Balloon busters.

[CharlesNungesser]

Dear friends,

Could you become an ace in killing balloons?
How was it done? Which was the best tactic?

[Graeme]

Yes, you could and a number of pilots did become balloon aces.

See Balloon Busters

The method varied but basically required a hole being punched in the balloon's envelope and the escaping gas ignited. The RFC used flat-nosed bullets to make the hole and tracer rounds to ignite the hydrogen.

Some pilots adopted a hedge-hopping tactic, hoping to avoid all the ground fire. However, this meant zooming up towards the balloon and losing speed just at the time the ground gunners were getting their aim.

Others preferred a high-level approach with a steep dive.

Like so many other things, it was a case of paying your money and taking your choice.

Graeme

Friedrich von Röth of Germany became interested in balloon busting because of his poor eyesight.

* He was the leading German balloon buster with 20 balloons of his 28 victories. All his balloon kills were scored in multiples during his rapid attacks into the Allied balloon lines. *His best day was May 29, 1918 when he nailed five Allied balloons in one mission.
*No other pilot on either side did this.

He received his Pour le Merite on 9 Sept. 1918.
He was shattered by Germany's loss and commited suicide new years eve, 1918-1919.
He was posthumously awared the Military Order of Max-Josef - belated recognition for his first triple balloon kill on Jan 25 1918.
The award also carried a knighthood. He only became Friedrich Ritter von Röth after his death.


* * *MacBain

[Graeme]

German balloon busters included:

Friedrich von Röth 20
Heinrich Gontermann 14
Karl Schlegel 14
Oskar Hennrich 13
Fritz Friedrichs 11
Fritz Höhn 10
Max Nather 10
Erik Thomas 9
Erich Löwenhardt 8
Friedrich Noltenius 8
Fritz Pütter 8
Josef Jacobs 8
Max Kuhn 8
Hans Nülle 7
Julius Buckler 7
Oskar von Boenigk 7
Otto Schmidt 7
Siegfried Büttner 7
Georg Meyer 6
Hans Klein 6
Hans von Freden 6
Hans Weiss 5
Heinrich Bongartz 5
Heinrich Haase 5
Martin Dehmisch 5

Graeme

Ltn. Heinrich Gontermann actually destroyed 18 balloons, 17 were officially confirmed.

Ltn. Hans von Freden - scored over 9 balloons

Ltn. Wilhelm Frickart - scored over 5 balloons

MacBain

[stephen]

Several odd tactics were tried as well...

George Vaughn (13v, 17th Aero, Camels) once told me that he led a flight to a German balloon. His wingmen were loaded up with bombs and the plan was that they would drop the bombs on the German AA defenses simultaneously, thus protecting George on his actual run at the balloon.

He said just as he got to firing range, his guns jammed so the whole thing flopped. *;D

Actually it sounded like a good idea, but I don't think he ever tried it again.

A very similar tactic, I think it was from the Germans, was to have the wingmen attack the ground positions with everything they had, which obviously enough would have the AA people too occupied to pay attention to the single flier (the flight leader)having a go at the balloon. The objective was not so much to destroy the "triple-A" but to keep it busy firing at something else. The idea seemed logical because, they thought, the aircraft attacking the ground would have much more freedom of movement, which would make them harder to get, whereas the plane attacking the balloon had to compromise between mobility and accuracy hitting the balloon.
This tactic had also the advantage that it allowed the plane going for the balloon several goes at it.
The problem was to risk two or more planes just to get one balloon, but still it mustn´t have been so bad an idea when nowadays A-10s use almost the same tactic, to have one of them firing at the armoured column to have them get their heads down, while the other plane in the flight makes a fly-by releasing hell upon them from above, and then change places so that the other plane can also release its full payload of bombs.
And now for less grim thoughts, Merry Christmas to you all.

[CharlesNungesser]

Dear friends,

Was rockets everused? Have seen pictures with WWI fighters with rockets, so that makes you wonder, or were they used for something else?

[Immo_Frese]

Yes, rockets were used by allied (mainly french) pilots to flame balloons. The rockets were named after Lieutenant Yves Le Prieur.
The germans never used rockets, they only used incendiary bullets.

For more see: http://www.firstworldwar.com/atoz/leprieur.htm

Immo

[retread]

In James Norman Hall's book "High Adventure" he goes to a fair length describing a missle attack on balloons while he was flying for the French. The book can be read online although I don't have the web address immediately available.
Merry Xmas.
Weldboy