The Union Army Balloon Corps holds a significant place in the annals of Civil War and military history. From 1861 to 1863 the corps contributed invaluable surveillance and reconnaissance information to the Union Army's war effort during the Virginia campaign. It also accomplished such significant military feats as the initial air-to-ground communication by telegraph, the first use of the "aircraft carrier" for launch of the balloon, and the first artillery barrage directed by an aerial observer where gun batteries were unable to see their targets from the ground. This book traces the history of the intrepid airborne force, from its creation by pioneer balloonist Thaddeus Lowe to its unceremonious disbanding in 1863.

Jim Butcher, the #1 New York Times bestselling author of the Dresden Files and the Codex Alera novels, conjures up a new series set in a fantastic world of noble families, steam-powered technology, and magic-wielding warriors... Since time immemorial, the Spires have sheltered humanity. Within their halls, the ruling aristocratic houses develop scientific marvels, foster trade alliances, and maintain fleets of airships to keep the peace. Captain Grimm commands the merchant ship Predator. Loyal to Spire Albion, he has taken their side in the cold war with Spire Aurora, disrupting the enemy’s shipping lines by attacking their cargo vessels. But when the Predator is damaged in combat, Grimm joins a team of Albion agents on a vital mission in exchange for fully restoring his ship. And as Grimm undertakes this task, he learns that the conflict between the Spires is merely a premonition of things to come. Humanity’s ancient enemy, silent for more than ten thousand years, has begun to stir once more. And death will follow in its wake...

Discusses a corps of balloonists led by Thaddeus Lowe during the Civil War who spied on the Confederate Army.

This is the annotated edition including the rare biographical essay by Edwin E. Slosson called "H. G. Wells - A Major Prophet Of His Time". At the epochal time of the perfection of the practical air-ship, Bert Smallways, a little cockney with the vague, narrow brain and scanty knowledge of his kind, in trying to land the balloon of Butteridge, inventor of the only perfect flying-machine, is carried away in it and into Germany. The balloon is shot down by the Germans at the great works where their air war-ships are being built, and Bert falls with it, wearing Butteridge's outside coats and carrying the secret plans, which he found in them. He is at first mistaken for Butteridge, and is hurried into the flag-ship Prince Karl Albert,—a man compared to Nietzsche's Overman—which, with Bert aboard, starts at once, leading the world's first fleet of air war-ships to the United States, the country to be first attacked in Karl Albert's scheme of world conquest. Bert finds the Germans have been negotiating with Butteridge for the purchase of his plans, and decides to copy them and conceal the originals. On its way to the States, the air-fleet diverges to pursue the American war-ships steaming to the Panama Canal and fighting German ironclads. It destroys them; and turns toward New York …

Herbert George Wells (1866–1946) was an English writer. He was proli?c in many genres, writing dozens of novels, short stories, and works of social commentary, but he is now best remembered for his science ?ction novels. “The War in the Air” a military science ? ction novel, which is notable for its prophetic ideas, images, and concepts such as the use of the aircraft for the purpose of warfare and the coming of World War I.