A
fire balloon,
balloon bomb (
Japaneseis a language spoken by over 130 million people in Japan and in Japanese emigrant communities. It is a member of the Japonic language family. There are a number of proposed relationships with other languages, but none have gained general acceptance...
風船爆弾
fūsen bakudan, lit. "balloon bomb"), or
Fu-Go was an experimental weapon launched by
Japanis an island country in East Asia. Located in the Pacific Ocean, it lies to the east of the Sea of Japan, People's Republic of China, North Korea, South Korea and Russia, stretching from the Sea of Okhotsk in the north to the East China Sea and Taiwan in the south...
during
World War IIWorld War II, or the Second World War , was a global military conflict which involved a majority of the world's nations, including all great powers, organized into two opposing military alliances: the Allies and the Axis...
. A
hydrogenHydrogen is the chemical element with atomic number 1. It is represented by the symbol H. At standard temperature and pressure, hydrogen is a colorless, odorless, nonmetallic, tasteless, highly flammable diatomic gas with the molecular formula H
2...
balloonA balloon is an inflatable flexible bag filled with a type of gas, such as helium, hydrogen, nitrous oxide or air. Modern balloons can be made from materials such as rubber, latex, polychloroprene, or a nylon fabric, while some early balloons were sometimes made of dried animal bladders...
with a load varying from a 12
kgThe kilogram is the base unit of mass in the International System of Units .[The spelling kilogram is the modern spelling used by the International Bureau of Weights and Measures , the U.S...]
(26
lbThe pound or pound-mass is a unit of mass used in the imperial, United States customary and other systems of measurement...
) incendiary to one 15 kg (33 lb) antipersonnel
bombA bomb is any of a range of explosive devices that typically rely on the exothermic chemical reaction of an explosive material to produce an extremely sudden and violent release of energy. The word comes from the Greek word βόμβος , an onomatopoetic term with approximately the same meaning as...
and four 5 kg (11 lb)
incendiary deviceIncendiary weapons, Incendiary devices or incendiary bombs are bombs designed to start fires or destroy sensitive equipment using materials such as napalm, thermite, chlorine trifluoride, or white phosphorus.According to the...
s attached, they were designed as a cheap weapon intended to make use of the
jet streamJet streams are fast flowing, narrow air currents found in the atmosphere of planets at the tropopause, the transition between the troposphere and the stratosphere . The major jet streams on earth are westerly winds...
over the
Pacific OceanThe Pacific Ocean is the largest of the Earth's oceanic divisions. Its name is derived from the Latin name Tepre Pacificum, "peaceful sea", bestowed upon it by the Portuguese explorer Ferdinand Magellan. It extends from the Arctic in the north to Antarctica in the south, bounded by Asia and...
and wreak havoc on
CanadianCanada is a country occupying most of northern North America, extending from the Atlantic Ocean in the east to the Pacific Ocean in the west and northward into the Arctic Ocean...
and
AmericanThe United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...
citiesA city is a relatively large and permanent settlement, particularly a large urban settlement. Although there is no agreement on technical definitions distinguishing a city from a town within general English language meanings, many cities have a particular administrative, legal, or historical status...
,
forestA forest is an area with a high density of trees. There are many definitions of a forest, based on the various criteria. These plant communities presently cover approximately 9.4% of the Earth's surface in many different regions and function as habitats for organisms, hydrologic flow modulators,...
s, and farmland.
The balloons were relatively ineffective as weapons and were used in one of the few
attacks on North America during World War IIAttacks on North America during World War II by the Axis Powers were rare, mainly due to the continent's geographical separation from the central theaters of conflict in Europe and Asia...
.
Between November 1944 and April 1945, Japan launched over nine thousand fire balloons. About 300 balloon bombs were found or observed in North America, causing six deaths and a small amount of damage.
