Pretend that you are going back to world war ll when they had thousands of balloons from all over the world helping the military.
Background: One of the most iconic images of the D-Day invasion was taken shortly after the initial invasion itself. The image features several LSTs (Landing Ships, tanks) beached along the coast of France while dozens of military vehicles drive off them and thousands of pounds of supplies and equipment are unloaded in order to support the continuation of the invasion. Floating above most of the ships, stretching into the distance, are silver oval-shaped balloons. These balloons, known as barrage balloons, may seem at first glance out of place in a major military invasion. They were, however, vital to the operation, and were brought ashore in the invasion’s first wave by the brave men of the 320th Barrage Balloon Battalion, the only unit comprised entirely of African American soldiers to storm the beach that day. They provided critical protection to the ships and soldiers below them from attacks by enemy aircraft, and continue to provide us a glimpse into the U.S. military’s use of balloon technology.
Story: My balloon drifted off into the morning air that still rose from the bloody battlefields. After the First World War ended, the U.S. military decided that it was important to investigate means of defending areas from aerial attack. In 1923, the United States Army decided to study which anti-aircraft defenses would be most effective to develop. The Army Air Service argued that barrage balloons would be an inexpensive and effective means of protecting strategically important locations, such as the Panama Canal. The Air Service was given permission to develop barrage balloons for the military. This decision, however, set off an inter-agency feud with the Coast Artillery Corps, which thought that barrage balloons would fit in better with the other anti-aircraft defense items already under their command. It was eventually decided that the Air Service would be placed in charge of developing barrage balloon technology, but the Coast Artillery Corps would actually operate the balloons. My balloon was not a fighter of the war, though. It was a hot air balloon.