Early Aviation at Farnborough: Balloons, Kites and Airships

The beginnings of British military aviation. Before the aeroplane, the British Army and Royal Navy experimented with balloons, kites and then airships. Farnborough was where the balloons and later aerial devices were designed, built and tested. This began the tradition of the Hampshire town being the centre of British aerial development.

This is an interesting read with some great photographs and diagrams. I enjoyed some of the anecdotes about British Army balloons being used for reconnaissance in the Boer War. The Boers expended so much ammunition in a vain attempt to shoot down the balloons it probably had more adverse affect on their war effort than the spotting from the balloons.

A lovely book on the very earliest British military aviation, and often superbly odd.