Fire balloon - AbsoluteAstronomy.com

A , or Fu-Go, was a weapon launched by Japan

Japan

Japan is an island nation in East Asia. Located in the Pacific Ocean, it lies to the east of the Sea of Japan, 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 II

World War II

World War II, or the Second World War , was a global conflict lasting from 1939 to 1945, involving most of the world's nations—including all of the great powers—eventually forming two opposing military alliances: the Allies and the Axis...

. A hydrogen

Hydrogen

Hydrogen is the chemical element with atomic number 1. It is represented by the symbol H. With an average atomic weight of , hydrogen is the lightest and most abundant chemical element, constituting roughly 75% of the Universe's chemical elemental mass. Stars in the main sequence are mainly...

balloon

Balloon

A balloon is an inflatable flexible bag filled with a gas, such as helium, hydrogen, nitrous oxide, oxygen, or air. Modern balloons can be made from materials such as rubber, latex, polychloroprene, or a nylon fabric, while some early balloons were made of dried animal bladders, such as the pig...

with a load varying from a 12 kilograms (26.5 lb) incendiary to one 15 kg (33.1 lb) antipersonnel bomb

Bomb

A bomb is any of a range of explosive weapons that only rely on the exothermic reaction of an explosive material to provide an extremely sudden and violent release of energy...

and four 5 kg (11 lb) incendiary device

Incendiary device

Incendiary 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....

s attached, they were designed as a cheap weapon intended to make use of the jet stream

Jet stream

Jet streams are fast flowing, narrow air currents found in the atmospheres of some planets, including Earth. The main jet streams are located near the tropopause, the transition between the troposphere and the stratosphere . The major jet streams on Earth are westerly winds...

over the Pacific Ocean and wreak havoc on Canadian and American cities, forests, and farmland.

The balloons were relatively ineffective as weapons but were used in one of the few attacks on North America during World War II

Attacks on North America during World War II

The American Theater of World War II was a minor area of operations 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 9,300 fire balloons. About 300 balloon bombs were found or observed in North America, killing six people and causing a small amount of damage.

Overview

From late 1944 until early 1945, the Japanese launched over 9,300 of these fire balloons, of which 300 were found or observed in the U.S. Despite the high hopes of their designers, the balloons were ineffective as weapons, and caused only six deaths (from one single incident)—a kill rate of 0.067%—and a small amount of damage.

Japanese bomb-carrying balloons were 10 m (32.8 ft) in diameter and, when fully inflated, held about 540 m³ (19,069.9 cu ft) of hydrogen. Their launch sites were located on the east coast of the main Japanese island of Honshū

Honshu

is the largest island of Japan. The nation's main island, it is south of Hokkaido across the Tsugaru Strait, north of Shikoku across the Inland Sea, and northeast of Kyushu across the Kanmon Strait...

.

Japan released the first of these bomb-bearing balloons on November 3, 1944. They were found in Alaska

Alaska

Alaska is the largest state in the United States 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...

, Washington, Oregon

Oregon

Oregon 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...

, California

California

California is a state located on the West Coast of the United States. It is by far the most populous U.S. state, and the third-largest by land area...

, Arizona

Arizona

Arizona ; is a state located in the southwestern region of the United States. It is also part of the western United States and the mountain west. The capital and largest city is Phoenix...

, Idaho

Idaho

Idaho is a state in the Rocky Mountain area of the United States. The state's largest city and capital is Boise. Residents are called "Idahoans". Idaho was admitted to the Union on July 3, 1890, as the 43rd state....

, Montana

Montana

Montana is a state in the Western United States. The western third of Montana contains numerous mountain ranges. Smaller, "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,...

, Utah

Utah

Utah is a state in the Western United States. It was the 45th state to join the Union, on January 4, 1896. Approximately 80% of Utah's 2,763,885 people live along the Wasatch Front, centering on Salt Lake City. This leaves vast expanses of the state nearly uninhabited, making the population the...

, Wyoming

Wyoming

Wyoming is a state in the mountain region of the Western United States. The western two thirds of the state is covered mostly with the mountain ranges and rangelands in the foothills of the Eastern Rocky Mountains, while the eastern third of the state is high elevation prairie known as the High...

, Colorado

Colorado

Colorado is a U.S. state that encompasses much of the Rocky Mountains as well as the northeastern portion of the Colorado Plateau and the western edge of the Great Plains...

