Between 1944 and 1945, the Japanese military launched more than 9,000 bomb-rigged balloons across the Pacific, counting on the wind to carry them over American soil, where they could cause damage. When the first balloons arrived in America, they technically became the worlds first intercontinental ballistic missile. Reverend Archie Mitchell was about to yell a warning when it exploded. By the end of May 1945, however, the military decided in the interest of public safety to reveal the true cause of the explosion and warn Americans to beware of any strange white balloons they might encounterinformation divulged a month too late for the victims in Oregon. [20] The best time to launch was just after the passing of a high-pressure front, and wind conditions were most suitable for several hours prior to the onshore breezes at sunrise. We had built special safeguards into that line, so the whole Northwest could have been out of power, but we still were online from either end, saidColonel Franklin Matthias,the officer-in-charge at Hanford during the Manhattan Project, inan interview with Stephane Groueff in 1965. Heres why each season begins twice. Not only were the minister and his wife, Elsie, expecting their first child, but he had also accepted a new post as pastor of the Christian and Missionary Alliance Church in the sleepy logging town of Bly, Oregon. The joint army-navy research into this operation came to an abrupt halt, however, when every submarine was recalled for the Guadalcanal operation in August 1943. Atmospheric uncertainty made for an uncontrolled attack. The . All rights reserved. Eventually American scientists helped solve the puzzle. In Bly, Oregon, a Sunday school picnic approached the debris of a balloon. Three hundred sixty-one of the balloons have been found in twenty-six states, Canada and Mexico. Map of Fu-Go incident locations in North America. In the months of November to March, there were only 50 anticipated favorable days, and they expected to launch a maximum of 200 balloons from their three launch sites per day. Just a few months ago a couple of forestry workers in Lumby, British Columbia about 250 miles north of the U.S. border happened upon a 70-year-old Japanese balloon bomb. His team of geologists knew it wasn't a type of sand found in North America or Hawaii. But they have never been bitter over it., These loss of these six lives puts into relief the scale of loss in the enormity of a war that swallowed up entire cities. Carried by wind currents, the balloon bombs traveled thousands of miles to western U.S. shores. ", As described by J. David Rodgers of the Missouri University of Science and Technology, the balloon bombs "were 33 feet in diameter and could lift approximately 1,000 pounds, but the deadly portion of their cargo was a 33-lb anti-personnel fragmentation bomb, attached to a 64foot-long fuse that was intended to burn for 82 minutes before detonating. Follow me @NPRHistoryDept; lead me by writing to lweeks@npr.org. Each balloon was loaded with four incendiaries. Fu-Go Balloon Bombs were experimental weapons launched by the Japanese late in 1944, destined to explore on American soil. The balloons weren't designed to navigate themselves and that's part of the wonder of this Japans offensive. Made of processed paper, the 33 1/2-foot bag bore on its side a small incendiary bomb, apparently designed to explode and prevent seizure of the balloon intact. The Sentinel reported that a bomb had been discovered in southwest Oregon in 1978. On April 18, 1945, a Japanese balloon bomb - one of thousands released toward the U.S . Location. The program was cancelled by the Navy. Little was known about the purpose of these balloons at first, and some military officials worried that they carried biological weapons. In subsequent weeks, the strip's storyline saw the protagonists fight monster vines that sprang from seeds the balloon was carrying, created by an evil Japanese horticulturalist. Citing the need to prevent panic and avoid giving the enemy location information that could allow them to hone their targeting, the U.S. military censored reports about the Japanese balloon bombs. an exhibit in Japanese on the Fire Balloons. Or Joan dead? Launching proved to be difficult as it took 30 minutes to an hour to prepare one balloon for flight, and required approximately thirty men. The Winnipeg Tribune noted that one balloon bomb was found 10 miles from Detroit and another one near Grand Rapids. Several hundred were spotted in the air or found on the ground in the U.S. To keep the Japanese from tracking the success of their treachery, the U.S. government asked American news organizations to refrain from reporting on the balloon bombs. [12] Two submarines (I-34 and I-35) were prepared and two hundred balloons were produced