Overview
From late 1944 until early 1945, the Japanese launched over 9,000 of these fire balloons, of which 300 were found or observed in the U.S. Some guesswork gives the total number that made the trip at about 1,000. Despite the high hopes of their designers, the balloons were relatively ineffective as weapons, causing only six deaths and a small amount of damage, and they survive in memory mostly as an ingenious and dangerous curiosity.
Japanese bomb-carrying balloons were 10 meters (33 ft) in diameter and, when fully inflated, held about 540 cubic metres (19,000 ft³) of
hydrogenHydrogen is the chemical element with atomic number 1. It is represented by the symbol H. At standard temperature and pressure, hydrogen is a colorless, odorless, nonmetallic, tasteless, highly flammable diatomic gas with the molecular formula H
2...
. Their launch sites were located on the east coast of the main Japanese island of
Honshūor Honshu is the largest island of Japan. The nation's main island, it is south of Hokkaidō across the Tsugaru Strait, north of Shikoku across the Inland Sea, and northeast of Kyūshū across the Kanmon Strait...
.
Japan released the first of these bomb-bearing balloons on November 3, 1944. They were found in
AlaskaAlaska is the largest state of the United States of America by area; it is situated in the northwest extremity of the North American continent, with Canada to the east, the Arctic Ocean to the north, and the Pacific Ocean to the west and south, with Russia further west across the Bering Strait...
,
WashingtonWashington is a state in the Pacific Northwest region of the United States. Washington was carved out of the western part of Washington Territory which had been ceded by Britain in 1846 by the Oregon Treaty as settlement of the Oregon Boundary Dispute. It was admitted to the Union as the...
,
OregonOregon is a state in the Pacific Northwest region of the United States. It is located on the Pacific coast, with Washington to the north, California to the south, Nevada on the southeast and Idaho to the east. The Columbia and Snake rivers delineate much of Oregon's northern and eastern...
,
CaliforniaCalifornia is the most populous state in the United States, and the third largest by area. California is the second most populous sub-national entity in the Americas, behind only São Paulo, Brazil...
,
ArizonaThe State of Arizona is a state located in the southwestern region of the United States. The capital and largest city is Phoenix. The second largest city is Tucson, followed in size by the four Phoenix metropolitan area cities of Mesa, Glendale, Chandler, and Scottsdale.Arizona was the 48th and...
,
IdahoIdaho is a state in the Pacific Northwest region of the United States of America. The state's largest city and capital is Boise. Residents are called "Idahoans." Idaho was admitted to the Union on 3 July 1890 as the 43rd state....
,
MontanaMontana is a state in the Western United States. The western third of the state contains numerous mountain ranges; other 'island' ranges are found in the central third of the state, for a total of 77 named ranges of the Rocky Mountains. This geographical fact is reflected in the state's name,...
,
UtahUtah is a western state of the United States. It was the 45th state admitted to the Union, on January 4, 1896. Approximately 80 percent of Utah's 2,736,424 people live along the Wasatch Front, centering around Salt Lake City. In contrast, vast expanses of the state are nearly uninhabited, making...
,
WyomingWyoming is a state in the Western United States. The majority of the state is dominated by the mountain ranges and rangelands of the Rocky Mountain West, while the easternmost section of the state includes part of a high elevation prairie region known as the High Plains. While the tenth largest...
,
ColoradoColorado is a U.S. state located in the Rocky Mountain region of the United States of America. It may also be considered to be part of the Western and Southwestern regions of the United States. Colorado entered statehood in 1876 and was nicknamed the “Centennial State”...
,
TexasTexas is the second-largest U.S. state in both area and population, and the largest state in the contiguous United States.The name had wide usage among native Americans, meaning "friends" or "allies"...
,
KansasKansas is a state located in the Midwestern United States. It is named after the Kansas River which flows through it, which in turn was named after the Kansa tribe, who inhabited the area. The tribe's name is often said to mean "people of the wind" or "people of the south wind," although this was...