, Texas

Texas

Texas is the second largest U.S. state by both area and population, and the largest state by area in the contiguous United States.The name, based on the Caddo word "Tejas" meaning "friends" or "allies", was applied by the Spanish to the Caddo themselves and to the region of their settlement in...

, Kansas

Kansas

Kansas is a US 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 Native American tribe, which inhabited the area. The tribe's name is often said to mean "people of the wind" or "people of the south...

, Nebraska

Nebraska

Nebraska is a state on the Great Plains of the Midwestern United States. The state's capital is Lincoln and its largest city is Omaha, on the Missouri River....

, South Dakota

South Dakota

South Dakota is a state located in the Midwestern region of the United States. It is named after the Lakota and Dakota Sioux American Indian tribes. Once a part of Dakota Territory, South Dakota became a state on November 2, 1889. The state has an area of and an estimated population of just over...

, North Dakota

North Dakota

North Dakota is a state located in the Midwestern region of the United States of America, along the Canadian border. The state is bordered by Canada to the north, Minnesota to the east, South Dakota to the south and Montana to the west. North Dakota is the 19th-largest state by area in the U.S....

, Michigan

Michigan

Michigan is a U.S. state located in the Great Lakes Region of the United States of America. The name Michigan is the French form of the Ojibwa word mishigamaa, meaning "large water" or "large lake"....

and Iowa

Iowa

Iowa is a state located in the Midwestern United States, 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 the French colony of New...

, as well as Mexico and Canada.

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 is likely that more balloon bombs landed in unpopulated areas 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 Imperial Japanese Army

Imperial Japanese Army

-Foundation:During the Meiji Restoration, the military forces loyal to the Emperor were samurai drawn primarily from the loyalist feudal domains of Satsuma and Chōshū...

's Ninth Army's Number Nine Research Laboratory

Number Nine Research Laboratory

The , also called the , was a military development laboratory run by the Imperial Japanese Army from 1937 to 1945. The lab, based in Noborito, Tama-ku, Kawasaki, Kanagawa Prefecture, Japan focused on clandestine activities and unconventional warfare, including energy weapons, intelligence and...

, 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 stream

Jet stream

.

The jet stream reported by Wasaburo Oishi

Wasaburo Oishi

was a Japanese meteorologist. Born in Tosu, Saga, he is best known for his discovery of the high-altitude air currents now known as the jet stream. He was also an important Esperantist, serving as the second Board President of the Japan Esperanto-Institute from 1930 to 1945.-Jet stream:He wrote the...

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 8000 kilometres (4,971 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 altimeter

Altimeter

An 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 (29,527.6 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 US, 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 kilograms (1,000.9 lb) of gear. At first the balloons were made of conventional rubberized silk

Silk

Silk is a natural protein fiber, some forms of which can be woven into textiles. The best-known type of silk is obtained from the cocoons of the larvae of the mulberry silkworm Bombyx mori reared in captivity...

, but improved envelopes had less leakage. An order went out for ten thousand balloons made of "washi

Washi

is 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 mulberry

Mulberry

Morus is a genus of flowering plants in the family Moraceae. The 10–16 species of deciduous trees it contains are commonly known as Mulberries....

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 konnyaku
Konjac
Konjac , also known as konjak, konjaku, konnyaku potato, 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 nimble-fingered teen-aged school girls. They assembled the paper in many parts of Japan. Large indoor spaces, such as sumo

Sumo

is a competitive full-contact sport where a wrestler attempts to force another wrestler out of a circular ring or to touch the ground with anything other than the soles of the feet. The sport originated in Japan, the only country where it is practiced professionally...

halls, sound stages, and theatres, were required for the envelope assembly.

Similar, but cruder, balloons were also used by Britain

Operation Outward

Operation Outward was the name given to the British World War II program to attack Germany by means of free-flying balloons. It 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 Raid

Doolittle Raid

The Doolittle Raid, on 18 April 1942, was the first air raid by the United States to strike the Japanese Home Islands during World War II. By demonstrating that Japan itself was vulnerable to American air attack, it provided a vital morale boost and opportunity for U.S. retaliation after the...

.

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 stream 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 Columbia

British Columbia

British Columbia is the westernmost of Canada's provinces and is known for its natural beauty, as reflected in its Latin motto, Splendor sine occasu . Its name was chosen by Queen Victoria in 1858...

, Saskatchewan

Saskatchewan

Saskatchewan is a prairie province in Canada, which has an area of . Saskatchewan is bordered on the west by Alberta, on the north by the Northwest Territories, on the east by Manitoba, and on the south by the U.S. states of Montana and North Dakota....

