Oct. 5, 1938: “Monsters of the air,” the published caption read. The British Air Ministry gave The New York Times some of the first photographs of the Air Force balloon barrage at Cardington, England, the home of the No. 1 Balloon Training Unit. Several hundred balloons were delivered to the Royal Air Force to be used for air defense in and around London. See more vintage photos of dirigibles on The Times’s photography blog, Lens. Photo: The New York Times
