Wednesday, Aug 20, 2014 at 17:24
Those "airships" were Barrage Balloons, also known as "Blimps". Apart from the steel cable to tether the balloon they had other free-hanging cables and were used as a defence from enemy aerial attack. The cables acted as an obstacle to the plane's flight by damaging the wings.
They were used in large numbers over London during WWll and elsewhere. They were filled with hydrogen.
We actually had some 'military surplus' from Britain and used them at
Woomera in the 1950's as targets for missiles. At all times whilst they were inflated and aloft, we had an armed aircraft on standby in case a balloon broke loose and became a
hazard to air traffic.
Wikipedia has more information
here.
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