Balloon Apron

As vexed by bombers as a horse by flies, London during the World War finally tried a preventive worthy of Jules Verne--a "balloon apron" of gas bags tethered on the outskirts of the city by 10,000-ft. cables. From them dangled a curtain of cables in which enemy planes were supposed to tangle like flies in a spider's web. Only one German plane hit the barrage, smashed through, escaped. Yet fear of the apron did force the attackers higher, thus impairing their marksmanship. This year, therefore, in its frenzy of rearmament, Great Britain is again preparing a balloon apron to be used for its psychological effect. How impressive this apron will be was last week indicated more dramatically than by any speech in Parliament. During tests at Cardington, a 50,000-cu. ft. balloon broke away, and before snagging in a tree in Sudbury, drifted 60 miles trailing no less than 40,000 ft. of wire. The Air Ministry was much relieved to find that no damage had been done by this 72-mile-long steel whip, less pleased perhaps by the premature revelation of its plans for an apron at an altitude above that at which any bomber in the world can now function.

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