Aerophilia | Page 8

which it is inflated. Individual
rifle fire will inflict no tangible damage. A bullet, if it finds its billet,
will merely pass through the envelope and leave two small punctures.
True, these vents will allow the gas to escape, but this action will
proceed so slowly as to permit the vessel to remain aloft long enough to
enable the observer to complete his work. A lucky rifle volley, or the
stream of bullets from a machine gun may riddle the envelope,

precipitating a hurried descent, owing to the greater number of
perforations through which the gas is able to escape, but as a rule the
observer will be able to land safely.
Consequently the general practice is to shatter the aerostat, and to this
end either shrapnel, high explosive, or incendiary shells will be used.
The former must explode quite close to the balloon in order to achieve
the desired end, while the incendiary shell must actually strike it, so as
to fire the gas. The high explosive shell may explode effectually some
feet away from the vessel, inasmuch as in this instance dependence is
placed upon the terrific concussion produced by the explosion which,
acting upon the fragile fabric of the balloon, brings about a complete
collapse of the envelope. If a shrapnel is well placed and explodes
immediately above the balloon, the envelope will be torn to shreds and
a violent explosion of the gas will be precipitated. But as a matter of
fact, it is extremely difficult to place a shrapnel shell so as to
consummate this end. The range is not picked up easily, while the
timing of the fuse to bring about the explosion of the shell at the critical
moment is invariably a complex problem.
One favourite method of finding the range of a balloon is shown in the
accompanying diagrams. The artillery battery is at B and the captive
balloon, C, is anchored at A. On either side of B and at a specified
distance, observers O1 and O2 respectively are stationed. First a shell is
fired at "long" range, possibly the maximum range of the gun. It bursts
at D. As it has burst immediately in the line of sight of B, but with the
smoke obscured by the figure of the balloon C, it is obvious to B that
the explosion has occurred behind the objective, but at what distance he
cannot tell. To O1 and O2,however, it is seen to have burst at a
considerable distance behind C though to the former it appears to have
burst to the left and to the second observer to the right of the target.
Another shell, at "short" range, is now fired, and it bursts at E. The
explosion takes place in the line of sight of B, who knows that he has
fired short of the balloon because the latter is eclipsed by the smoke.
But the two observers see that it is very short, and here again the
explosion appears to O1 to have occurred to the right of the target,

while to O2 it has evidently burst to the left of the aerostat, as revealed
by the relation of the position of the balloon to the bursting of the shell
shown in Fig. 3.
A third round is fired, and the shell explodes at F. In this instance the
explosion takes place below the balloon. Both the observers and the
artillery man concur in their deductions upon the point at which the
shell burst. But the shell must explode above the balloon, and
accordingly a fourth round is discharged and the shell bursts at G.
This appears to be above the balloon, inasmuch as the lines of sight of
the two observers and B converge at this point. But whether the
explosion occurs immediately above the vessel as is desired, it is
impossible to say definitely, because it may explode too far behind to
be effective. Consequently, if this shell should prove abortive, the
practice is to decrease the range gradually with each succeeding round
until the explosion occurs at the critical point, when, of course, the
balloon is destroyed. An interesting idea of the difficulty of picking up
the range of a captive balloon may be gathered from the fact that some
ten minutes are required to complete the operation.
But success is due more to luck than judgment. In the foregoing
explanation it is premised that the aerial vessel remains stationary,
which is an ex tremely unlikely contingency. While those upon the
ground are striving to pick up the range, the observer is equally active
in his efforts to baffle his opponents. The observer follows each
successive, round with keen interest, and when the shells appear to be
bursting at uncomfortably close quarters naturally he intimates to his
colleagues below