#antiaircraft

A British 4.5in anti-aircraft battery goes in to action at night - England 1940. The Predictor and the Rangefinder are in the foreground

U.S. Marines with 2nd Low Altitude Air Defense conduct a FIM-92 Stinger Missile live-fire range during exercise Formidable Shield 25 in Andoya, Norway, May 7, 2025. Formidable Shield 25 is a U.S. Navy live-fire and integrated air and missile defense exercise using NATO command and control reporting structures with NATO Ally and partner participation.

An 88mm antiaircraft gun fires during a night raid by Royal Air Force bombers

Photo: Anthony Camerano for the AP

Life   June 4, 1956

As other soldiers run for the cover of slit trenches, an Indian Lewis gun team engage an enemy aircraft, Mesopotamia 1918. During the long and arduous campaign along the Tigris and Euphrates rivers, from Basra to Baghdad and beyond, over 29,000 Indian soldiers perished in what was their most significant contribution to the war effort.  

The 320th Barrage Balloon Battalion, were the only entirely African American combat unit to participate in the D-Day landings. Their vital mission was to raise a curtain of hydrogen filled barrage balloons high over Omaha & Utah Beaches during the first wave of the assault. Floating barrage balloons over a specific area prevented enemy aircraft from flying close enough to target soldiers & landing craft from directly overhead with bombs or strafing fire. If an enemy aircraft was determined to attack, the balloons forced them to fly at higher altitudes over the balloons making them more susceptible to larger caliber anti-aircraft gunfire off shore. The balloons themselves could also destroy enemy aircraft, especially at night, the steel cables that anchored the balloons to the ground were very difficult to see and posed a risk to any aircraft that flew into them. An aircraft caught in a cable could be slowed down enough to stall or have a wing sheared off. A cable strike also triggered a small bomb attached just under the balloon that packed a potentially lethal punch for an ensnared aircraft. In addition to the men of the 320th, another 1,200 African American soldiers in other U.S. military units landed on the beaches on the 6th of June 1944 #ddaylandings #dday #1944 #WW2 #barrageballoon #history #320th #antiaircraft https://www.instagram.com/p/CBGLOFLDGIz/?igshid=k3ez6qys8nrc

Anti-Aircraft Barrage Net hangs suspended from balloons to defend London during World War I