History of military ballooning Medway, Kent. It moved to Stanhope Lines, Aldershot in 1890 when a balloon section and depot were formed as permanent units of the Royal Engineers establishment. Balloons were first deployed by the British Army during the expeditions to Bechuanaland and Suakin in 1885. They were also deployed during the Second Boer War (1899–1902), where they were used in artillery observation with the Kimberley column and during the Siege of Ladysmith. On October 5, 1907, Colonel John Capper (late Royal Engineers) and team flew the military airship "Nulli Secundus" from Farnborough around St. Paul's Cathedral in London and back with a
Relief of Ladysmith after which the Boer resistance crumbled. On 28 February the Boer commanders ordered their troops to withdraw to the Biggarsberg, some 45 km to the north of Ladysmith. There was little organisation in the withdrawal, but the British forces were instructed not to go in pursuit. The British forces led by Lord Dundonald with Churchill by his side entered Ladysmith on the afternoon of 1 March 1900. The Boers meanwhile established a line of defence along the Biggarsberg, but, apart from the odd patrol, there was little movement by either side for two months – Buller was regrouping his forces