Wizard of Id by Parker and Hart for February 25, 2024

At least he didn’t get hurt!

He must be a seer.

And it’s pure coincidence that this strip is published after the USAF finds another balloon floating over the West.

Balloons actually were used in warfare, even as late as WWII, when the Japanese tried to burn up the forests in BC by sending over incendiary bombs by balloon. A cousin of my Dad’s was in the Civil Defense and was on duty watching for balloons one day, when he thought he saw one and called it in. No matter how high the planes flew, they couldn’t find it to intercept- he was seeing the planet Venus!

Ballooning is the second largest use of hot air, after politics.

Sir Ace.

Even before fixed wing, there was the “advance” of using hydrogen instead of hot air. It made for a “hotter” time when ground crews hit it…..

Isn’t it great when you can pop someone else’s bubble?

Don’t you just hate it when somebody pops your bubble?

I wonder which technique he used to steer his balloon?

Let me get this, Eagle One, Fox One is Jet One firing Missile One, is it? Seen it in “Independence Day” too.

Wait…Rod was victorious?

Rod knows about the coming fixed wing aircraft? He must be a visionary knight. Amazing.

That is a large target…………little skill required!!!!!

Not only is it a great view, but you can deflate other people.

yeah, a moving target would be more challenging

Fixed wing flying is boring. You almost always know where you’ll land.

I like the authentic sound of FZZZZZZzzz.

Are the Huns getting more inventive?

We need Rodney to protect our airspace from Chinese balloons.

I thought of a good joke (although you may not agree ☺), if Rodney’s had been red…

“Curse you, Red Balloon!”

( ͡   ͚ ͚ʖ ͡  )

Curse you, Red Baron!

You missed that Chinese one to the left.

Wow. Rodney for the win. Didn’t see that coming.

EVENTUALLY, but the first dogfights in 1914 used pistols and bricks…

Looks like a case of friendly fire. That didn’t look like a Hun.

uh-rodney won a fight?

This reminds me of the Balloons and Blunderbusses duel in “Those Magnificent Men in Their Flying Machines”.

“…the advent of fixed-wing aircraft” …and the advent of aircraft-mounted automatic weapons. Because trying to hit your enemy with a hand-held pistol or a rifle is pretty boring too.

Do they double as parachutes,?

I didn’t even know they had hot air balloons in medieval times

First aerial duel. Two gentlemen in hot air balloons with blunderbusses. https://theinternetsaysitstrue.Com/2022/01/03/lepique-and-grandpre-the-hot-air-balloon-duel/

We recently scrambled a multi-million-dollar jet to identify what appeared to be a “hobbyist balloon” flying quietly over the U.S.