by August 1943, but attack missions were postponed due to the need for submarines as weapons and food transports. The Navy program was subsequently consolidated under Army control, due in part to the declining availability of rubber as the war continued. [40] As predicted by Imperial Army officials, the winter and spring launch dates had limited the chances of the incendiary bombs starting forest fires due to the high levels of precipitation in the Pacific Northwest; forests were generally snow-covered or too damp to catch fire easily. A one-hour activating fuse for the altimeters was ignited at launch, allowing the balloon time to ascend above these two thresholds. Long COVID patients turn to unproven treatments, Why evenings can be harder on people with dementia, This disease often goes under-diagnosedunless youre white, This sacred site could be Georgias first national park, See glow-in-the-dark mushrooms in Brazils other rainforest, 9 things to know about Holi, Indias most colorful festival, Anyone can discover a fossil on this beach. The currents had been investigated by Japanese scientist Wasaburo Oishi in the 1920s; in late 1943, the Army consulted Hidetoshi Arakawa of the Central Meteorological Observatory, who used Oishi's data to extrapolate the air currents across the Pacific Ocean and estimate that a balloon released in winter and that maintained an altitude of 30,000 to 35,000 feet (9,100 to 10,700m) could reach the North American continent in 30 to 100 hours. One of Earth's loneliest volcanoes holds an extraordinary secret. But it shut down the plant cold, and it took us about three days to get it back up to full power again.. The first balloon bomb was set free on Nov. 3, 1944. While the tragedy of that day in Bly has not been repeated, the sequel remains a realif remotepossibility. Not according to biology or history. [c][27] Experiments conducted on recovered balloons to determine their radar reflectivity also had little success. All rights reserved. The reverse principle also appliedwhile the American public was largely in the dark in the early months of 1945, so were those who were launching these deadly weapons. "It . Mitchell was later kidnapped from a leprosarium while he and Betty were serving as missionaries in Vietnam; 57 years later his fate remains unknown). On Paper Wings shows them meeting face-to-face in Bly decades later. It was scary," said Johnston in a 2017 interview. (U.S. Army Air Corps) Borne out of desperationand perhaps a touch of ingeniousnessthe Imperial Japanese Army in November 1944 began unleashing an estimated 9,300 "fire balloons" across the Pacific Ocean. [Courtesy: National . How did this mountain lion reach an uninhabited island? In addition, B-29s had bombed the Showa Denkochemical plant, which heavily limited Japans hydrogen resources. The memorial commemorating the six Oregonians killed by a Japanese "Fu-Go" balloon bomb during WWII near Bly in the Mitchell Recreation Area. Which travel companies promote harmful wildlife activities? total war effort mindset preached by the Japanese Empire, an interview with Stephane Groueff in 1965, Fu-Go: The Curious History of Japan's Balloon Bomb Attack on America, Japans World War II Balloon Bomb Attacks on North America. [29], On January 4, 1945, the U.S. Office of Censorship sent a confidential memo to newspaper editors and radio broadcasters asking that they give no publicity to balloon incidents; this proved highly effective, with the agency sending another memo three months later stating that cooperation had been "excellent" and that "there is no question that your refusal to publish or broadcast information about these balloons has baffled the Japanese, annoyed and hindered them, and has been an important contribution to security. [34] On April 22, officers investigated the nationally-syndicated comic strip Tim Tyler's Luck, which depicted a Japanese balloon being recovered by the crew of an American submarine. It's. Japanese Balloon Attack Almost Interrupted Building First Atomic. Fu-Go ([], fug [heiki], lit. [31] The Kalispell find was originally reported on December 14 by the Western News, a weekly published in Libby, Montana; the story later appeared in articles in the January 1, 1945, editions of Time and Newsweek magazines, as well as on the front page of the January 2 edition of The Oregonian of Portland, Oregon, before the Office of Censorship sent the memo. Witnesses remembered these giant jellyfish drifting off into the sky, Mikesh details. Omaha seemed relatively safe until one night in April when a Japanese bomb dropped in Dundee. "Most likely it had been coming from a small chunk of beach east of Tokyo," he added. The trip took several days. When there were no reports of actual damage in the US, the Japanese media had made up