One hundred and twenty years before the Wright Brothers made their first historic flight in December 2003, man had taken to the skies in manned balloons. Fragile, and controlled directionally only by the wind, these early lighter-than-air craft soon became an accepted type of aircraft. Almost immediately balloons were developed by the military for aerial reconnaissance. John Christopher has done a splendid task in recording this phase of ballooning.
Details of balloons flown in early conflicts are very comprehensive, especially the siege of Paris during the Franco-Prussian War. The American Civil War gets full attention, as do the various African wars involving the British Army. World War I is covered extensively as indeed is the Second World War. Readers may feel that there is nothing new that can be written about military ballooning. Wrong. Read this book. The many different uses to which wartime balloons have been put, amazed even this reviewer (who incidentally has been researching lighter-than-air history for 50 years).

Moving on to modern times, the author has investigated the many uses to which major countries have put unmanned balloons during the Cold War, and up into the twenty-first century – including Roger Monk’s ‘STRATSAT’ experiments by Britain’s Advanced Technology Group – although strictly speaking, this is an airship.

A fascinating read with considerable WWI detail. Might I suggest that John Christopher follows this book up with a similar one, detailing the civil uses that balloons have been used for since 1783!