The balloon was reportedly piloted by campaign director John Sauven

The base is home to 14 B-52 bombers, eight of which took off on Friday morning.

The balloon, with the words "No War" written on the side, dropped around 500 leaflets on the base.

A Greenpeace spokesperson said the action was not about disrupting the workings of the base.

No police action

"The intention was to drop leaflets about the risk to the Iraqi civilians and the hypocrisy of the US for selling weapons in the first place," she said.

"We ensured that there were not any flights going on at the time.

"We contacted the base, the police and the Civil Aviation Authority to ensure that there was no risk to the Army, personnel and those on the balloon."

She said the balloon flew at 200 feet on Friday morning, and was piloted by campaign director John Sauven.

A spokesman for Gloucestershire Police said no action was being taken by them.