fake stories about the weakening of American resolve. After lumbering up a one-lane gravel road, Mitchell parked his sedan and began to unload picnic baskets and fishing rods as Elsie, five months pregnant, and the children explored a knoll sloping down to a nearby creek. A mans world? They confirmed that even if the war had continued on for another year, the balloons would not have been used in the upcoming winter winds. Another source of concern was the comic strip The Adventures of Smilin' Jack, which a few weeks later depicted a plane crashing into a Japanese balloon that exploded and started a fire upon falling to the ground. What if we could clean them out? They called it Operation Fu-Go. It was a tragic thing that happened, says Judy McGinnis-Sloan, Betty Mitchells niece. The Japanese were the first to mount a sustained campaign. Please be respectful of copyright. In the waning days of World War II, the Japanese devised balloon bombs that could travel more than 5,000 miles via the jet stream to explode on North American soil. Moments . These so-called "fire balloons" were filled with hydrogen and carrying bombs varying from 11 to 33 pounds, and were part of an experimental Japanese military offensive. Each launch took between thirty minutes and an hour, depending on the presence of surface winds that made releases difficult. Japan's latest weapon, the balloon bombs were intended to cause damage and spread panic in the continental United States. The balloons were carried by high-altitude and high-speed currents over the Pacific Ocean, now known as the jet stream, and used a sophisticated ballast system to control altitude. Just then there was a big explosion. After each question they answered yes. Between 1944 and 1945, Japan launched more than 9,000 bomb-rigged balloons across the Pacific Ocean. These animals can sniff it out. Edward Melkonian. The 9thMilitary Technical Research Institute, better known as the Noborito Research Institute, was charged with discovering a way to bomb America, and they revived the idea of Fu-Go. While most are likely lost in the ocean, residents of the Pacific Northwest are advised to be careful when exploring uncharted territories. Jeff Quitney/YouTube Special thanks also for the use of their music to Jeff Taylor , David Wingo for the use of "Opening" and "Doghouse" - from the Take Shelter soundtrack, Justin Walter 's "Mind Shapes" from his album Lullabies and Nightmares . (Tribune News Service) In late 1944, the Japanese military began launching 9,000 unmanned bomb-carrying balloons across the Pacific to bombard the West Coast. [9], By March 1943, Kusaba's team developed a 20-foot (6.1m) design capable of flying at 25,000 feet (7,600m) for more than 30 hours. His work has appeared in numerous publications, including The Boston Globe, The New York Times, and National Geographic Traveler. Those gathered embodied a sentiment echoed by the Mitchell family. In February 17, 1945, the Japanese used the Domei News Agency to broadcast directly to America in English and claimed that 500 or 10,000 casualties (the news accounts differ) had been inflicted and fires caused, all from their fire balloons. The combined launching capacity of the sites was about 200 balloons per day, with 15,000 launches planned through March. On November 3, 1944, Japan releasedfusen bakudan, or balloon bombs, into the Pacific jet stream. The project was stopped by 1935 and never completed. Engineers hoped that the weapons impact would be compounded by forest fires, inflicting terror through both the initial explosion and an ensuing conflagration. The downside to such secrecy was that American citizens didn't know what these weapons were. Schoolgirls were conscripted to labor in factories manufacturing the balloons, which were made of endless reams of paper and held together by a paste made of konnyaku, a potato-like vegetable. The carriage was attached and the guide ropes were disconnected. It was hoped that the fires would create havoc, dampen American morale and disrupt the U.S. war effort," James M. Powles describes in a 2003 issue of the journal World War II. One was found as recently as October 2014 in the mountains of British Colombia. Look what we found,. These so-called balloon bombs were launched in great numbers during late 1944 and early 1945. Japan reportedly launched 9,000 balloons during a six-month period at the end of the war. ", "Japan's Secret WWII Weapon: Balloon Bombs," by Johnna Rizzo, On a Wind and a Prayer, a film by Michael White, "Japan's World War II Balloon Bomb Attacks on North America," by Robert C. Mikesh, Fu-go: The Curious History of Japan's Balloon Bomb Attack on America by Ross Coen, ------------------------------------------------------------------------------. The balloons,, One of the best kept secrets of the war involved the Japanese balloon bomb offensive. Utilising the jet stream, Japanese forces launched these hydrogen f. [50] Many war museums in the U.S. and Canada exhibit Fu-Go fragments, including the National Air and Space Museum and Canadian War Museum.