served in Balloons during WW1. He used to tell me about how his father would have to slide down the tethering cables if German aircraft appeared and he needed to get out in a hurry.

I know very little about this branch of service and would like to learn more, are there any good publications that may add some more knowledge to this area for me?

[Dolphin]

Dave

British/Empire observation balloons during the Great War were generally operated by the Royal Flying Corps over land and the Royal Naval Air Service over water, then the Royal Air Force over both after 1 April 1918. I don't know about observers sliding down cables to escape threatened balloons; I'm sure that most of them would have used their parachutes. There were usually two parachutes outside the basket that dangled below the balloon envelope, ie one each for the observers.

There aren't many publications around on the use of kite balloons during the War, however, there is Alan Morris's 1970 book The Balloonatics [it seems to be pre-ISBNs, but there is the number 09 100940 5, which might help to locate a copy]. In addition, balloons are mentioned quite a lot in Peter Liddle's The Airman's War [iSBN 0 7137 1592 8] and Peter Cooksley's The RFC/RNAS Handbook [iSBN 0 7509 2169 2].

I hope this helps you.

Gareth

[Captain Dave]

Thank you, I shall utilise my local library to try and hunt down a copy.