,
NebraskaNebraska is a state located on the Great Plains of the Midwestern United States. The state's capital is Lincoln and its largest city is Omaha....
,
South DakotaSouth Dakota is a state located in the Midwestern region of the United States of America. It is named after the Lakota and Dakota Sioux American Indian tribes. South Dakota was carved out of the southern half of the Dakota Territory and admitted to the Union on November 2, 1889...
,
North DakotaNorth Dakota is a state located in the Midwestern region of the United States of America; on the Canadian border halfway between the Pacific and Atlantic oceans. North Dakota is the 19th largest state by area in the U.S.; it is the 3
rd least populous, with just over 641,481 residents as...
,
MichiganMichigan is a Midwestern state of the United States of America. It was named after Lake Michigan, whose name is a French adaptation of the Ojibwe term mishigama, meaning "large water" or "large lake"....
and
IowaIowa is a state located in the Midwestern region of the United States of America, an area often referred to as the "American Heartland." It derives its name from the Ioway people, one of the many American Indian tribes that occupied the state at the time of European exploration. Iowa was a part of...
, as well as
MexicoThe United Mexican States , commonly known as Mexico , is a federal constitutional republic in North America. It is bordered on the north by the United States; on the south and west by the Pacific Ocean; on the southeast by Guatemala, Belize, and the Caribbean Sea; and on the east by the Gulf of...
and
CanadaCanada is a country occupying most of northern North America, extending from the Atlantic Ocean in the east to the Pacific Ocean in the west and northward into the Arctic Ocean...
.
The balloon bombs were not very efficient, with a kill rate of 0.067%.
General Kusaba's men launched over 9,000 balloons throughout the course of the project. The Japanese expected 10% (around 900) of them to reach America, which is also what is currently believed by researchers. About 300 balloon bombs were found or observed in America. It remains likely that more balloon bombs lie unexploded in the forests, deserts, lakes and mountains of North America.
The last one was launched in April 1945.
Origins
The balloon campaign was the fourth attack the Japanese had made on the American mainland. The
fūsen bakudan campaign was, however, the most earnest of the attacks. The concept was the brainchild of the Japanese Ninth Army Technical Research Laboratory, under Major General Sueyoshi Kusaba, with work performed by Technical Major Teiji Takada and his colleagues. The balloons were intended to make use of a strong current of winter air that the Japanese had discovered flowing at high altitude and speed over their country, which later became known as the
jet streamJet streams are fast flowing, narrow air currents found in the atmosphere of planets at the tropopause, the transition between the troposphere and the stratosphere . The major jet streams on earth are westerly winds...
.
The jet stream blew at altitudes above 9.15 km (30,000 ft) and could carry a large balloon across the Pacific in three days, over a distance of more than 8,000 km (5,000 mi). Such balloons could carry incendiary and high-explosive bombs to the United States and drop them there to kill people, destroy buildings, and start forest fires.
The preparations were lengthy because the technological problems were acute. A hydrogen balloon expands when warmed by the sunlight, and rises; then it contracts when cooled at night, and falls. The engineers devised a control system driven by an
altimeterAn altimeter is an instrument used to measure the altitude of an object above a fixed level. The measurement of altitude is called altimetry, which is related to the term bathymetry, the measurement of depth underwater.-Pressure altimeter:...
to discard ballast. When the balloon descended below 9 km (29,500 ft), it electrically fired a charge to cut loose sandbags. The sandbags were carried on a cast-aluminium four-spoked wheel and discarded two at a time to keep the wheel balanced.
Similarly, when the balloon rose above about 11.6 km (38,000 ft), the altimeter activated a valve to vent hydrogen. The hydrogen was also vented if the balloon's pressure reached a critical level.
The control system ran the balloon through three days of flight. At that time, it was likely over the United States, and its ballast was expended. The final flash of gunpowder released the bombs, also carried on the wheel, and lit a 19.5 meter (64 ft) long fuse that hung from the balloon's equator. After 84 minutes, the fuse fired a flash bomb that destroyed the balloon.
