A barrage balloon was a large balloon tethered with metal cables used to defend vital installations and cities against low-flying aircraft. The balloons were mobile and typically densely concentrated over and on the approaches to a particular target. If an aircraft struck a cable, an explosive charge would be triggered which deployed two small parachutes at either end of the cable. The additional drag and weight of the cable would then bring the aircraft down, or at the very least, damage the aeroplane.
A section of barrage balloon. This was discovered when renovating an old cottage near RAF Ludham in Norfolk. The fabric had been used as a waterproof membrane under the tiles of a large outhouse. The previous owner had been a civilian worker at the airfield which for part of WW2 was an RAF Fighter Command forward airfield.
Fordson Barrage Balloon Tender. Preserved by the RAF Museum.By the middle of 1940, there were 1,400 barrage balloons in the UK with a third of these concentrated in the London area. The balloons were under control of Balloon Command which was a part of the RAF.
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