Talk:Barrage balloon

Untitled
The article sorely underemphasizes the main point of barrage baloons, which is to provide deterrence against low-flying, high-precision, surprise attacks. Also, by confining the airspace, in which enemy aircraft can safely operate, the other defenses are made more effective. For more details, see

http://www.airpower.maxwell.af.mil/airchronicles/apj/apj89/hillson.html

Question
Why didn't attacking planes just shoot up the balloons before they got to them? It seems so obvious, there must be a good reason why this wouldn't work. The article should explain the reason. —Preceding unsigned comment added by 4.231.248.58 (talk) 02:49, 11 May 2010 (UTC)

Removal of nuclear test image
I've removed this image because the "barrage balloon" isn't actually a barrage balloon, but a US Navy ZSG-3 airship. See: http://www.nv.doe.gov/library/photos/photodetails.aspx?ID=459 and http://stinet.dtic.mil/oai/oai?&verb=getRecord&metadataPrefix=html&identifier=AD0360874. Anyway, while it's a very striking image it's not exactly a typical or an informative one, even if it had been a barrage balloon. Something more iconic from the Blitz might be better. Airminded 08:20, 6 May 2007 (UTC)

Barrage balloons in the USA and Canada?
I'm rather intrigued and dubious about the quoted use of barrage balloons at Saulte Sainte Marie in 1942. Sault Sainte Marie is almost 1000km inland and would surely have been beyond the range of the Axis dive bombers that barrage balloons were intended to counter. As far as I'm aware North America suffered no air attacks in the Second World War apart from some Japanese balloons, let alone from short-range dive bombers. Why go to the trouble of putting up barrage balloons at a site far beyond enemy divebomber range? —Preceding unsigned comment added by 79.72.134.216 (talk) 23:52, 7 February 2008 (UTC)

Barrage balloon base station
It has been suggested that this may be a 'base station' for a mobile barrage balloon or a balloon used to train parachutists in Scotland. Can anyone help with identifying its use? Rosser Gruffydd 08:25, 22 January 2010 (UTC)

The facts but...
This article does not follow the standard style for a WikiP Page. It should begin with the basic history of the balloon- where it was first made/invented, who invented it etc. Then it should List the key areas where it was used. Then it should talk about whether it is still used at all and if not, why not and where it was last used. We want to know what happened to the balloons after use, what they were made of, and where, if any, barrage balloons can still be seen- eg museums. More photos of them in use would be good.

IceDragon64 (talk) 00:47, 24 June 2013 (UTC)

I was also looking for data about the sizes of these balloons: length, cubic capacity of the lifting gas. martinev (talk) 19:13, 4 January 2015 (UTC)

BARRAGE BALLONS IN THE PACIFIC WAR ERA?
Amazing that there is no mention of these deterrents for Japanese aircraft carried to our very shores of the pacific coast line(via highly advanced Japanese Submarines). Major invasions also were not mentioned although I have seen actual pictures of barrage ballons along the shoreline of some pacific island beach head swarmed by LCT's and other ships. I am a HUGE Wikipedia fan as a historian of this unique time of American history and its involvement of that historic period with American and it's allies.

BARRAGE BALLONS IN THE PACIFIC WAR ERA?
Amazing that there is no mention of these deterrents for Japanese aircraft carried to our very shores of the pacific coast line(via highly advanced Japanese Submarines). Major invasions also were not mentioned although I have seen actual pictures of barrage ballons along the shoreline of some pacific island beach head swarmed by LCT's and other ships. I am a HUGE Wikipedia fan as a historian of this unique time of American history and its involvement of that historic period with American and it's allies. — Preceding unsigned comment added by 50.9.113.11 (talk) 12:50, 9 June 2014 (UTC)

External links modified
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External links modified (January 2018)
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I have just modified one external link on Barrage balloon. Please take a moment to review my edit. If you have any questions, or need the bot to ignore the links, or the page altogether, please visit this simple FaQ for additional information. I made the following changes:
 * Added archive https://web.archive.org/web/20070812023821/http://www.airpower.maxwell.af.mil/airchronicles/apj/apj89/sum89/hillson.html to http://www.airpower.maxwell.af.mil/airchronicles/apj/apj89/sum89/hillson.html

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What were barrage balloons filled with, and how was the gas generated? (May 2020)
There's no description in the article on barrage balloons on what gas the balloons were filled with - I guess hydrogen. Also no description of how the gas was generated and the balloons were filled.