[51]. Over the years, the explosive devices have popped up here and there. The first one Americans found was Nov. 4, 1944, floating in the ocean 66 miles southwest of San Pedro, Calif. That one was believed to have been a test balloon launched before the main launch. Nearly three-quarters of a century later, these unknown remnants are a reminder that even the most overlooked scars of war are slow to fade. The new year once started in Marchhere's why, Jimmy Carter on the greatest challenges of the 21st century, This ancient Greek warship ruled the Mediterranean, How cosmic rays helped find a tunnel in Egypt's Great Pyramid, Who first rode horses? [25] In the "Lightning Project", health and agricultural officers, veterinarians, and 4-H clubs were instructed to report any strange new diseases of crops or livestock caused by potential biological warfare. When a forest ranger in the vicinity came upon the scene, he found the victims radiating out like spokes around a smoldering crater and the 26-year-old minister beating his wifes burning dress with his bare hands. A significant historical date for this entry is February 22, 1945. The first battalion included headquarters and three squadrons totaling 1,500 men in Ibaraki Prefecture with nine launch stations at tsu. The balloons were to be made of washi, a paper made from the bark of thekozotree, and schoolgirls from neighboring schools were to be the labor force, conscripted as part of thetotal war effort mindset preached by the Japanese Empire. For Rev. In the winter of 1943 and 1944, meteorologists, with support from the engineers tasked to develop transpacific balloons, tested the winter jet stream. Hitching a ride on a jet stream, these weapons from Japan could float soundlessly across the Pacific Ocean to their marks in North America. The effects of that moment would reverberate throughout the Mitchell family, shifting the trajectory of their lives in unexpected ways. In 1987, a group of Japanese women who were involved in Fu-Go production as schoolgirls delivered 1,000 paper cranes to the families of the victims as a symbol of peace and forgiveness, and cherry trees were planted around the monument on the fiftieth anniversary of the incident in 1995. "Distribution of the balloon bombs was quite large," says Nason. The balloons continued to be discovered across North America on a near daily basis, with sightings and partial or full recoveries in Alaska, Arizona, California, Colorado, Idaho, Iowa, Kansas, Michigan (where the easternmost of the balloons was found at Farmington), Montana, Nebraska, Nevada, North Dakota, Oregon, South Dakota, Texas, Utah, Washington, and Wyoming; as well as in Canada in Alberta, British Columbia, Manitoba, Saskatchewan, and the Northwest and Yukon Territories; in northwestern Mexico; and at sea by passing ships. The balloons would claim six American lives on May 5, 1945, but they were widely considered a military failure. In the "Sunset Project" initiated in early April 1945, the Fourth Air Force attempted to detect the radio transmissions emitted by tracking balloons using sites in coastal Washington; 95 suspected signals were detected, but were of little use for interception due to the relatively low percentage of balloons with transmitters, and observed fading of the signals as they approached the coast. None of the balloons, however, had caused any injuriesuntil Mitchells church group came across the wreckage of one on Gearhart Mountain. [36] Censors contacted the UP, which replied that the story had not yet been teletyped, and that only five copies of it existed; censors were able to retrieve and destroy the copies. About 300 of the balloons were found in the United States and one was blamed for the deaths of six people in Oregon. The bomb recently recovered in British Columbia in October 2014 "has been in the dirt for 70 years," Henry Proce of the Royal Canadian Mounted Police told The Canadian Press. [7], Also in September 1942, Major General Sueki Kusaba, who had served under Tada in the original balloon bomb program in the 1930s, was assigned to the laboratory and revived the Fu-Go project with a focus on longer flights. On November 3, 1944, Japan released fusen bakudan, or balloon bombs, into the Pacific jet stream. Few balloons reached their targets, and the jet stream winds were only powerful enough in wintertime when snowy and damp conditions in North American forests precluded the ignition of large fires. The investigators learned that the Japanese had planned to make 20,000 balloons, but