North Queensferry Barrage Balloons – 15

Memorial to the men and women of RAF Balloon Command

 
The memorial website

The Memorial is in the RAF Association Memorial Garden, near the Armed Forces memorial in the
National Memorial Arboretum
Croxall Road
Alrewas
Lichfield
Staffordshire
DE13 7AR
England

Description

Polished blue-black granite rectangular stone with a sloping front face. A panel is fixed to the front face enclosing a drawing depicting the launch of a balloon. The stone has commemorations engraved in gold lettering on each side and below the panel. The stone is placed in the Royal Air Forces Association Remembrance Garden.

Inscription

[Front face]:
In memory of the men and women who served
with the balloon barrage squadrons
of RAF balloon command defending this country
and vital areas abroad during the Second World War.
Erected in 2015 by the balloon barrage reunion club B.B.R.C.

[3 o’clock face]:
R.A.F. Balloon Command was established in 1938
to provide additional air defence
of important targets and cities in Great Britain.
During the second world war, by 1940,
there were over 1,400 barrage balloons in service.
By December 1942, some 10,000 men had been
released for other duties and replaced by over
15,000 W.A.A.F. balloon operators.
In 1945, when the R.A.F. balloon command was disbanded,
there were over 3,000 balloons in service
with over 33,000 men and women serving.

[9 o’clock face]:
The purpose of the balloon barrage
was to prevent accurate bombing by
forcing enemy aircraft to fly at higher altitude.
This was achieved by steel cables held up by the balloons
flown up to 5,000 ft height. Aircraft which flew into the cables
could be seriously damaged or brought down.
The barrage balloons, filled with hydrogen gas,
were flown either from fixed or mobile winches
each operated by 10 men or 14 women, with two NCOs.