Tethered balloons authorized World War I observers to see as far as forty miles behind enemy lines to spot troop movements, chart ditch systems and direct artillery fire. The observation balloon most utilized by Americans was named for its designer, French engineer Lt.
Albert Caquot. The hydrogen-filled balloon could lift 2 passengers in its basket, with charting and communications appliances, and the weight of its mooring wire, to a height of roughly four thousand feet in good weather. Standard operations were between one thousand and four thousand feet. During WWI, Yank balloon observers directed artillery fire at targets like troop concentrations and supply dumps. They spotted more than one thousand enemy aeroplane sightings, one thousand instances of army traffic on railroads and roads and four hundred artillery batteries. Caquot balloons were made in great numbers in WWI; virtually one thousand were made in the US in 1918-1919. During World War Two, the British produced Caquots once more, but in limited numbers.
Made in 1944, the balloon displayed at the museum is thought to be the only survivor. The UK used it for parachute testing and noncombat aerial observation and photography till 1960. The UK Ministry of Defense, Royal Aircraft Corporation, presented the Caquot to the museum after it was found with the help of Yankee and British WWI balloon vets in 1975. Aided by the Goodyear Aerospace Company of Akron, Ohio, which had produced these balloons during WWI, museum staff mended and sealed the balloon fabric and prepared it for inflation. It was placed on show in May 1979.