had fallen short of that mark. They suspected that the balloons were being launched fromnearby Japanese relocation camps, or German POW camps. [49] Remains of another balloon were found near McBride, British Columbia, in 2019. The risk seemed justified as weeks went by and no casualties were reported. After that luck ran out with the Gearheart Mountain deaths, officials were forced to rethink their approach. All rights reserved. Word of the Bly, Oregon, deathsand the strange mechanism that had killed them was overshadowed by the dizzying pace of the finale in the European theater. While Archie was moving the car, Elsie and the children found the balloon and carriage, loaded with an anti-personnel bomb, on the ground. At least eight were found in the 1940s, three in the 1950s, two in the 1960s, and one in the 1970s. [25] Many of the recovered balloons also had a high percentage of unexploded plugs, caused by failure of their batteries or fuses. As recently as 2014, aballoon was discovered in Canada, and it was technically functional. The firebombing of Japanese cities by U.S. B 29 four-engine bombers destroyed two of the three hydrogen plants needed by the project. On Nov. 3, 1944, Japan unleashed some 9000 balloon bombs over a five-month period, all destined for mainland over the Pacific. A National Geographic team has made the first ascent of the remote Mount Michael, looking for a lava lake in the volcanos crater. 129 McNutt Hall, 1400 N. Bishop Ave. Rolla, MO 65409-0230. According to a Dec. 14, 1944, newspaper article in the Thermopolis Independent Record, three men and a woman at the Ben Goe Coal mine west of Thermopolis saw a parachute lit up by flares. During the day, heat from the sun increased pressure, risking the balloon rising above the air currents or bursting. 2023 Smithsonian Magazine They sent a bus up with all of this specially trained personnel, gloves, full contamination suits, masks. This also helped prevent the Japanese from gaining any morale boost from news of a successful operation. Hitching a ride on a jet stream, these weapons from Japan could float soundlessly across the Pacific Ocean to their marks in. Archie Mitchell, and a group of Sunday school children from their tight-knit community as they set out for nearby Gearhart Mountain in southern Oregon. One killed six people in Oregon. 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). Reportedly, these were the only documented casualties of the plot. Pamela Lovett saw a small object covered. [21], Two weeks after the discovery of the B-Type balloon off San Pedro, an A-Type balloon was found in the ocean off Kailua, Hawaii, on November 14. Eco-friendly burial alternatives, explained. Japans bizarre WWII plan to bomb the continental U.S. by high-altitude balloons claimed its first and only victimsan Oregon church group in 1945. At some point during World War II, scientists in Japan figured out a way to harness a brisk air stream that sweeps eastward across the Pacific Ocean to dispatch silent and deadly devices to the American mainland. Between 1944 and 1945, the Japanese military launched an estimated 9,000 bomb-rigged balloons across the Pacific Ocean. They stated that all records of the Fu-Go program had been destroyed in compliance with a directive on August 15. On November 3, 1944, Japan launched its first series of Fu-Go Weapon balloon bombs as a way of "invading" the US from afar and creating havoc among its citizens and government.. At the same time as Bly residents were absorbing the loss they had endured, over the spring and summer of 1945 more than 60 Japanese cities burned including the infamous firebombing of Tokyo. It wasnt until two weeks later, when more sea debris of the balloons were found, that the military realized its importance. According to the two men interviewed, the Army had stopped the balloon program because of a lack of resources. They also concluded that the main damage from these bombs came from the incendiaries, which were especially dangerous for the forests of the Pacific Northwest. In 1984, the Santa Cruz Sentinel noted that Bert Webber, an author and researcher, had located 45 balloon bombs in Oregon, 37 in Alaska, 28 in Washington and 25 in California. Investigators later determined the origin of the story was a discussion held in an open session of the Colorado General Assembly. Hisscholarly report on these Fu-Go balloonsis a definitive work on this obscure topic. The silence proved invaluable: the American populace was not alarmed and Japan, believing the mission had failed, ceased all balloon launchings only six months after the first one was released in November 1944. fter the Mitchell party tripped a balloon bomb in The Japanese military had been tinkering with the idea of a balloon weapon since 1933, considering