Recent from talks
Operation Outward
Knowledge base stats:
Talk channels stats:
Members stats:
Operation Outward
Operation Outward was a British campaign of the Second World War that attacked Germany and German-occupied Europe with free-flying balloons. It made use of cheap, simple balloons filled with hydrogen and carrying either a trailing steel wire to damage high-voltage power lines by producing a short circuit, or incendiary devices to start fires in fields, forests and heathland. A total of 99,142 Outward balloons were launched; about half carried incendiaries and half carried trailing wires.
Compared to Japan's better-known fire balloons, Outward balloons were crude. They had to travel a much shorter distance so they flew at a lower altitude – 16,000 ft (4,900 m), compared with 38,000 ft (12,000 m) – and had only a simple mechanism to regulate altitude by means of dropping ballast or venting lifting gas. This meant the balloons were simple to mass-produce and only cost £1 15/- each (approximately equivalent to £85 in 2025). The free flying balloon attacks were highly successful. Although difficult to assess exactly, their economic impact on Germany was far in excess of the cost to the British government.
Because there was concern over what could happen if a barrage balloon accidentally got loose, in 1937 the British carried out a study on the damage that may be caused by a balloon-carried wire hitting power lines. These concerns were evidently borne out when early in 1940, the Air Vice Marshal Balloon Command, the organisation responsible for the barrage balloons, wrote that "Since the outbreak of the war, I have had constant complaints from the electricity distributors regarding the damage done in this country by [barrage] balloons that have broken away from their moorings". to which he added "...advantage might be taken of this to impede and inconvenience the enemy".
It was proposed that bomb-laden balloons could be launched from France. Their position would be tracked by radio triangulation and the bombs would be released by radio control when the balloon drifted over a worthwhile target. This plan was never put into action; objections included that "attacks of this nature should not be originated from a cricketing country" and a concern that the enemy might retaliate with similar weapons. The idea became redundant when defeat in the Battle of France put possible launch sites out of British control.
We may make a virtue of our misfortune.
On the night of 17/18 September 1940, a gale broke loose a number of British barrage balloons and carried them across the North Sea. In Sweden and Denmark, they damaged power lines, disrupted railways and knocked down the antenna for the Swedish International radio station. Five balloons were reported to have reached Finland. A report on the damage and confusion reached the British War Cabinet on 23 September 1940. Winston Churchill then directed that the use of free-flying balloons as weapons against Germany should be investigated. The Air Ministry initially produced a negative report, possibly because the Ministry of Aircraft Production felt balloons would be ineffective weapons and would consume too many resources.
TO SUM UP - If D.B.D. [Director of Boom Defences] is given a free hand, he is prepared to guarantee that he could produce an incendiary balloon attack organisation for operating from an East Coast area (say Harwich) which could be built up using women operatives, coal gas /and/or hydrogen and to produce the incendiaries, balloons and equipment etc. without recognisable interference to any other service activity, but from the experience obtained in attempting to operate F.B.B. in collaboration with the Air Ministry, it is clear that it should be a Naval and not a combined Naval and Air-Force undertaking.
The Admiralty took up the idea with more enthusiasm. In particular, Captain Gerald Banister, Director of Boom Defence and a proponent of using balloons as a weapon of offence, pressed the point. The meteorological considerations – including the possibility that the weather might favour the enemy retaliating in kind – were carefully investigated and found to be highly favourable; winds above 16,000 feet (4,900 m) tend to blow from west to east, making it difficult for the Germans to retaliate with similar balloons.
Hub AI
Operation Outward AI simulator
(@Operation Outward_simulator)
Operation Outward
Operation Outward was a British campaign of the Second World War that attacked Germany and German-occupied Europe with free-flying balloons. It made use of cheap, simple balloons filled with hydrogen and carrying either a trailing steel wire to damage high-voltage power lines by producing a short circuit, or incendiary devices to start fires in fields, forests and heathland. A total of 99,142 Outward balloons were launched; about half carried incendiaries and half carried trailing wires.
Compared to Japan's better-known fire balloons, Outward balloons were crude. They had to travel a much shorter distance so they flew at a lower altitude – 16,000 ft (4,900 m), compared with 38,000 ft (12,000 m) – and had only a simple mechanism to regulate altitude by means of dropping ballast or venting lifting gas. This meant the balloons were simple to mass-produce and only cost £1 15/- each (approximately equivalent to £85 in 2025). The free flying balloon attacks were highly successful. Although difficult to assess exactly, their economic impact on Germany was far in excess of the cost to the British government.
Because there was concern over what could happen if a barrage balloon accidentally got loose, in 1937 the British carried out a study on the damage that may be caused by a balloon-carried wire hitting power lines. These concerns were evidently borne out when early in 1940, the Air Vice Marshal Balloon Command, the organisation responsible for the barrage balloons, wrote that "Since the outbreak of the war, I have had constant complaints from the electricity distributors regarding the damage done in this country by [barrage] balloons that have broken away from their moorings". to which he added "...advantage might be taken of this to impede and inconvenience the enemy".
It was proposed that bomb-laden balloons could be launched from France. Their position would be tracked by radio triangulation and the bombs would be released by radio control when the balloon drifted over a worthwhile target. This plan was never put into action; objections included that "attacks of this nature should not be originated from a cricketing country" and a concern that the enemy might retaliate with similar weapons. The idea became redundant when defeat in the Battle of France put possible launch sites out of British control.
We may make a virtue of our misfortune.
On the night of 17/18 September 1940, a gale broke loose a number of British barrage balloons and carried them across the North Sea. In Sweden and Denmark, they damaged power lines, disrupted railways and knocked down the antenna for the Swedish International radio station. Five balloons were reported to have reached Finland. A report on the damage and confusion reached the British War Cabinet on 23 September 1940. Winston Churchill then directed that the use of free-flying balloons as weapons against Germany should be investigated. The Air Ministry initially produced a negative report, possibly because the Ministry of Aircraft Production felt balloons would be ineffective weapons and would consume too many resources.
TO SUM UP - If D.B.D. [Director of Boom Defences] is given a free hand, he is prepared to guarantee that he could produce an incendiary balloon attack organisation for operating from an East Coast area (say Harwich) which could be built up using women operatives, coal gas /and/or hydrogen and to produce the incendiaries, balloons and equipment etc. without recognisable interference to any other service activity, but from the experience obtained in attempting to operate F.B.B. in collaboration with the Air Ministry, it is clear that it should be a Naval and not a combined Naval and Air-Force undertaking.
The Admiralty took up the idea with more enthusiasm. In particular, Captain Gerald Banister, Director of Boom Defence and a proponent of using balloons as a weapon of offence, pressed the point. The meteorological considerations – including the possibility that the weather might favour the enemy retaliating in kind – were carefully investigated and found to be highly favourable; winds above 16,000 feet (4,900 m) tend to blow from west to east, making it difficult for the Germans to retaliate with similar balloons.
Recent media