The Lee Hall Balloon School

The Lee Hall Balloon School. . Balloons have been used by the military since the French Revolutionary War in the late 1700s. In the area of Fort Eustis, balloon observations were used during the American Civil War 1862 Peninsula Campaign, with balloons being sent aloft from the nearby Warwick County Courthouse. A balloon observers school at Lee Hall, Virginia, was established in 1918 to train soldiers in balloon operations. Tethered balloons allowed World War I observers to see as far as 40 miles behind enemy lines to spot troop movements, chart trench systems, and direct artillery fire., Construction of the balloon observers school was authorized on May 15, 1918 and on July 1, 1918, the U.S. Army Balloon School at Lee Hall opened. It offered practical field training to balloon observers at artillery firing centers. The school also combined both land and water observation training., A balloon consisted of the envelope, the rigging, and the car. Each balloon required a crew of forty-eight men. They were divided into eight squads of five men and a leader. Squads one through six detailed the balloon envelope, squad seven the car, and squad eight the rigging. The men in the balloon could communicate to the ground by signal flags or telephone., The hydrogen-filled balloon could lift two passengers in its basket, along with charting and communications equipment, plus the weight of its mooring cable, to a height of about 4,000 feet in good weather. Normal operations were between 1,000 and 4,000 feet.