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.
[2][4][5] 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.
[7] 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.
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.
[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.
In particular, Captain Gerald Banister, Director of Boom Defence and a proponent of using balloons as a weapon of offence, pressed the point.
[10] Of particular interest was the possibility of damaging Germany's electricity distribution network by shorting high-voltage overhead power lines with thin wires dragged by balloons.
In some cases, the arc's heat could melt the aluminium outer layers and then the reinforcing steel centre strands of the conductors.
Even if the cable was not severed, the conductors would be weakened so that they would be susceptible to breaking due to increased electrical demand or normal weather events such as wind, snow and ice.
[11][6] The Admiralty ran trials using surplus spherical latex meteorological balloons about 8 ft (2.4 m) in diameter when inflated.
Calculations based on the trials predicted that there would be between a 10% to 75% chance of a balloon's wire coming into contact with a high-voltage overhead line during a 30 mi (48 km) flight along the ground.
[b] They carried a simple timing and regulating mechanism that was based upon a design developed for Operation Albino – a plan to use somewhat larger latex balloons as anti-aircraft weapons.
The trailing wire consisted of about 700 ft (210 m) of 1⁄16 in (1.6 mm) diameter hemp cord with a breaking strength of 40 lb (18 kg).
[11] At the same time as the trailing wire was deployed, a stopper on the canister of mineral oil was released so that it would assist in maintaining altitude by slowly dripping out and lightening the load on the balloon.
The plan was that the wire tail would be dragged for about 30 mi (48 km) across the land and eventually encounter a high-voltage transmission line.
After a delay caused by a slow burning fuse, the metal container was tipped open and its contents allowed to fall out.
[2] After a lengthy bureaucratic struggle between the opponents in the Air Ministry and proponents in the Admiralty, the British Chiefs of Staff gave the go‑ahead in September 1941 and a launch site was set up, based at HMS Beehive, a Royal Navy shore establishment near Felixstowe in Suffolk.
[2] The operation also required the assistance of the RAF Balloon Command (that supplied and delivered the hydrogen) and the Naval Meteorological Services.
During inflation, it was necessary to keep the latex wet with a water spray – otherwise, friction between the balloon and the tent canvas might have caused the hydrogen to ignite.
The Felixstowe golf club site had a number of Lewis Guns for anti-aircraft defence, which the WRNS women were trained to operate, occasionally releasing balloons for the purpose of target practice.
[2] In addition to sending up fighters, the Germans used anti-aircraft fire against the balloons, sometimes shut down electric cables when an attack was anticipated, and modified the circuit breakers on high voltage networks.
[28]In addition, failures in the altitude adjustment mechanism caused such balloons to fall in Belgium in an area ranging from Tournai to Andenne.
[27] The trickle system simplified the hydrogen supply requirements of the launch sites and released transport vehicles and compressed gas cylinders needed for operations against German V-1 flying bombs and for the Normandy landings.
