Aircraft first appeared in warfare during ancient times. Historians generally give the Chinese credit for first using the air for military purposes, and there are records of Han dynasty military strategists using hot air balloons (“Kongming lanterns”) for reconnaissance as early as the second century AD. In the late 18th century, French generals began using balloons to scout enemy lines on the battlefields of Europe, and during the American Civil War balloons were used by both the Blue and the Gray.
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