, Manitoba

Manitoba

Manitoba is a Canadian prairie province with an area of . The province has over 110,000 lakes and has a largely continental climate because of its flat topography. Agriculture, mostly concentrated in the fertile southern and western parts of the province, is vital to the province's economy; other...

, Alberta

Alberta

Alberta is a province of Canada. It had an estimated population of 3.7 million in 2010 making it the most populous of Canada's three prairie provinces...

, the Yukon

Yukon

Yukon is the westernmost and smallest of Canada's three federal territories. It was named after the Yukon River. The word Yukon means "Great River" in Gwich’in....

, Northwest Territories

Northwest Territories

The Northwest Territories is a federal territory of Canada.Located in northern Canada, the territory borders Canada's two other territories, Yukon to the west and Nunavut to the east, and three provinces: British Columbia to the southwest, and Alberta and Saskatchewan to the south...

, Washington, Idaho, South Dakota, Nevada (including one that landed near Yerington

Yerington, Nevada

Yerington is a city in Lyon County, located in western Nevada, USA. The population was 2,883 at the 2000 census. It is named after Henry M. Yerington, Superintendent of the Virginia and Truckee Railroad from 1868 to 1910. It is the county seat of Lyon County....

that was discovered by cowboys who cut it up and used it as a hay tarp, another by a prospector near Elko

Elko, Nevada

Elko is a city in Elko County, Nevada, United States. The population was 18,297 at the 2010 census. It is the county seat of Elko County. The city straddles the Humboldt River....

who delivered it to local authorities on the back of a donkey, and another that was shot down by Army Air Corps

United States Army Air Corps

The United States Army Air Corps was a forerunner of the United States Air Force. Renamed from the Air Service on 2 July 1926, it was part of the United States Army and the predecessor of the United States Army Air Forces , established in 1941...

planes near Reno

Reno, Nevada

Reno is the county seat of Washoe County, Nevada, United States. The city has a population of about 220,500 and is the most populous Nevada city outside of the Las Vegas metropolitan area...

). In all, seven fire balloons were turned in to the Army in Nevada, Colorado, Texas, Northern Mexico, Michigan, and even the outskirts of Detroit. 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 parachute

Parachute

A parachute is a device used to slow the motion of an object through an atmosphere by creating drag, or in the case of ram-air parachutes, aerodynamic lift. Parachutes are usually made out of light, strong cloth, originally silk, now most commonly nylon...

descended over Thermopolis, Wyoming

Thermopolis, Wyoming

Thermopolis 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 Lightning

P-38 Lightning

The 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, California

Santa Rosa, California

Santa Rosa is the county seat of Sonoma County, California, United States. The 2010 census reported a population of 167,815. Santa Rosa is the largest city in California's Wine Country and fifth largest city in the San Francisco Bay Area, after San Jose, San Francisco, Oakland, and Fremont and 26th...

; another was seen over Santa Monica

Santa Monica, California

Santa Monica is a beachfront city in western Los Angeles County, California, US. 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...

; and bits of washi paper were found in the streets of Los Angeles

Los Ángeles

Los Ángeles is the capital of the province of Biobío, in the commune of the same name, in Region VIII , in the center-south of Chile. It is located between the Laja and Biobío rivers. The population is 123,445 inhabitants...

.

In February and March 1945, P-40 fighter pilots from 133 Squadron, Royal Canadian Air Force

Royal Canadian Air Force

The history of the Royal Canadian Air Force begins in 1920, when the air force was created as the Canadian Air Force . In 1924 the CAF was renamed the Royal Canadian Air Force and granted royal sanction by King George V. The RCAF existed as an independent service until 1968...

operating out of RCAF Patricia Bay

Victoria International Airport

Victoria International Airport serves Victoria, British Columbia, Canada. It is north northwest of the city, in North Saanich, quite close to the town of Sidney on the Saanich Peninsula...

(Victoria, British Columbia), intercepted and destroyed two fire balloons, On 21 February, Pilot Officer E. E. Maxwell While shot down a balloon, which landed on Sumas Mountain

Sumas Mountain

Sumas Mountain is a mountain located in Whatcom County, Washington, 15 miles northeast of Bellingham and southwest of Vedder Mountain. Located in the Skagit Range the mountain is notable for its high biodiversity and year-round hiking trails. It is sometimes referred to as American Sumas to...