designs which would drop bombs or shower propaganda leaflets behind enemy lines after flying a fixed distance, as well as a balloon large enough to carry a soldier. Is Eddie dead? The first balloon was launched on November 3, 1944. National and state agencies were placed on heightened alert, and forest rangers were asked to report sightings or finds. Although many Bly locals knew the truth, they reluctantly followed military directives and adopted a code of silence about the tragedy as the media reported that the victims died in an explosion of undetermined origin.. In December 1944, a military intelligence project began evaluating the weapon by collecting the various evidence from the balloon sites. Between 1944 and 1945, the Japanese launched an estimated 9,000 balloon bombs across the Pacific. (Rev. A canister from the balloon's incendiary bomb was found by a man. They would be telling someone about the loss of their sibling and that person just didnt believe them, Sol recalls. 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, Oregonthe only enemy-inflicted casualties on the U.S. mainland in the whole of World War II. Anderson-Abruzzo Albuquerque International Balloon Museum, "Japan's Secret WWII Weapon: Balloon Bombs,", "Japan's World War II Balloon Bomb Attacks on North America,", Fu-go: The Curious History of Japan's Balloon Bomb Attack on America. All Rights Reserved. Lannie. Upon retrieval, they noted its Japanese markings and alerted the FBI. 42 15.106 N, 102 13.745 W. Marker is near Ellsworth, Nebraska, in Sheridan County. The balloon bombs were possibly viewed as a means of exacting some revenge for the extensive US bombing of Japanese cities, which were particularly vulnerable to incendiary attacks. At the end they all were dead except Archie. Like most in the community, the Patzke family had no inkling that the dangers of war would reach their own backyard in rural Oregon. They emphasized that the balloons did not represent serious threats, but should be reported. The year was 1945 and the United States was in the middle of World War II. An analysis of the ballast revealed the sand to be from a beach in the south of Japan, which helped narrow down the launch sites. However successful censorship had been in discouraging further launches, this very censorship made it difficult to warn the people of the bomb danger, writes Mikesh. And thats really what the Japanese people went through., In August of 1945, days after Japan announced its surrender, nearby Klamath Falls Herald and News published a retrospective, noting that it was only by good luck that other tragedies were averted but noted that balloon bombs still loomed in the vast West that likely remained undiscovered. The balloons, or "envelopes", designed by the Japanese army were made of lightweight paper fashioned from the bark of trees. [17] The bombs carried most commonly were: A balloon launch organization of three battalions was formed. [7] The Oregon air raid, while not achieving its strategic objective, had demonstrated the potential of using unmanned balloons at a low cost to ignite large-scale forest fires. According to this interview, the Japanese Army had known that it would not be an effective weapon, but pursued it for the morale boost. This knocked out the power, and our controls tripped fast enough so there was no heat rise to speak of. [6] On September 9, 1942, the latter was tested in the Lookout Air Raid, in which a Yokosuka E14Y seaplane was launched from a submarine off the Oregon coast. In total, an estimated 500,000 or more Japanese civilians would be killed. Against a scenic backdrop far removed from the war raging across the Pacific, Mitchell and five other children would become the firstand onlycivilians to die by enemy weapons on the United States mainland during World War II. Their Proposed Airborne Carrier research and development program explored several ideas, including the initial idea of balloon bombs, according to Robert Mikesh. Missouri University of Science & Technology. The silence meant that for decades, grieving families were sometimes met with skepticism or outright disbelief. [24], Few American officials believed at first that the balloons could have come directly from Japan. They appeared from northern Mexico to Alaska, and from Hawaii to Michigan. When 13-year-old Joan Patzke spied a strange white canvas on the forest floor, the curious girl summoned the rest of the group. They were developed in strict secrecy by the Japanese military as its naval fleet suffered a crushing blow in 1944 and could no longer strike the United States. Sherman Shoemaker, Edward Engen, Jay Gifford, Joan Patzke, and Dick Patzke, all between 11 to 14 years old, were killed, along with Rev.
Mark Moseley Football Manager, Horst Adolf Eichmann, Articles J