SPY THINK 076: WAR Balloons, Dirigibles & Blimps Part 1
Context
The American Civil War of the 1860s had a LOT of observation balloon recon activity that decided battles. Hollywood has yet to depict this because its not as sexy as idiots charging massed musket fire uphill (Gettysburg, Day 2). These spy aircraft were wagon ground and barge-river-mobile. Imagine that.
Tethering UNMANNED balloons to be static aka "aerostats" is a safe & sound way to get long-range C4ISR observation or act as "Barrage Balloon" barriers to low-level HTA attacks. Recently, the last surviving member of an U.S. ARMY BB outfit that erected them over Normandy beaches on D-Day in 1944 passed away. The British Paras have balloons made to replicate a HTA aircraft jump door to inexpensively train new recruits which is a great idea Fort Benning's Airborne School should use instead of the 250 foot jump scare towers which students are more terrified of than jumping from a HTA airplane moving at over 100 mph. Go figure. We can't figure it out.
Pocket-sized balloons with GOPRO cameras have reached the edge of space proving the Earth is a curving ROUND planet to the delight of 20-something, contrarian know-it-all, flat earthers who believe anything the Langley CIA feeds them. USAF Major Joe Kittinger in the 1960s rode a helium balloon to above 100, 000 feet and parachute-jumped in a pressure suit to prove astronaut escape possibilities that only recently has been surpassed. Slow-moving, balloons have been constantly offered as excuse-explanations for extremely fast moving UFO sightings--which is both a lie and an insult to all of us.
Commander Ian Fleming's book Bond in "You Only Live Twice" escapes Blofeld's exploding castle of death by freeing a balloon and holding on for dear life.
https://www.bitchute.com/video/nRJkIwW4SYPK/
Historian and resident smug self-proclaimed, civilian normie "expert" Mark Felton offers us a video explaining his discovery that the U.K. also used unmanned balloons offensively in WW2 to randomly attack Nazi Germany; this should give our own DARPA all sorts of ideas they can waste $$$$ millions on that never reaches the hands of Soldiers.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ioshB6dhe-0
Women's Royal Navy (WRENs) launched 100k attack balloons @$100 each ($10M total cost) disrupting Germany with most damage done by 500 foot trailing cord/wires disrupting high power lines in addition to incendiary bomb balloons.
Spy Balloons
www.combatreform.org/airrecon.htm
After WW2, the USAF launched spy balloons with nuclear monitoring devices over the Soviet Union forcing them to improve the altitude reach of their interceptors.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Project_Genetrix
Project Genetrix, also known as WS-119L, was a United States Air Force program designed to launch General Mills manufactured surveillance balloons[1][2] over Communist China, Eastern Europe and the Soviet Union to take aerial photographs and collect intelligence. The Genetrix balloons reached altitudes of 50,000–100,000 feet (15–30 km), well above that flown by contemporary fighter planes.
In 1955, a number of AN/DMQ-1 gondolas were launched from Lowry Air Force Base in Colorado as a test of the system. One was recovered years later in New Brunswick.[3]
Between 10 January and 6 February 1956, a total of 516 high-altitude vehicles were launched from the five different launch sites Gardermoen, Norway; Evanton, Scotland; Oberpfaffenhofen and Giebelstadt, West Germany; and Incirlik, Turkey; [4][5] 54 were recovered and only 31 provided usable photographs. Numerous balloons were shot down or blown off course, and the flights led to many diplomatic protests from the target countries.[6][7] MiG fighter pilots learned that at sunrise the balloons had dipped into shooting range because the balloons floated to a lower altitude as in the colder night air, the lifting gas cooled and became denser, reducing lift, so the balloons descended to lower altitudes where the air was denser.[8]
Authorized by President Dwight D. Eisenhower on December 27, 1955, Project 119L was the first espionage use of the balloons that had been tested in previous projects, such as "Moby Dick High". Project 119L was a follow up to Project Skyhook, Project Mogul and Project Grandson. The balloons were used to monitor the Soviet Union for such things as nuclear tests, and returned photography of more than 1.1 million square miles (more than 2.8 million square km) of the Sino-Soviet bloc.[7] Top-secret high-altitude balloon programs such as Moby Dick, Moby Dick High and 119L may account for many of the UFO sightings starting around the mid-20th century. The U-2 spy plane was later developed to replace the Genetrix balloons.
https://www.bitchute.com/video/QxbPFCkcgV5a/
The Soviets recovered many of these balloons and their temperature-resistant and radiation-hardened film[9][citation needed][10] would later be used in the Luna 3 probe to capture the first images of the far side of the Moon.
https://www.secretprojects.co.uk/threads/us-drones-over-russia.4414/
Greenmartian2017 writes:
I have just now found a photocopy of an article about the balloon flights based on documents the British government declassified and published in "Zarubezhnoe Voennoe Obozrenie" 1999 Number 4. It states the purpose of the flights was to map at least 75 percent of the [USSR] and of plans to launch 3,500, only 461 were launched and most failed. At least five were shot down. Only 42 were recovered with their film intact. They further state the balloons gave rise to the numerous reports of flying saucers over Russia and, most importantly, the program ended 1956.