, in Washington State. On 10 March, Pilot Officer J. O. Patten destroyed a balloon near Saltspring Island

Saltspring Island

Saltspring Island is one of the Gulf Islands in the Strait of Georgia between mainland British Columbia, Canada and Vancouver Island. It is the largest, the most populous, and the most frequently visited of the Gulf Islands...

, BC.

On March 10, 1945, one of the last paper balloons descended in the vicinity of the Manhattan Project

Manhattan Project

The Manhattan Project was a research and development program, led by the United States with participation from the United Kingdom and Canada, that produced the first atomic bomb during World War II. From 1942 to 1946, the project was under the direction of Major General Leslie Groves of the US Army...

's production facility at the Hanford Site

Hanford Site

The 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 or HEW, Hanford Nuclear Reservation...

. This balloon caused a short circuit in the powerlines supplying electricity for the nuclear reactor

Nuclear reactor

A nuclear reactor is a device to initiate and control a sustained nuclear chain reaction. Most commonly they are used for generating electricity and for the propulsion of ships. Usually heat from nuclear fission is passed to a working fluid , which runs through turbines that power either ship's...

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 Forest

Modoc National Forest

Modoc 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 Shasta

Mount Shasta

Mount Shasta is located at the southern end of the Cascade Range in Siskiyou County, California and at is the second highest peak in the Cascades and the fifth highest in California...

. Near Medford, Oregon

Medford, Oregon

Medford is a city in Jackson County, Oregon, United States. As of the 2010 US Census, the city had a total population of 74,907 and a metropolitan area population of 207,010, making the Medford MSA the 4th largest metro area in Oregon...

, a balloon bomb exploded in towering flames. The Navy found balloons in the ocean. Balloon envelopes and apparatus were found in Montana, Arizona, Saskatchewan

Saskatchewan

, in the Northwest Territories

Northwest Territories

, 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. 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 731

Unit 731

was 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. It was responsible for some of the most notorious war crimes carried out by Japanese...

site at Pingfan in Manchuria

Manchuria

Manchuria is a historical name given to a large geographic region in northeast Asia. Depending on the definition of its extent, Manchuria usually falls entirely within the People's Republic of China, or is sometimes divided between China and Russia. The region is commonly referred to as Northeast...

, 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 submarine

Submarine

A submarine is a watercraft capable of independent operation below the surface of the water. It differs from a submersible, which has more limited underwater capability...

s. Wilder theories speculated that they could have been launched from German prisoner of war

Prisoner of war

A prisoner of war or enemy prisoner of war is a person, whether civilian or combatant, who is held in custody by an enemy power during or immediately after an armed conflict...

camps in the U.S., or even from Japanese-American internment centers

Japanese American internment

Japanese-American internment was the relocation and internment by the United States government in 1942 of approximately 110,000 Japanese Americans and Japanese who lived along the Pacific coast of the United States to camps called "War Relocation Camps," in the wake of Imperial Japan's attack on...

.

Some of the sandbags dropped by the fusen bakudan were taken to the Military Geology Unit

Military Geology Unit

The Military Geology Unit was a unit in the United States military during World War II. It was established on June 24, 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 microscopic

Microscope

A microscope is an instrument used to see objects that are too small for the naked eye. The science of investigating small objects using such an instrument is called microscopy...

and chemical examination of the sand from the sandbags to determine types and distribution of diatom

Diatom

Diatoms are a major group of 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 , fans , zigzags , or stellate colonies . Diatoms are producers within the food chain...

s and other microscopic sea creatures, and its mineral

Mineral

A mineral is a naturally occurring solid chemical substance formed through biogeochemical processes, having characteristic chemical composition, highly ordered atomic structure, and specific physical properties. By comparison, a rock is an aggregate of minerals and/or mineraloids and does not...

composition. The sand could not be coming from American beaches, nor from the mid-Pacific. It had to be coming from Japan. The geologists 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 Newsweek
Newsweek
Newsweek is an American weekly news magazine 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 Censorship

Office of Censorship

The 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 newspapers and radio stations 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 Wyoming

Wyoming

, 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, believing that the mission had been a total fiasco. The expense was large, and in the meantime the B-29s

B-29 Superfortress

The B-29 Superfortress is a four-engine propeller-driven heavy bomber designed by Boeing that was flown primarily by the United States Air Forces in late-World War II and through the Korean War. The B-29 was one of the largest aircraft to see service during World War II...

had destroyed two of the three hydrogen plants needed by the project.
The last fire balloon 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 pregnant woman and five children were killed when they discovered a balloon bomb that had landed in the forest of Gearhart Mountain

Gearhart Mountain Wilderness

Gearhart Mountain Wilderness is a wilderness area located within the Fremont National Forest in Lake County and Klamath County, south-central Oregon. This area was established in 1943 as a Wild Area and designated as Wilderness with the Wilderness Act of 1964. In 1984, an additional were added...

in Southern Oregon

Southern Oregon

Southern Oregon is a region of the U.S. state of Oregon south of Lane County and generally west of the Cascade Range, excluding the southern Oregon Coast. Counties include Douglas, Jackson, Klamath, and Josephine. It includes the Southern Oregon American Viticultural Area, which consists of the...

