balloon barrels is a large kite balloon used to defend against an airplane attack by raising a higher cable that poses a collision risk, making the attacker's approach more difficult. The design of a kite balloon, has a shape and a bridle cable that stabilizes the balloon and reduces the obstacles, meaning that it can be operated in a higher wind condition than a round balloon. Some examples carry a small explosive charge that will be pulled towards the plane to ensure its destruction. Balloon bubbles are impractical to very high flying planes, due to the weight of the required length cables.
Video Barrage balloon
First World War
France, Germany, Italy, and Britain used balloons in the First World War. Sometimes, especially around London, some balloons are used to lift a long "barrage", where steel wires are hung between balloons and many more cables that depend on it. This net can be raised to a height comparable to the operational ceiling (14,764 feet/4,500 m) of bombers during that period. In 1918 defense defenses around London stretched 50 miles (80 km), and the captured German pilots expressed great fear over them.
Maps Barrage balloon
Second World War
In 1938, the British Balloon Command was established to protect the city and its main targets such as industrial estates, ports and ports. Balloons are meant to defend themselves from the dive bombers flying at altitudes of up to 5,000 feet (1,500 m), forcing them to fly higher and into the range of concentrated anti-aircraft shots - anti-aircraft guns can not cross fast enough to strike the aircraft. at low altitude and high speed. By mid-1940 there were 1,400 balloons, a third of them over London.
While diving bombing is a very effective tactic against unattended targets, such as Guernica and Rotterdam, diving aircraft are particularly vulnerable to attack by fighter aircraft while diving, and its use in this role by Germany against Britain with an effective Royal. The Air Force was quickly stopped. Balloons proved to be of little use against high-level German bombers whose submarine pirates were replaced, but continued to be produced, up to nearly 3,000 in 1944. They proved to be a little effective against the V-1 flying. bombs, which normally fly at a height of 2,000 feet (600 m) or lower but have wire cutters on its wings to fight balloons. 231 V-1 is officially claimed to have been destroyed by a balloon.
The UK added two improvements to their balloon, "Double Parachute Link" (DPL) and "Double Parachute/Ripping" (DP/R). The first is triggered by the shock of the enemy bomber that snatched the cable, causing the part of the cable to be explosively released complete with a parachute at both ends; combined weight and drag down the plane. The latter is meant to make the balloon safe if it is accidentally loose. The heavy mooring cable will separate in the balloon and fall to the ground below the parachute; at the same time a panel will be ripped from the balloon causing it to deflate and fall freely to the ground.
In January 1945, during the Royal Navy Air Fleet's attack on the Palembang oil refinery, the British crew were shocked by the massive use of balloon barriers in the Japanese defense. It is round and smaller than the English type. One Grumman Avenger is destroyed, and the crew is killed, from attacking the balloon cable.
Power line failure
In 1942, Canadian and American troops began a joint operation to protect sensitive locks and delivery channels in Sault Ste. Marie along their common border between the Great Lakes against possible air strikes. During severe storms in August and October 1942, several balloons ruptured, and cables circulating in short circuits, causing serious disruptions to mining and manufacturing. Particularly, the production of metal essential to the war effort is disrupted. The Canadian military history records show that "the most serious, October incident caused the loss of about 400 tons of steel and 10 tons of ferro-alloys."
After this incident, new procedures are enforced, including storing balloons during the winter months, with regular deployment drills and standby standby teams to spread balloons in the event of an attack.
Lessons learned from the dashed balloons caused Operation Outward, the deliberate release of balloons from conductive cables to disrupt power supplies in occupied European mainland.
Post-war nuclear weapons test
After the war, some surplus-bearing balloons were used as gunshoots moored for nuclear weapons testing in most of the periods when nuclear weapons were tested in the atmosphere. Guns or gun shots are carried to the specified altitude draped below the balloon barrage, allowing the test fire to be in controlled condition at much higher altitudes than the test tower. Several tests in the Operation Plumbbob series were lifted to the heights using a balloon repeatedly.
See also
- Aerostat
- Tethered Balloons
- Observation Balloon
References
External links
- Baloon Bubble Reunion Club
- Popular Science , August 1943, British Barrage Balloon Secrets
- WW2 BBC People's War: Baloon Sprout
- RAF Barrage Balloon Squadrons
- Bending Balloon in World War II
Source of the article : Wikipedia
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