The balloon had to carry about 454 kg (1,000 lb) of gear. At first, the balloons were made of conventional rubberized
silkSilk is a natural protein fiber, some forms of which can be woven into textiles. The best-known type of silk is obtained from cocoons made by the larvae of the mulberry silkworm Bombyx mori reared in captivity...
, but there was a better way to make an envelope that leaked even less. An order went out for ten thousand balloons made of "
washiis a type of paper made in Japan. Washi is commonly made using fibers from the bark of the gampi tree, the mitsumata shrub , or the paper mulberry, but also can be made using bamboo, hemp, rice, and wheat...
", a paper derived from
mulberryMorus or Mulberry is a genus of 10–16 species of deciduous trees native to warm temperate and subtropical regions of Asia, Africa, Europe, and the Americas, with the majority of the species native to Asia....
bushes that was impermeable and very tough. It was only available in squares about the size of a road map, so it was glued together in three or four laminations using edible
konnyakuKonjac , also known as konjak, konjaku, devil's tongue, voodoo lily, snake palm, or elephant yam , is a plant of the genus Amorphophallus...
(devil's tongue) paste. Hungry workers stole the paste and ate it. Many workers were teen-aged girls, whose fingers were nimbler than any other class of people. They were told to wear gloves, to keep their fingernails short, and not to use hairpins. They assembled the paper in many parts of Japan. They had no idea of the purpose of their work. Large indoor spaces, such as sumo halls, sound stages, and theatres, were required for the envelope assembly.
Similar, but cruder, balloons were also
used by BritainOperation Outward was the name given to the British World War II program to attack Germany by means of free-flying balloons.Outward made use of cheap, simple gas balloons filled with hydrogen...
to attack Germany between 1942 and 1944.
Offensive
Initial tests took place in September 1944 and proved satisfactory. However, before preparations were complete, B-29s began their raids on the Japanese home islands. The attacks were somewhat ineffectual at first but still fueled the desire for revenge sparked by the
Doolittle RaidThe Doolittle Raid, 18 April 1942, was the first air raid by the United States to strike a Japanese home island during World War II. It demonstrated that Japan itself was vulnerable to Allied air attack and provided an expedient means for U.S. retaliation for Japan's attack on Pearl Harbor on 7...
.
The first balloon was released in early November 1944. Major Takada watched as the balloon flew upward and over the sea: "The figure of the balloon was visible only for several minutes following its release until it faded away as a spot in the blue sky like a daytime star."
The Japanese chose to launch the campaign in the beginning of fall, when the
jet streamJet streams are fast flowing, narrow air currents found in the atmosphere of planets at the tropopause, the transition between the troposphere and the stratosphere . The major jet streams on earth are westerly winds...
is strongest. This limited the chance of the incendiary bombs causing forest fires, as by that time of year, the forests were generally too damp to catch fire easily or covered in snow.
The balloons continued to arrive in Oregon, Kansas, Iowa,
British ColumbiaBritish Columbia is the westernmost of Canada's provinces and is famed for its natural beauty, as reflected in its Latin motto, Splendor sine occasu . In 1871, it became the sixth province of Canada.The capital of British Columbia is Victoria, the 15th largest metropolitan region in Canada...
,
ManitobaManitoba is a prairie province in Canada and has an area of . Manitoba is bordered by the provinces of Ontario to the east and Saskatchewan to the west, the territory of Nunavut to the north, and the U.S. states of North Dakota and Minnesota to the south...
,
AlbertaAlberta is one of Canada's prairie provinces. It became a province on September 1, 1905.Alberta is located in western Canada, bounded by the provinces of British Columbia to the west and Saskatchewan to the east, the Northwest Territories to the north, and the U.S. state of Montana to the south....
