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The Union Army operated balloons during the Civil War. A balloon was used by the US Army in Cuba. These were ad hoc and not part of an established branch of the Army. The use of observation balloons by many nations would continue until early World War II. Balloons must either be tethered, or go where they are blown by the wind. The answer, pursued by nations like France, Germany and Britain, was a powered airship, a streamlined shape, with an engine(s) and controls to allow it to be directed where ever the pilot wished. The use of balloons for reconaisance by military units was recognized early on. Early in the 20th Century it was understood by infantry officers the world over that the ability to see troop deployments was tantamount to understanding the enemy's order of battle. Just prior to the 1st Aero Company's training, the first commercial balloon flight took place in Hammondsport, in northern New York State.
In 1908, just months after the First Aero Company trained with the Stevens balloon, the Army experimented with its first powered aircraft, the SC-1, or Signal Corps number 1. It was a small semi-ridged airship with a top speed under 20 mph and an endurance of just over 2 hours. Following tests at Fort Myer, the SC-1 was sent to Fort Omaha, Nebraska, where the Signal Corps School was located. While the SC-1 was being tested at Fort Myer, the Signal Corps had built an airship hanger and a plant to produce hydrogen gas at Fort Omaha. Fort Omaha became, for a while, the first permanent military airfield in the United States. The SC-1 was scrapped in 1912, and the base at Fort Omaha closed in 1913.
The US Army operated observation balloons during WW I, but did not operate another airship until after the war ended.
Following the end of World War I, the U.S. Army acquired a variety of blimps from US, French and British sources. Plans were made for operating airships from both Fort Bliss, in Texas and Langley Field, Virginia. The first blimp operated by the Army was the A-4, which was operated primarily from Langley until transferred to the new Balloon and Airship School at Fort Scott, Illinois. |
