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Old 05-05-10, 03:46 PM   #2
Weiss Pinguin
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Quote:
Originally Posted by AVGWarhawk View Post
The Japanese tried the bombings but using balloons. I believe some of these balloons did make landfall on the west coast of the US.
Japanese Fire balloons (as told by wikipedia)
Quote:
Japan released the first of these bomb-bearing balloons on November 3, 1944. They were found in Alaska, Washington, Oregon, California, Arizona, Idaho, Montana, Utah, Wyoming, Colorado, Texas, Kansas, Nebraska, South Dakota, North Dakota, Michigan and Iowa, 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 remains likely that more balloon bombs lie unexploded in the forests, deserts, lakes and mountains of North America.
And the only known casualties caused by the fire balloons:
Quote:
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 in southern Oregon. Pastor Archie Mitchell and his pregnant wife Elsye drove up to Gearhart Mountain with five of their Sunday school students (aged 11-14)to have a picnic, and Elsye and the children got out of the car while Archie drove on to find a parking spot. As Elsye 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 Elsye 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. [7] They are the only known deaths on the continental U.S. as the result of enemy action during WWII. They are also the only known deaths caused by the balloon bombs.
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