. Pastor Archie Mitchell

Archie E. Mitchell

The Reverend Archie Emerson Mitchell was a minister with the Christian and Missionary Alliance. He was born in Franklin, Nebraska. He attended Simpson Bible College and Nyack Missionary College...

and his pregnant wife Elsie drove up to Gearhart Mountain with five of their Sunday school students (aged 11–14) to have a picnic, and Elsie and the children got out of the car at Bly

Bly, Oregon

Bly is an unincorporated community in Klamath County, Oregon, United States. It is about east of Klamath Falls. , the population was 486.- History :...

, Oregon, while Archie drove on to find a parking spot. As Elsie and the children looked for a good picnic spot, they saw a strange balloon lying on the ground. As the group approached the balloon, a bomb attached to it exploded and Elsie and all five children were killed. Archie witnessed the explosion and immediately ran to the scene and used his hands to extinguish the fire on his wife's and the children's clothing, but he could not save them. These are the only known deaths caused by the balloon bombs, and also the only known deaths in the continental U.S. as the result of enemy action during World War II.

Military personnel arrived on the scene within hours, and saw that the balloon itself still had snow underneath it, while the surrounding area did not. They concluded that the balloon bomb had drifted to the ground several weeks earlier, and had lain there undisturbed until found by the group.

Elsie Mitchell is buried in the Ocean View Cemetery in Port Angeles, Washington

Port Angeles, Washington

Port Angeles is a city in and the county seat of Clallam County, Washington, United States. The population was 19,038 at the 2010 census. The area's harbor was dubbed Puerto de Nuestra Señora de los Ángeles by Spanish explorer Francisco de Eliza in 1791, but by the mid-19th century the name had...

. A memorial, the Mitchell Monument, is located at the point of the explosion, 110 kilometers (70 mi) northeast of Klamath Falls

Klamath Falls, Oregon

Klamath 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 sat, although no falls currently exist; the name was changed to Klamath Falls in 1892...

in the Mitchell Recreation Area

Mitchell Recreation Area

Mitchell Recreation Area is a small picnic area near Bly, Oregon, United States. It is also known as Mitchell Monument. It is the only location in the continental U.S. where Americans were killed during World War II as a direct result of enemy action. The deaths were caused by a Japanese balloon...

. It was listed in the National Register of Historic Places

National Register of Historic Places

The National Register of Historic Places is the United States government's official list of districts, sites, buildings, structures, and objects deemed worthy of preservation...

in 2001. Several Japanese civilians have visited the monument to offer their apologies for the deaths that took place here, and several cherry trees have been planted around the monument as a symbol of peace.

Hundreds of balloon bombs may have landed but were never found and may still constitute unexploded ordnance

Unexploded ordnance

Unexploded 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.While "UXO" is widely and informally used, munitions and explosives of...

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, Oregon

Agness, Oregon

Agness 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

Coos County, Oregon

-National protected areas:*Bandon Marsh National Wildlife Refuge*Oregon Islands National Wildlife Refuge *Siskiyou National Forest *Siuslaw National Forest - Incorporated cities:- Unincorporated communities and CDPs:-See also:...

Historical & Maritime Museum.

External links

http://www.stelzriede.com/ms/html/mshwfugo.htm
http://www.seanet.com/~johnco/fugo.htm
http://www.vectorsite.net/avbloon_2.html#m4
http://www.onawindandaprayer.com/
http://web.mst.edu/~rogersda/forensic_geology/Japenese%20vengenance%20bombs%20new.htm
http://www.allworldwars.com/Japanese-Balloon-and-Attached-Devices.html Report by US Technical Air Intelligence Center, May 1945
http://www.onpaperwingsthemovie.com
http://www.archive.org/details/gov.archives.arc.13084 Declassified WWII US Navy training film "Japanese Paper Balloon."

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