Byrd's School of English Fish
The Blitz
Nelson arrived at the 12th Platoon, C Company in the Burough of Fulham. His job required him to oversee five barrage balloons under the direction of the Observer Corps Center, who plotted plane movement with the assistance of radar and numerous observer posts throughout south eastern England. Their mobile balloons, tethered to heavy multi-axle trucks, rushed to specific intersections near aircraft factories and airfields whenever Observer Corps Sector Control demanded. The stout cables holding the balloons in place also connected them to one another weaving a difficult to see mesh that threatened to slice apart planes flying at low altitude. Fly too high and become prey to flak batteries, fly too low and become three hundred mile an hour confetti.
Goering's attacks on Britain's airforce nearly cleared the sky of English pilots. Miraculously, when England's air armadda was beginning to buckle, Hitler forced Goering to shift attacks away from airfields and aircraft and onto civilian targets. Nelson took command of his unit on September 6, the day before the Luftwaffe began fifty-seven consecutive nights of raids on London.
The first night of the Blitz one of Nelson's balloons was downed by straffing fire from a Heinkel 111. He saw it collapsing as he stood on the roof of a warehouse. A spotight, swinging across the sky as it tracked another bomber on the far side of the city, caught the deflating tail fin long enough to let him see where it would fall. Nelson lept on a bicycle when the bombs stopped falling and peddled through alleys and sidewalks to help his crew retrieve the latex balloon before it was punctured by rooftop antenae, or the rain of shrapnel that fell after flak bursts over the city.
When the bombing stopped and the all clear was given they gathered the balloon and drove it to a public park. As the sun came up they stretched the deflated skin out and glued patches over the bullet holes, using gallon cans of rubber cement and wide brushes. Nelson wanted it mended and returned to service as quickly as possible.
While his crew stretched the balloon out across the grass to check for holes, he climbed to the second floor of an empty, bomb damaged apartment and looked down through a tremendous hole in the bricks facing the park. Flattened in front of him, under the glue soaked brushes of his crew, he saw somehting that made him happy for the first time in months. For several minutes he stood in the opening and traced a pattern on the balloon with his hand. Satisfied with his work and overtaken by excitement he clambered wrecklessly down the rubble in front of the apartment and ran to his crew.
He pulled the two youngest members, women who were just old enough to go to college, aside as the last patch was cemented in place.
"I want you to go to the nearest hardware supply store and buy as much yellow exterior paint as you can find. Buy an equal amount of purple. It may not seem like this has anything to do with your normal duties, but it does. Make sure you return as soon as you possible, the patches should be dry soon."
They returned within an hour pulling a wheelbarrow with four gallons of paint. The balloon was partially inflated and hovering a few feet off of the bed of the truck. The crew was happy with how quickly the balloon was repaired, so they went into a nearby house for a meal. All except Nelson. He monitored the gas pressure and watched with joy as the balloon puffed into shape. The cables wound around the wench bolted on the back of the truck twanged as they pulled tight in a gust of wind. Giggling, Nelson opened the paint cans and pulled a fishbowl full of pastels and colored chalk from inside the truck cab. Starting at the nose he traced lines eight feet apart perpindicular to the axis of the balloon, alternately labeling them "P" and "Y". He drew from memory and did his best to keep the proportions correct. When his crew finished eating Nelson was almost done. He shouted to them to go back inside until he called for them. From the doorway of the house a tree blocked their view.
"Please, just go back in for another fifteen minutes."
The sun was beginning to set. Calls from Sector Control Center for their unit would come any moment. He finished painting and shouted to the house. By the time they came out the sky was too dark for them to see what he had done with the paint. He radioed in and reported that the balloon was repaired and ready to be launched.
At eight O'clock Nelson got word from Sector Control to raise his balloon as quickly as possible. One of the radar stations along the coast lost power and came back on to render a fading glimpse of the trailing edge of a wave of planes bound for London. Air raid sirens blew in a deafening chorus all over the city. Shelter Wardens standing at the gates of subway tunnels urged those in the streets to hurry down and shouted for each head of household to report the number of absent family members.
Nelson's balloon reached altitude and turned toward the wind. Searchlights wove together then apart, crosshatching in an effort to illuminate bombers.
Continued.....