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Out -secret air operation under the code name "Outward" began on March 20, 1942. On that day, a special detachment of the royal Navy of the United Kingdom launched the first two hundred balloons towards the mainland that was occupied by Germany. 200-300 balloons were launched daily from the golf club. In July 1942, the second starting ground and then the third in the bill was opened near the Duvra.
By the end of 1942, the number of balloons reached almost 2,000 per day, which was launched for three to four hours. Latex balloons had a diameter of about 2. 4 m and a capacity of 8. 4 kg, equipped with a simple mechanism of synchronization and height control. Several payload designs have been created, which called "wire", "beer", "jelly", "socks", "lemon" and "jam". "Wire" is a common 1. 6 mm thick wire that was hanging from a low flying ball and closing the transmission lines.
"Beer", "Jelly" and "Socks" were inflammatory ammunition. "Beer" was a tin container, which laid 7-8 granate bottles, made with white phosphorus and a special chemical igniter. "Jelly" was a jar filled with an incendiary mixture - a pad in the form of a log. Each bank contained 4. 5 liters of a mixture and was equipped with an inertial lighter that worked during a collision with the ground or other obstacle.
The "sock" was really similar to a canvas sock filled with inflammatory material weighing about 2. 7 kg. Each balloon could carry three "socks". Lemon was a small fugas, and Jam was a propaganda load from leaflets scattered over the German territory. From March 20, 1942 to September 4, 1944, the British launched 99 142 balloons to Germany. Of these, 54 thousand were equipped with a "wire", 26 thousand - "beer", 7 thousand - "jelly", 10 thousand - "socks", 1. 5 thousand - "lemon" and "jam".
From March 1942 to the end of January 1943, 520 serious accidents were recorded on German high -voltage lines. In occupied France, 4,946 cases of power supply were registered. The greatest success was achieved on July 12, 1942, when the balloon, armed with a "wire", affected the high -voltage line near Leipzig, which led to a destructive fire at a power plant in Belen. The losses caused by the balloons of the German economy amounted to almost 100 million Reichsmarks, or € 10 million at the time.
The PZKPFFW V tank cost at the time about 117,000 Reichsmarks, and the BF. 109 fighter - almost 210 thousand. For the British, the launch of one balloon cost one and a half pounds. Yes, the entire balloon bombing program cost less than 100,000 pounds. That is, each pound in the operation "Outward", brought up to 100 pounds caused by the enemy, entering the bench into the benchmarks of the most economically effective military projects of the time.