On the other hand, the very long discussion in this volume about the M-17 states the CIA began launching the balloons (which they describe in some detail) after Powers was shot down over Sverdlovsk in 1960.
Often called the Soviet U-2, the M-17 was first flown in 1978 following a need to find a way to shoot down U.S. high altitude balloons that were sent over the USSR on prevailing wind. The initial prototype crashed early in the development of the type and was followed by a second example, flying in 1982. It was photographed by U.S. spy satellites and dubbed Mystic "A". The type went on to establish 25 international records for its class and was followed by the twin-engined M-55 of which five were built. The later model is still in service when needed for atmospheric tests, the need for a high altitude balloon interceptor going away with the fall of the Soviet Union.
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An-2A – Developed from the An-2A for use as a Balloon
interceptor to intercept reconnaissance balloons from, U.S. intelligence
assets, over-flying the USSR. The prototype was converted from a Kiev built
An-2 (c/n 110347315) using the Turbo-charged Ash-62IR/TK of the 'An-6 Meteo'
and a combined searchlight/gun turret mounted on top of the rear fuselage,
which mounted either a single Gryazev-Shipunov GSh-23 23 mm calibre
twin-barrelled cannon or a single Afanas'yev A-12.7 12.7 mm calibre
heavy machine-gun.[4]
Wayback Machine
http://web.archive.org/web/20070927033655/http://worldatwar.net/chandelle/v4/v4n1-2/balloons.html
http://worldatwar.net/chandelle/v4/v4n1-2/balloons.html
****
Future Balloons from Do-NOTHING Amerika?
Tactical Balloons
Today, the U.S. Army and AF's JTACs should have small COLORED & ILLUMINATED balloons to physically mark targets for Close Air Support/Maneuver Air Support aircraft attacks for better safety than just electronic means since pyrotechnic signals seem to be out-of-vogue these days, WTFO?
www.combatreform.org/aircommandos.htm
Moreover, future U.S. Army tanks should have reel out/in invisible CLEAR observation balloons as well as sensor masts to see & target enemies beyond horizontal line-of-sight.
www.combatreform.org/futuretanks.htm
Rescue Balloons
There is a pocket emergency balloon kit available called "Rescue Me" to provide long-duration visible marking but it can't seem to get free market funding to be built--even when the U.S. military needs them:
https://gearjunkie.com/rescue-me-balloon-distress-signal
'Rescue Me' Balloon As Distress Signal
You’re lost in the woods or floating on a life raft. You open a small canister to deploy a Rescue Me Balloon that floats 150 feet in the air to emit a bright, flashing LED that will keep strobing for up to a week. The balloon is radar detectable, allowing rescuers to use more technology to search for survivors. [EDITOR: if it is a SEAPLANE it can rescue survivors like the USS Indianapolis was lucky to have--today's FUBAR USN doesn't have seaplanes www.combatreform.org/p6mseamaster.htm]
www.combatreform.org/abandonshippreparetodie.htm
Balloons as distress signals are not entirely new, but this design is unique and definitely has some potential practical applications. Used in conjunction with traditional flares, the Rescue Me Balloon could be a powerful implement in the emergency toolbox.
The concept of the Rescue Me Balloon is pretty simple and it is reasonably priced to match. The company is currently raising funds to manufacture the product on Kickstarter, where a single Rescue Me Balloon will sell for $40. The company plans to retail the balloons for about $75.
I doubt it will replace flares, especially in maritime applications, and will certainly be affected by wind and weather, but the device should find practical applications as a supplemental emergency signal.
'Rescue Me' Balloon As Distress Signal
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You’re lost in the woods or floating on a life raft. You open a small canister to deploy a Rescue Me Balloon that floats 150 feet in the air to emit a bright, flashing LED that will keep strobing for up to a week. The balloon is radar detectable, allowing rescuers to use more technology to search for survivors.
Balloons as distress signals are not entirely new, but this design is unique and definitely has some potential practical applications. Used in conjunction with traditional flares, the Rescue Me Balloon could be a powerful implement in the emergency toolbox.
I doubt it will replace flares, especially in maritime applications, and will certainly be affected by wind and weather, but the device should find practical applications as a supplemental emergency signal.
https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/651668573/rescue-me-balloon
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Inventor claims he needed $100, 000 to "launch" (pun intended) his rescue balloon kit business; but he only got $37K from 538 people--and this was somehow NOT good enough?
Is it a wonder why America--a capitalist nation with no capital--because the rich Illuminati hog it up all to themselves is being out-widget-produced by the Chinese, Indians and Japanese?
Maybe it's America's ECONOMY that needs to be rescued?
Semper Airborne!
James Bond is REAL.
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