# Question about D-day picture **URL:** \ **Category:** Factual Questions\ **Created:** [April 3, 2011, 3:24pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/question-about-d-day-picture/577041 "2011-04-03T15:24:11Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![scamartistry](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/919ad9/32.png) [@scamartistry](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/scamartistry)\ **Post date:** [April 3, 2011, 3:24pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/question-about-d-day-picture/577041/1 "2011-04-03T15:24:11Z")
In this famous [picture](http://623acw.com/dday/dday.html), you see lots of balloons or “mini-blimps” in the air. What are they and what are they used for? ---
**Author:** ![Simplicio](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/c37758/32.png) [@Simplicio](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Simplicio)\ **Post date:** [April 3, 2011, 3:27pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/question-about-d-day-picture/577041/2 "2011-04-03T15:27:37Z")
They’re barrage ballons. The idea is that enemy aircraft won’t be able to bomb the area under the balloons without hitting the cables and crashing. Or at least, they’ll be forced to fly higher then the balloons to do so. ---
**Author:** ![silenus](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/silenus/32/166_2.png) [@silenus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/silenus)\ **Post date:** [April 3, 2011, 3:42pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/question-about-d-day-picture/577041/3 "2011-04-03T15:42:43Z")
[Wiki](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Barrage_balloon) even uses that photo in the article. ---
**Author:** ![scamartistry](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/919ad9/32.png) [@scamartistry](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/scamartistry)\ **Post date:** [April 3, 2011, 4:10pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/question-about-d-day-picture/577041/4 "2011-04-03T16:10:24Z")
interesting, I had no idea. Does the army still use them? ---
**Author:** ![silenus](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/silenus/32/166_2.png) [@silenus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/silenus)\ **Post date:** [April 3, 2011, 4:16pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/question-about-d-day-picture/577041/5 "2011-04-03T16:16:07Z")
No. Stand-off weaponry makes them useless. ---
**Author:** ![Hermitian](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/hermitian/32/470_2.png) [@Hermitian](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Hermitian)\ **Post date:** [April 3, 2011, 5:24pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/question-about-d-day-picture/577041/6 "2011-04-03T17:24:52Z")
> [@Simplicio](#): > > They’re barrage ballons. The idea is that enemy aircraft won’t be able to bomb the area under the balloons without hitting the cables and crashing. Or at least, they’ll be forced to fly higher then the balloons to do so. Maybe those pictures are deceiving, but it doesn’t look like the balloons are very high at all. It looks like you could easily fly about about 1000-2000 feet and be above all of them. Am I wrong? This doesn’t seem to add up. ---
**Author:** ![silenus](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/silenus/32/166_2.png) [@silenus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/silenus)\ **Post date:** [April 3, 2011, 6:18pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/question-about-d-day-picture/577041/7 "2011-04-03T18:18:42Z")
The balloons make strafing runs very difficult. If you make the attacking planes fly higher, they are in the sights of the AA guns for longer. The biggest threat was from low, fast fighter sweeps. ---
**Author:** ![engineer\_comp\_geek](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/engineer_comp_geek/32/504_2.png) [@engineer\_comp\_geek](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/engineer_comp_geek)\ **Post date:** [April 3, 2011, 6:21pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/question-about-d-day-picture/577041/8 "2011-04-03T18:21:08Z")
> [@Hermitian](#): > > Maybe those pictures are deceiving, but it doesn’t look like the balloons are very high at all. It looks like you could easily fly about about 1000-2000 feet and be above all of them. Anti-aircraft guns don’t move fast enough to track a very low fighter or dive bomber. All you need to do with the balloons is force those planes up far enough that the anti-aircraft guns can effectively track and shoot them. ---
**Author:** ![Granville75067](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/2acd7d/32.png) [@Granville75067](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Granville75067)\ **Post date:** [April 3, 2011, 6:37pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/question-about-d-day-picture/577041/9 "2011-04-03T18:37:18Z")
First, ask yourself, where is the photo being taken from? A Hilltop? Or a plane? If a hilltop, fair enough, but from a plane, it would be flying in the same danger as the enemy’s planes by running into those blimps or their tethers. Also, isn’t that a picture of an infantry, don’t they carry a lot of 50 cal. guns for easy shooting low flying planes? Aren’t the bullets about five inches long? I’m just wondering… ---
