Some Kite-Balloon Experiments

Extract

At the end of 1915 I was invited to compile and deliver a course of lectures on the Theory of Ballooning at the Royal Naval Air Station at Roehampton; and for the following three years I attended regularly at Roehampton, delivering two lectures daily and setting examinations for the officers under instruction to pass into the Airship service and into the Kite-Balloon Service.

Every encouragement was given for questions to be asked on aerostatic problems after each lecture, my endeavour being to remove as many troubles in the minds of probationers as possible. The trouble which stood out above all others soon became apparent. What would happen to the observers in a kite-balloon in the event of the cable breaking owing to a high wind or to its being shot through? The questions put to me showed this to be the chief cause of anxiety, and it will be seen that the causes for this anxiety were well founded.