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
Siege of Mafeking whose orders were to command a highly mobile field force of cavalry, made the mistake of allowing his overaccumulation of stores at Mafeking to dictate his actions. Consequently, he chose to immobilize half his force to hold Mafeking against a Boer attack. Baden-Powell later claimed his forces were barely trained and he was aware of the Boers' greatly superior numbers, commando tactics and the failure of the earlier Jameson Raid and decided that the best way to tie down Boer troops would be through defence rather than attack. However, contrary to Baden-Powell's claims, his forces that remained outside the besieged