Balloon over Nablus Road

[tommarmot]

Hello all,

I just came into possession of my grandfathers photos. He was Pte Henry Woods, Seaforth Highlanders S/16077

He loved photography.

On the back is written

Ubservation bulloon over Nablus Road and Jerusalem road.

Harry enlisted before he finished school.

Enjoy,

Tom Woods

[T8HANTS]

Hi Tom

Nice to see a photograph from the forgotten front of WW1, are there any more to see?

Gareth

[michaeldr]

In his book 'The Changing Land between the Jordan and the Sea' Benjamin Kedar quotes a balloon story from Dov Skibin's 'The Memoirs of a Kfar Sava Man' (the village of Kfar Sava was only 3 kms from the British front line as at 22 December 1917)

"When the rainy season was over, the British set up an observation post at the bottom of a balloon that was anchored to the ground somewhere near Sarona [the German colony northeast of Jaffa]. The man in the basket of the balloon observed the moves of the Turks all the time ... ... The [Turkish] commander who lived with us always cursed the balloon and wished its destruction. On a spring day his curses came true: a German plane passed opposite the balloon and set it alight with a spark of fire. The balloon immediately burnt up, the observer fell from the heights and was crushed. The commander went out, raised his hands and blessed Allah and his Prophet for this salvation. But it quickly turned out that his blessing was in vain. A few days later there was another balloon in the air. We then paid a high price for the burning of the first one."

This does not fit in with your photograph's description/location, but even so, may be of interest

regards

Michael

[tommarmot]

In his book 'The Changing Land between the Jordan and the Sea' Benjamin Kedar quotes a balloon story from Dov Skibin's 'The Memoirs of a Kfar Sava Man' (the village of Kfar Sava was only 3 kms from the British front line as at 22 December 1917)

"When the rainy season was over, the British set up an observation post at the bottom of a balloon that was anchored to the ground somewhere near Sarona [the German colony northeast of Jaffa]. The man in the basket of the balloon observed the moves of the Turks all the time ... ... The [Turkish] commander who lived with us always cursed the balloon and wished its destruction. On a spring day his curses came true: a German plane passed opposite the balloon and set it alight with a spark of fire. The balloon immediately burnt up, the observer fell from the heights and was crushed. The commander went out, raised his hands and blessed Allah and his Prophet for this salvation. But it quickly turned out that his blessing was in vain. A few days later there was another balloon in the air. We then paid a high price for the burning of the first one."

This does not fit in with your photograph's description/location, but even so, may be of interest

regards

Michael

Thanks Michael!

Tom

[wroclaw]

Hello all,

I just came into possession of my grandfathers photos. He was Pte Henry Woods, Seaforth Highlanders S/16077

He loved photography.

On the back is written

Ubservation bulloon over Nablus Road and Jerusalem road.

Harry enlisted before he finished school.

Enjoy,

Tom Woods

Hi Tom, thanks for the photo.

One such balloon is captured for more then a minute in a film taken by Frank Hurley seated in an airplane. This piece of film is included in the film shown at the AWM.