**Author:** ![WotNot](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/e19b73/32.png) [@WotNot](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/WotNot)\ **Post date:** [April 3, 2011, 6:39pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/question-about-d-day-picture/577041/10 "2011-04-03T18:39:39Z")
> [@Hermitian](#): > > Maybe those pictures are deceiving, but it doesn’t look like the balloons are very high at all. It looks like you could easily fly about about 1000-2000 feet and be above all of them. > > Am I wrong? This doesn’t seem to add up. The two closest are barely off the ground, which suggests that they’re just starting to be deployed. There’s no way of knowing whether the others are at their final operational altitude yet. ---
**Author:** ![Mk\_VII](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/5f9b8f/32.png) [@Mk\_VII](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mk_VII)\ **Post date:** [April 3, 2011, 7:14pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/question-about-d-day-picture/577041/11 "2011-04-03T19:14:12Z")
They are probably closed-hauled for a reason - friendly a/c in the area, strong winds … ---
**Author:** ![sidecar\_jon](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/a5b964/32.png) [@sidecar\_jon](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/sidecar_jon)\ **Post date:** [April 4, 2011, 8:57pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/question-about-d-day-picture/577041/12 "2011-04-04T20:57:12Z")
They are probably there more for comfort of the ground troops that use, by D-day the air over the beaches was under allied command. To such an extent that allied planes were more at risk from “friendly fire” than anything else, if one looks at D-day pictures of plains they all carry “D-Day stripes” Very bold black and white stripes at the wing roots and often round the tail. ---
**Author:** ![thelabdude](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/dc4da7/32.png) [@thelabdude](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/thelabdude)\ **Post date:** [April 4, 2011, 10:43pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/question-about-d-day-picture/577041/13 "2011-04-04T22:43:11Z")
Perhaps I over estimate the ease of shooting down a blimp, but wouldn’t one strafing run just over them allow you to circle around and come back with them flat on the ground? I had been thinking about them in the sub vs blimp thread. ---
**Author:** ![GreasyJack](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/df705f/32.png) [@GreasyJack](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/GreasyJack)\ **Post date:** [April 5, 2011, 2:45am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/question-about-d-day-picture/577041/14 "2011-04-05T02:45:12Z")
> [@thelabdude](#): > > Perhaps I over estimate the ease of shooting down a blimp, but wouldn’t one strafing run just over them allow you to circle around and come back with them flat on the ground? I had been thinking about them in the sub vs blimp thread. At this point the Allies had near total air superiority and so the Germans had to resort to hit-and-run tactics using small numbers of aircraft. If they made one run to burst the balloons, they’d be going back into a hornet’s nest on the next run and plus they likely couldn’t hang around to wait for the balloons to deflate. They were also (other than the famous daylight strafing sortie on D-day) limited to operating at night when the balloons would have been essentially invisible. ---
**Author:** ![SandyHook](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/dec6dc/32.png) [@SandyHook](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/SandyHook)\ **Post date:** [April 5, 2011, 5:22am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/question-about-d-day-picture/577041/15 "2011-04-05T05:22:13Z")
> [@silenus](#): > > The balloons make strafing runs very difficult. If you make the attacking planes fly higher, they are in the sights of the AA guns for longer. The biggest threat was from low, fast fighter sweeps. Exactly. Bombing runs that low with the planes of the time wasn’t that practicle (not to say it was never, ever done.) A bomb of any size, say 250 pounds and up, would be likely to hit the planes as well as what ever was on the ground. In Vietnam the bombs dropped in close air support had these four arms that would come out in the back and slow the bombs enough to allow the jets to get out of harms way. I don’t remember ever seeing these in any WWII clips. Not to say they didn’t have them, just don’t remember ever having seen them. ---
**Author:** ![Deereman](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/a3d4f5/32.png) [@Deereman](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Deereman)\ **Post date:** [April 5, 2011, 7:26am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/question-about-d-day-picture/577041/16 "2011-04-05T07:26:57Z")
> [@SandyHook](#): > > Exactly. > > Bombing runs that low with the planes of the time wasn’t that practicle (not to say it was never, ever done.) A bomb of any size, say 250 pounds and up, would be likely to hit the planes as well as what ever was on the ground. > > In Vietnam the bombs dropped in close air support had these four arms that would come out in the back and slow the bombs enough to allow the jets to get out of harms way. I don’t remember ever seeing these in any WWII clips. Not to say they didn’t have them, just don’t remember ever having seen them. You’re thinking of “Snakeeye” bombs. I’ve only seen them in the Vietnam era… But during WW2, Kenny’s airforce (the Pacific, 5th airforce among others) did use parachute retarded bombs for treetop level strafing and bombing of Japanese airfields and other targets. Most of these were smaller, fragmentation or incendiary types ---