,
Northwest TerritoriesThe Northwest Territories is a federal territory of Canada....
, Washington, Idaho, South Dakota, Nevada, Colorado, Texas, Northern Mexico, Michigan, and even the outskirts of
DetroitDetroit is the largest city in the U.S. state of Michigan and the seat of Wayne County. Detroit is a major port city on the Detroit River, in the Midwest region of the United States. Located north of Windsor, Ontario, Detroit is the only major U.S. city that looks south to Canada. It was founded...
. Fighters scrambled to intercept the balloons, but they had little success; the balloons flew very high and surprisingly fast, and fighters destroyed fewer than 20.
Among the US units which fought the fire balloon was the 555th Parachute Infantry Battalion.
By early 1945, Americans were becoming aware that something strange was going on. Balloons had been sighted and explosions heard, from California to Alaska. Something that appeared to witnesses to be like a
parachuteA parachute is a device used to slow the motion of an object through an atmosphere by creating drag. Parachutes are made out of cloth, most commonly nylon....
descended over
Thermopolis, WyomingThermopolis is the largest town in and the county seat of Hot Springs County, Wyoming, United States. As of the 2000 census, the town population was 3,172....
. A fragmentation bomb exploded, and shrapnel was found around the crater. A
P-38 LightningThe Lockheed P-38 Lightning was a World War II American fighter aircraft built by Lockheed. Developed to a United States Army Air Corps requirement, the P-38 had distinctive twin booms and a single, central nacelle containing the cockpit and armament...
shot a balloon down near
Santa Rosa, CaliforniaSanta Rosa is the county seat of Sonoma County, California, United States. As of January 1, 2008, the population of Santa Rosa was approximately 161,496 residents...
; another was seen over
Santa MonicaSanta Monica is a city in western Los Angeles County, California, USA. Situated on Santa Monica Bay, it is surrounded on three sides by the city of Los Angeles — Pacific Palisades on the northwest, Brentwood on the north, West Los Angeles on the northeast, Mar Vista on the east, and Venice on the...
; and bits of washi paper were found in the streets of
Los AngelesLos Angeles is the largest city in the state of California and the second largest in the United States. Often abbreviated as L.A. and nicknamed The City of Angels, Los Angeles has an estimated population of 3.8 million and spans over in Southern California...
.
On March 10, 1945, one of the last paper balloons descended in the vicinity of the
Manhattan ProjectThe Manhattan Project was the codename for a project conducted during World War II to develop the first atomic bomb. The project was led by the United States, and included scientists from Denmark, The United Kingdom and Canada...
's production facility at the
Hanford SiteThe Hanford Site is a mostly decommissioned nuclear production complex on the Columbia River in the U.S. state of Washington, operated by the United States federal government. The site has been known by many names, including Hanford Works, Hanford Engineer Works, Hanford Nuclear Reservation or HNR,...
. This balloon caused a short circuit in the powerlines supplying electricity for the
nuclear reactorA nuclear reactor is a device in which nuclear chain reactions are initiated, controlled, and sustained at a steady rate.The most significant use of nuclear reactors is as an energy source for the generation of electrical power and for the power in some ships...
cooling pumps, but backup safety devices restored power almost immediately.
Two landed back in Japan but caused no damage.
Two paper balloons were recovered in a single day in
Modoc National ForestModoc National Forest is a national forest in northeastern California, covering parts of Modoc , Lassen , and Siskiyou counties. Most of the forest was covered by an immense lava flow millions of years ago. The eastern part of the forest east of Alturas contains a spur of the Cascade Range to...
, east of
Mount ShastaMount Shasta is located in Siskiyou County and at is second highest peak in the Cascades and the fifth highest in California. Mount Shasta has an estimated volume of which makes it the most voluminous stratovolcano in the Cascade Volcanic Arc.The mountain and its surrounding area are managed by...
