The United States used regional Victoria as a base for a spy balloon program which kept tabs on atomic weapons developments in other countries. It wasn't exactly top secret.
abc.net.au/news/hibal-australia-cold-war-history-us-secret-balloon-victoria/102057980For those with a keen mind for history, the recent Chinese spy balloon controversy may have reawakened some distant memories of Australia's Cold War-era balloon program.More than 60 years ago, Australia and the United States launched the Hibal project as a way of keeping tabs on weapons developments in other countries.
"The Americans had trace elements in their bombs and they could determine from the type of residue whether they were a hydrogen bomb or an atom bomb so I suspect that was part of the 'secret' part of it."They carried a 300 kilogram payload of atmospheric testing instruments to altitudes of more than 30 kilometres — well above the level at which commercial airliners fly.
"There was a lot of power and batteries on board so it could start fires if the batteries shifted around in the payload." Steven Thorn remembers the thrill of the chase as recovery teams raced to collect the payloads and placate any farmers whose crops may have been damaged by a falling 300 kilogram contraption."In those days it was different, I mean you could stop at a pub on the way back."The balloon launches didn't always go according to plan, as former air traffic controller Cass Alexander recalls quite vividly.
"I was aware of the legal situation I found myself in under the air navigation regulations at the time. You had to prevent collisions between aircraft, it was a legal mandamus [court order]," he said.
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