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To increase the throughput of trainees, large modified HZA hydrogen-filled barrage balloons of 42,000 cubic feet capacity
were introduced to Tatton Park. Three were eventually used, the first being named `Bessie', who twice `escaped'
in strong winds once reaching Coventry before recapture. A cage was slung beneath the balloon, with a `Whitley hole'
in its floor. The balloon was tethered by cable to a winch vehicle, which steadily allowed the `blimp'
to rise to 800 feet. An RAF instructor would accompany four or five trainees in the cage and one balloon could drop
three times the number of trainees in an hour that a Whitley could, and the absence of a slipstream tended to
reduce the snagging of para lines, which was a major cause of injuries and fatalities. However, many trainees disliked the
eerie silence as the Balloon rose and as they jumped, preferring the deafening noise of the Whitley's engines.
By 1944, modified larger cages with a side exit had been fitted to prepare trainees for jumps from the Dakota.
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