Identifier: airshipspastpres00hild (find matches)
Title: Airships past and present, together with chapters on the use of balloons in connection with meteorology, photography and the carrier pigeon
Year: 1908 (1900s)
Authors: Hildebrandt, A. (Alfred), b. 1870 Story, W. H. tr
Subjects: Aeronautics
Publisher: New York, D. Van Nostrand company
Contributing Library: The Library of Congress
Digitizing Sponsor: The Library of Congress

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or them on the Tempelhofer Feld. In 1890 a military school for ballooning was started by theBavarian army in Munich, and consisted of three officers andthirty men. They were attached to the Railway Regiment, andsubject to the control of the engineers and the authorities of thefortresses. The division was afterwards made into a company.The non-commissioned officers and men have the letter L on their shoulder-straps, and wear the uniform of the RailwayRegiment, whereas the officers retain the uniforms of the regi-ments to which they were previously attached. A number ofofficers from other regiments also receive instruction, both of atheoretical and practical kind. The balloonists have a many-sided activity in Prussia andBavaria, and are always present at the manoeuvres. Theyalso take part in summer in various artillery exercises. AtHeligoland and Kiel experiments have been carried out withballoons on the men-of-war. At the manoeuvres a signalling ORGANISATION OF MILITARY BALLOONING. 161
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balloon is placed directly under the control of the command-ing officer, and has the duty of conveying in all directionsthe orders that have been issued. The signals are conveyedby inflated spherical or cylindrical air-bags, which are kept A. 162 AIKSHIPS PAST AND PEESENT. in position in windy weather by means of a load of ballast.The Kaiser took much interest in the arrangements of the•signalling balloon, and was present at the first successful trials. The Balloon Corps has rendered help in the matter of scientificinvestigations, particularly in the meteorological department.It has assisted in the exploration of the upper layers of theatmosphere by means of the Humboldt and the Phoenix,a work which also received much encouragement from theKaiser. Captain von Tschudi, one of the officers of the corps,superintended the preparation and inflation of the balloonPrussia, which was filled with hydrogen, and had a capacityof nearly 300,000 cubic feet. It subsequently rose to a heightof 34,

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