In 1783, three Frenchmen launched the first manned hot air balloon into flight. America’s own Benjamin Franklin was one of the “experts” who certified this historic flight. The French Army under Napoleon were the first to use balloons in warfare but the experiment did not impress the Emperor and he disbanded the “Aerostatic Corps”. In 1861 the Union Army made extensive use of balloons for reconnaissance. They provided valuable information but the safety record was lacking and they were not used after 1862. Many nations used them extensively as time went on but the Germans were the most successful using them so effectively in World War One that US Pilots were given credit for a kill when they brought one down behind enemy lines.
The Invention of the Airplane
Of Course 1903 and the birth of the Airplane on the shores of Kitty Hawk in North Carolina ushered in the age of aviation and military use of Aircraft followed, although not as quickly as you might think. The Wright brothers were not at fault here. Instead a political roadblock had to b overcome because the US Congress had backed a competitor of Orville and Wilbur and it had produced a horrific failure. Air flight was seen as the “pork barrel” project of the day when the $50,000 grant literally went up in flames. It was not until President Theodore Roosevelt got behind the plan that the Army decided to prompt the US Signal Corps to look into using the airplane.
