Military radio antenna kites
Radio antenna kites are used to carry a radio antenna aloft, higher than is practical with a mast. They are most often associated with portable radio systems, usually with pre-World War I field equipment, and were also occasionally used to increase radio range on Naval ships. The use of kite supported antennae was limited because of difficulty in maintaining consistent antenna height, unpredictability of the wind, and improvements in radio antenna, transmission, and reception. During World War II and after they were used in conjunction with survival radios issued to aircraft flying over-water missions. History Before their radio use, kites were used by the United States and other nations' armed forces for observation, aerial photography, and signaling. They were used non-militarily to hoist radio antennae at least since 1898 when Greenleaf Whittier Pickard used a small box kite, normally used for meteorological observations, to raise a wire half a mile up for wireless tests at the Blue Hill Meteorological Observatory in Milton, Massachusetts. On December 12, 1901 Guglielmo Marconi sent the first transatlantic radio signal from Poldhu, Cornwall, England, to St. Johns, Newfoundland. The antenna at St. John's was carried by a Baden-Powell Levitor kite, designed by Baden Baden-Powell as