. Near
Medford, OregonMedford is a city in Jackson County, Oregon, United States. As of 2008, the city had a total population of 76,850 and a metropolitan area population of 202,310...
, a balloon bomb exploded in towering flames. The Navy found balloons in the ocean. Balloon envelopes and apparatus were found in Montana, Arizona,
SaskatchewanSaskatchewan is a prairie province in Canada, which has an area of and a population of 1,023,810 , mostly living in the southern half of the province. Of these, 233,923 live in the province's largest city, Saskatoon, while 194,971 live in the provincial capital, Regina...
, in the
Northwest TerritoriesThe Northwest Territories is a federal territory of Canada....
, and in the Yukon Territory. Eventually, an Army fighter managed to push one of the balloons around in the air and force it to ground intact, where it was examined and filmed.
Japanese propaganda broadcasts announced great fires and an American public in panic, declaring casualties as high as 10,000.
Allied investigation
Despite their low success, the authorities were worried about the balloons anyway. There was the chance that they might get lucky. Much worse, the Americans had some knowledge that the Japanese had been working on biological weapons, most specifically at the infamous
Unit 731was a covert biological and chemical warfare research and development unit of the Imperial Japanese Army that undertook lethal human experimentation during the Second Sino-Japanese War and World War II...
site at Pingfan in
ManchuriaManchuria is a historical name given to a vast geographic region in northeast Asia. Depending on the definition of its extent, Manchuria either falls entirely within China, or is divided between China and Russia...
, and a balloon carrying biowarfare agents could be a real threat.
Nobody believed the balloons could have come directly from Japan. It was thought that the balloons must be coming from North American beaches, launched by landing parties from
submarineA submarine is a watercraft capable of independent operation below the surface of the water. It differs from a submersible, which has only limited underwater capability...
s. Wilder theories speculated that they could have been launched from German
prisoner of warA prisoner of war or enemy prisoner of war is a combatant who is held in continuing custody by an enemy power during or immediately after an armed conflict...
camps in the U.S., or even from
Japanese-American internment centersJapanese American internment refers to the forcible relocation and internment in 1942 of approximately 120,000 Japanese Americans and Japanese residing in the United States to housing facilities called "War Relocation Camps," in the wake of Imperial Japan's attack on Pearl Harbor. The internment of...
.
Some of the sandbags dropped by the
fusen bakudan were taken to the
Military Geology UnitThe Military Geology Unit was a unit in the United States military during World War II. It was established in June 1942, six months after Pearl Harbor...
of the US Geological Survey for investigation. Working with Colonel Sidman Poole of U.S. Army Intelligence, the researchers of the Military Geological Unit began
microscopicA microscope is an instrument to see objects too tiny for the naked eye. The science of investigating small objects using such an instrument is called microscopy. Microscopic means invisible to the eye unless aided by a microscope.-History:An early microscope was made in 1590 in Middelburg, The...
and chemical examination of the sand from the sandbags to determine types and distribution of
diatomDiatoms are a major group of eukaryotic algae, and are one of the most common types of phytoplankton. Most diatoms are unicellular, although they can exist as colonies in the shape of filaments or ribbons Diatoms (Greek: (dia) = "through" + (temnein) = "to cut", i.e., "cut in half") are a major...
s and other microscopic sea creatures, and its
mineralA mineral is a naturally occurring solid formed through geological processes that has a characteristic chemical composition, a highly ordered atomic structure, and specific physical properties. A rock, by comparison, is an aggregate of minerals and/or mineraloids, and need not have a specific...
composition. The sand could not be coming from American beaches, nor from the mid-Pacific. It had to be coming from Japan. The
geologistFor other uses, see Geologist .A geologist is a scientist who studies the solid and liquid matter that constitutes the Earth and terrestrial planets...
s ultimately determined the precise beaches in Japan the sand had been taken from. By this time, it was mostly irrelevant, since by early spring the balloon offensive was almost over.
