rom its mooring station. Smaller bags are fitted
at the lower and rear end of the balloon with openings that face into
the wind; these are thus kept inflated, and they serve the purpose of a
rudder, keeping the kite balloon steady in the air.

Various types of kite balloon have been introduced; the original German
Parseval-Siegsfield had a single air bag at the stern end, which was
modified to two, three, or more lobes in later varieties, while an
American experimental design attempted to do away with the attached
lobes altogether by stringing out a series of small air bags, kite
fashion, in rear of the main envelope. At the beginning of the War,
Germany alone had kite balloons, for the authorities of the Allied
armies con-sidered that the bulk of such a vessel rendered it too
conspicuous a mark to permit of its being serviceable. The Belgian
arm alone possessed two which, on being put into service, were found
extremely useful. The French followed by constructing kite balloons at
Chalais Meudon, and then, after some months of hostilities and with the
example of the Royal Naval Air Service to encourage them, the British
military authorities finally took up the construction and use of kite
balloons for artillery-spotting and general observation purposes.
Although many were brought down by gun-fire, their uses far outweighed
their disadvantages, and toward the end of the War, hardly a mile of
front was without its 'Sausage.'

For naval work, kite balloons were carried in a specially constructed
hold in the forepart of certain vessels; when required for use, the
covering of the hold was removed, the kite balloon inflated and released
to the required height by means of winches as in the case of the
land work. The perfecting of the 'Coastal' and N.S. types of airship,
together with the extension of wireless telephony between airship and
cruiser or other warship, in all probability will render the use of the
kite balloon unnecessary in connection with naval scouting. But, during
the War, neither wireless telephony nor naval airships had developed
sufficiently to render the Navy independent of any means that might come
to hand, and the fitting of kite balloons in this fashion filled a need
of the times.

A necessary accessory of the kite balloon is the parachute, which has
a long history. Da Vinci and Veranzio appear to have been the first
exponents, the first in the theory and the latter in the practice of
parachuting. Mont