Japan's balloon bombs

[namvet]

probably discussed elsewhere on the forum. today I found a video that shows the complexity of this weapon. amazing technology here. its technical and about 21 mins long.

 

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QLfHU8tiHBk

 

they knew something about the weather we didn't. the jet stream. they were assembled by school children.

 

 

 

 

[439th Signal Battalion]

Very interesting, indeed. Author Craig Roberts in the book, "The Medusa Files" devotes quite a bit of information to this and states just how defenseless the US Pacific West and Coast was against such a weapon. Apparently, there were several of these tested that actually landed here in the US after catching the Jet Stream. The government gave the excuse to civilians that these Japanese balloons were part of weather research.

 

The Japanese were supposedly going to use one of these weapons to unleash the Bubonic Plaque somewhere over the Pacific Coast after testing...

[Garandomatic]

I've read this too. It is documented that they used aircraft to drop plague fleas on Chinese towns.

[unclegrumpy]

This is a pretty interesting book on the subject:

 

http://www.amazon.com/Silent-Siege-III-Civilians-Documentary/dp/0936738731

[gomorgan]

I believe one of these actually made it to Iowa and the remains of same are now stored in the basement of our state Historical Society Museum in Des Moines.

[Bob Hudson]

I believe one of these actually made it to Iowa and the remains of same are now stored in the basement of our state Historical Society Museum in Des Moines.

 

A bunch of them made it to North America and one killed six people. From National Geographic:

 

"The first balloon was launched on November 3, 1944. Between then and April 1945, experts estimate about 1,000 of them reached North America; 284 are documented as sighted or found, many as fragments (see map). Records uncovered in Japan after the war indicate that about 9,000 were launched....On May 5, 1945, five children and local pastor Archie Mitchell's pregnant wife Elsie were killed as they played with the large paper balloon they'd spotted during a Sunday outing in the woods near Bly, Oregon—the only enemy-inflicted casualties on the U.S. mainland in the whole of World War II."

[Jack's Son]

It was an ingenious idea, but could never have any real military value. It's a shame that six civilians had to loose their lives.

[agate hunter]

This is a pretty interesting book on the subject:

 

http://www.amazon.com/Silent-Siege-III-Civilians-Documentary/dp/0936738731

 

Agreed great book. Has a great chapter on the Japanese shelling of Fort Stevens, Oregon too. Only continental US military base to be shelled by an enemy (Japanese submarine I-25). Happened on June 21, 1942.

[ScottG]

One landed in Farmington Hills MI and I believe it is on display locally there, not 100% sure. No one was killed but it was quite the news story at the time and it still comes up every now and then. Scott.