Mark Albertson will trace the history of air power as seen through the United States Army, from the establishment of the Union Army Balloon Corps in 1861 to the founding of the United States Air Force in 1947.

Mark is the historical research editor at Army Aviation magazine, and the historian for the Army Aviation Association of America. He has authored several books, including “On History: A Treatise,” and is finishing “Volume 1, Sky Soldiers: The Saga of Army Aviation.“ An avid speaker, he travels Connecticut presenting a variety of historical topics and current events. He teaches as an adjunct at Norwalk Community College for the Extended Studies Program and for the Lifetime Learners Institute. This will be his eleventh presentation to the DMA.

Arranged by Bryan Hooper

Bryan’s summary of the talk:

Mark Albertson, the historian for the Army Aviation Association, related the story of the development of the use of aircraft in the US military, starting with observation balloons in 1861, and moving up to the formation of the United States Air Force in 1947.

The French Montgolfier brothers built the first manned flying balloons and demonstrated them over Paris in 1783. The following year, after observing one of the balloons flying, the prescient Benjamin Franklin opined that it would be impossible to defend against an attack of steerable balloons. He suggested that an invading force of 5000 balloons, two men in each, would cost about as much as one ship of the line, and would pose a far greater threat. Subsequent development of the balloon for military use was undertaken by the Europeans, however, and they were used as observation posts by the French in 1794 in a battle against Austrian and Dutch forces.

The first major-scale use of balloons by the US military occurred during the Civil War when the United States Balloon Corps was formed and organized by Thaddeus Lowe, who used his own balloon, the “Enterprise,” to test fly and attempt communicating via telegraph. In June 1861, Lowe transmitted the first message from air to ground, and President Lincoln at the White House was one of the recipients. Later that year a coal barge based on the Potomac was modified to carry equipment to generate hydrogen gas from iron filings and sulfuric acid, and in turn to feed the gas to balloons used to observe Confederate troop movements: thus, we witness the creation of the aircraft carrier. Two years later, Graf von Zeppelin had his first flight experience in a Union balloon, and then went on to develop his own aircraft in Germany, but the US interest in further balloon development waned.

In 1907, the US Army formed the Aeronautical Division of the Signal Corps and concentrated on developing powered airplanes with the Wright Brothers for reconnaissance purposes in support of ground forces. Ben Foulois of Washington, Connecticut, was one of the pioneer pilots flying the Wright Brothers Type A. He saw action over Mexico in 1916 as an aerial spotter assisting in the search for Pancho Villa’s forces. Foulois served in Europe as Chief of Air Service, American Expeditionary Forces, during WWI, and eventually became Chief of the Air Corps. He retired in 1935 having seen attitudes toward the air service change from regarding it as an arm of the Signals Corps acting in a supporting role, to a recognition that this service should transition to become part of strategic offensive operations.

The US Army Air Corps became the US Army Air Force in 1941, and together with the RAF delivered 2.7 million tons of bombs during WWII – a far cry from the first 18 pound bomb load of hand grenades dropped on Libya by an Italian pilot from a balloon in 1911. Finally, the service became the US Air Force in 1947. Its history since then will have to await at least talk number twelve from Mark.

Video link to his presentation: https://youtu.be/mGJF3NAYUSk