**Author:** ![Tim\_T-Bonham.net](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/46a35a/32.png) [@Tim\_T-Bonham.net](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Tim_T-Bonham.net)\ **Post date:** [April 5, 2011, 7:50am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/question-about-d-day-picture/577041/17 "2011-04-05T07:50:47Z")
> [@thelabdude](#): > > Perhaps I over estimate the ease of shooting down a blimp, but wouldn’t one strafing run just over them allow you to circle around and come back with them flat on the ground? I had been thinking about them in the sub vs blimp thread. Think of the size of those blimps, compared to a bullet hole. How long would it take for enough gas to leak out to cause the blimp to be ‘flat on the ground’? ---
**Author:** ![kombatminipig](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/b5ac83/32.png) [@kombatminipig](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/kombatminipig)\ **Post date:** [April 5, 2011, 7:51am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/question-about-d-day-picture/577041/18 "2011-04-05T07:51:27Z")
> [@Granville75067](#): > > First, ask yourself, where is the photo being taken from? A Hilltop? Or a plane? If a hilltop, fair enough, but from a plane, it would be flying in the same danger as the enemy’s planes by running into those blimps or their tethers. Also, isn’t that a picture of an infantry, don’t they carry a lot of 50 cal. guns for easy shooting low flying planes? Aren’t the bullets about five inches long? I’m just wondering… The photo is taken from the top of a slope, which is typical of the terrain in Normandy. Most of the beaches are below steep terraces. The picture is indeed of infantry, but Browning M2s are far to heavy to carry by foot. Some would be mounted on the trucks and ships, which would have heavier pieces such as Oerlikon 20mm and Bofors 40mm. Infantry themselves rarely carry heavy enough weapons to down a plane. In any case, downing a moving plane from the ground is quite difficult. You need to lead your sights, which means mentally calculating where the plane will be by the time your bullets get there. Not a simple task. ---
**Author:** ![mlees](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/ba8739/32.png) [@mlees](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/mlees)\ **Post date:** [April 5, 2011, 2:57pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/question-about-d-day-picture/577041/19 "2011-04-05T14:57:38Z")
They were not entirely a waste of time. This website says that they were effective in getting the Germans to modify their attacks: [Barrage Balloons // World War Two](http://www.worldwar-two.net/armamento/90/) > [@](#): > > The Dover incident deserves elaboration because it provided, in the words of Air Marshal Gossage, a clear indication of their [the Germans’] respect for the British balloon barrage. In an attempt to clear the balloons from Dover, the Germans launched a major effort in late August 1940. They destroyed 40 balloons but lost six aircraft in the process. Much to the Germans’ chagrin, 34 new balloons appeared the very next day. Air Marshal Gossage commented on the action: The protective balloons still fly over Dover. The attack on the barrage has proved too costly. … In general, major attacks on balloon barrages have ceased, the enemy having realized that the game is not worth the candle. The fact, however, that he hoped to destroy our balloons is in itself proof of the utility of the barrage. During the height of the Blitz, 102 aircraft struck cables, resulting in 66 crashed or forced landings. While the total effort (men and material) expended on the barrage balloons as a whole throughout the war was significant, it adds another layer (type) of defense, making a target area more complex to engage. In other words, the balloons by themselves would not have been much of a defense, but add in fighters and AA guns, and the defense system as a whole works better together than seperately. ---
**Author:** ![Sailboat](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/sailboat/32/461_2.png) [@Sailboat](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sailboat)\ **Post date:** [April 5, 2011, 4:14pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/question-about-d-day-picture/577041/20 "2011-04-05T16:14:03Z")
> [@mlees](#): > > In other words, the balloons by themselves would not have been much of a defense, but add in fighters and AA guns, and the defense system as a whole works better together than seperately. Not entirely unlike concertina wire. Undefended wire can be walked through with some care; but backed by trenches and troops manning machine guns, it’s murder.