Press coverup
The bombs caused little damage, but their potential for destruction and fires was large. The bombs also had a potential psychological effect on the American people. The U.S. strategy was to keep the Japanese from knowing of the balloon bombs' effectiveness.
In 1945
NewsweekNewsweek is an American weekly newsmagazine published in New York City. It is distributed throughout the United States and internationally. It is the second largest news weekly magazine in the U.S., having trailed Time in circulation and advertising revenue for most of its existence...
ran an article titled "Balloon Mystery" in their January 1 issue, and a similar story appeared in a newspaper the next day.
The
Office of CensorshipThe Office of Censorship was an emergency wartime agency set up on December 19, 1941 to aid in the censorship of all communications coming into and going out of the United States.-Overview:...
then sent a message to
newspaperA newspaper is a publication containing news, information, and advertising. General-interest newspapers often feature articles on political events, crime, business, art/entertainment, society and sports. Most traditional papers also feature an editorial page containing columns that express the...
s and
radio stationRadio broadcasting is an audio broadcasting service, broadcast through the air as radio waves from a transmitter to an antenna and a thus to a receiving device. Stations can be linked in radio networks to broadcast common programming, either in syndication or simulcast or both...
s to ask them to make no mention of balloons and balloon-bomb incidents, lest the enemy get the idea that the balloons might be effective weapons. Cooperating with the desires of the government, the press did not publish any balloon bomb incidents. Perhaps as a result, the Japanese only learned of one bomb's reaching
WyomingWyoming is a state in the Western United States. The majority of the state is dominated by the mountain ranges and rangelands of the Rocky Mountain West, while the easternmost section of the state includes part of a high elevation prairie region known as the High Plains. While the tenth largest...
, landing and failing to explode, so they stopped the launches after less than six months.
The press blackout in the U.S. was lifted after the first deaths to ensure that the public was warned, though public knowledge of the threat could have possibly prevented it.
Japanese abandon the project
With no evidence of any effect, General Kusaba was ordered to cease operations in April 1945.
The expense was large, and in the meantime the
B-29sThe Boeing B-29 Superfortress was a four-engine propeller-driven heavy bomber that was flown by the United States Military in World War II and the Korean War, and by other nations afterwards...
had destroyed two of the three hydrogen plants needed by the project.
The last one was launched in April 1945.
Single lethal attack
| Killed near Bly, Oregon |
| 1. Elsie Mitchell, age 26 |
| 2. Edward Engen, age 13 |
| 3. Jay Gifford, age 13 |
| 4. Joan Patzke, age 13 |
| 5. Dick Patzke, age 14 |
| 6. Sherman Shoemaker, age 11 |
On May 5, 1945, a balloon bomb that had drifted over the
PacificThe Pacific Ocean is the largest of the Earth's oceanic divisions. Its name is derived from the Latin name Tepre Pacificum, "peaceful sea", bestowed upon it by the Portuguese explorer Ferdinand Magellan. It extends from the Arctic in the north to Antarctica in the south, bounded by Asia and...
killed five children and a woman. It exploded when a 13-year-old girl (Joan Patzke) attempted to pull the balloon from a tree during a church group picnic in the woods near
Bly, OregonBly is an unincorporated community in Klamath County, Oregon, United States. It is about east of Klamath Falls. , the population was 486.- History :...
. Having taken some local children on an outing,
Reverend Archie MitchellThe Reverend Archie Emerson Mitchell was a minister with the Christian and Missionary Alliance. He attended Simpson Bible College and Nyack Missionary College. Rev...
watched in horror as his wife, Elsie (or Elyse) Mitchell, and five children who accompanied them (ages 11 to 14) were killed. The minister escaped by luck of being a short distance behind. Those six were the only known victims of the balloon bombs. However, dangers of the balloon bomb still may exist. Hundreds were never found and may still constitute
unexploded ordnanceUnexploded ordnance are explosive weapons that did not explode when they were employed and still pose a risk of detonation, potentially many decades after they were used or discarded...
. The six who perished were the only known casualties inflicted by Japanese attack on the U.S. mainland during World War II.
The press blackout in the U.S. was lifted after the deaths to ensure that the public was warned.
A memorial, the Mitchell Monument, is located 110 kilometres (70 mi) northeast of
Klamath FallsKlamath Falls is a city in Klamath County, Oregon, United States. Originally called Linkville when George Nurse founded the town in 1867, after the Link River on whose falls this city sits; the name was changed to Klamath Falls in 1892. The population was 19,462 at the 2000 census, with an...
. It was rededicated during a 50-year anniversary service in 1995.
Elsie Mitchell is buried in the Ocean View Cemetery in Port Angeles, Washington.
Post World War II
The remains of balloons continued to be discovered after the war. Eight were found in the 1940s, three in the 1950s and two in the 1960s. In 1978, a ballast ring, fuses and barometers were found near
Agness, OregonAgness is an unincorporated community in Curry County, Oregon, United States. It is located near the confluence of two Wild and Scenic rivers—the Lower Rogue and the Illinois. Agness post office was established October 16, 1897. It was named after Agnes, the daughter of the first postmaster, and...
and are now part of the collection of the
Coos CountyCoos County is a county located in the U.S. state of Oregon. In 2000, its population was 62,779. It is named after a tribe of Native Americans who lived in the region. The county was formed from the western parts of Umpqua and Jackson Counties. The county seat is Coquille.-History:It's unclear...
Historical Museum.
The last known discovery of a functional fire balloon in
North AmericaNorth America is the northern continent of the Americas, situated in the Earth's northern hemisphere and in the western hemisphere. It is bordered on the north by the Arctic Ocean, on the east by the North Atlantic Ocean, on the southeast by the Caribbean Sea, and on the west by the North Pacific...
was in 1955 — its payload still lethal after 10 years of corrosion. A non-lethal balloon bomb was discovered in Alaska in 1992.
See also
- Attacks on North America during World War II
Attacks on North America during World War II by the Axis Powers were rare, mainly due to the continent's geographical separation from the central theaters of conflict in Europe and Asia...
- Battle of Los Angeles
The Battle of Los Ángeles was a military action fought on March 22, 1880 between the Chilean and Peruvian armies during the Tacna and Arica Campaign of the War of the Pacific...
- E77 balloon bomb
The E77 balloon bomb was a U.S. anti-crop biological munition based on the design of Japanese fire balloons. The E77 used feathers as a vector to disseminate anti-crop agents from a hydrogen-filled balloon and was first developed in 1950.-Background:...
- History of Military Ballooning
Balloons were the first mechanisms used in air warfare. Their role was strictly recognized for reconnaissance purposes. They provided humans with the first available method of elevating themselves well over the battlefield to obtain the proverbial "birds-eye view." They were an early instrument of...
- Operation Outward
Operation Outward was the name given to the British World War II program to attack Germany by means of free-flying balloons.Outward made use of cheap, simple gas balloons filled with hydrogen...
- WWII British balloons carrying incendiaries and trailing wires
External links
- http://www.af.mil/news/airman/0298/bombsb.htm
- http://www.stelzriede.com/ms/html/mshwfug2.htm
- http://www.seanet.com/~johnco/fugo.htm
- http://www.vectorsite.net/avbloon.html
- http://www.triplenickle.com/smjprs.html
- http://www.onawindandaprayer.com/
- http://web.mst.edu/~rogersda/forensic_geology/Japenese%20vengenance%20bombs%20new.htm
- http://www.bookmice.net/darkchilde/japan/balloon.html
- http://www.allworldwars.com/Japanese-Balloon-and-Attached-Devices.html Report by US Technical Air Intelligence Center, May 1945
- http://www.onpaperwingsthemovie.com