Balloon bombs, Japanese
Japanese balloon bombs, known as Fu-Go weapons, were a long-range military strategy employed during World War II. Developed in response to the Doolittle Raid in 1942, these unmanned hydrogen-filled balloons were designed to traverse the North Pacific Ocean, carrying explosives and incendiary devices. The balloons, each approximately thirty-three feet in diameter and made primarily from tissue paper, were launched between November 1944 and April 1945, with about nine thousand being deployed. While a significant number were launched, only a few managed to reach their targets effectively, causing limited damage and resulting in minor incidents, such as small forest fires quickly contained by firefighting efforts, including those from the 555th Parachute Infantry Battalion.
The only significant casualties occurred when a balloon bomb detonated accidentally in Oregon, killing a Sunday school teacher and five children—this tragic incident marked the program's end, as the Japanese had already suspended their balloon bomb efforts a month prior. The U.S. government's efforts to minimize public awareness of the balloon incidents meant that Japan mistakenly believed the campaign was unsuccessful. Over the years, balloon debris continued to be discovered in the U.S., Canada, and even Mexico, highlighting the extensive reach of this unconventional warfare tactic.
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Balloon bombs, Japanese
The Event Japan attacked western North America with bomb-carrying balloons launched into the jet stream above the Pacific Ocean
Also Known As Japanese fire balloons; Fu-Go weapons
Date November 3, 1944-April, 1945
Place Pacific coast
Although the Japanese attempted to start fires and weaken morale in the United States and Canada using bomb-carrying balloons, the weapons were relatively unsuccessful, and their effect on morale was negligible.
The Japanese had experimented with a short-range bomb-carrying balloon as early as 1933, but the Doolittle raid of April 18, 1942, the first air raid on a Japanese home island (Honshu) in which American planes bombed Japan, spurred the country to develop the weapon as a means of long-range retaliation. A program of intensive research resulted in a prototype about thirty-three feet in diameter made of layers of tissue paper glued together. The unmanned hydrogen balloon carried sand for ballast, a mechanism for releasing the sand as necessary, a simple radio apparatus for monitoring the balloon’s progress, an antipersonnel bomb, and an array of incendiary bombs. Released into the jet stream during winter, such a balloon was capable of crossing the North Pacific Ocean, a distance of some 6,200 miles, in two to three days.
Between November 3, 1944, and early April, 1945, the Japanese launched about nine thousand balloons, or Fu-Go weapons, as they were known. An American naval patrol ship discovered one of the first of these on the afternoon of November 4, floating in the waters off San Pedro, California. (The apparent discrepancy in time is the result of the balloon crossing the international date line.) Parts of a second balloon were found at sea on November 14, off the coast of Hawaii, and more fragments were recovered in Wyoming, Montana, Alaska, and Oregon the following month.
Only a few of the Fu-Go weapons reached their intended targets or resulted in any damage. The incendiary devices set off a number of small forest fires, but these were put out quickly. In a mission called Operation Firefly, members of the 555th Parachute Infantry Battalion (the first African American parachute unit, also known as the Triple Nickels) stationed in Oregon and California participated in the fire fighting. The only American casualties from the balloons occurred on May 5, 1945, when Sunday school teacher Mrs. Archie Mitchell and five children died after accidentally detonating a bomb near Lakeview, Oregon. Ironically, the Japanese had suspended the program a month earlier.
By August of 1945, about three hundred incidents involving balloons or balloon fragments had taken place on American soil, including two as far east as Michigan. In addition to balloons found in Hawaii and Alaska, several had been identified in Canada and Mexico. A number of others had been recovered far out at sea or shot down by American fighter planes.
Impact
Operation Firefly was classified, and the Office of Censorship secured the cooperation of American newspapers in suppressing almost all news of the balloons. Because of these steps, the Japanese concluded that their Fu-Go weapons were a failure. Occasional discoveries of debris from the balloons continued throughout the western United States and Canada for decades after the war, and members of the public were warned that any bombs they might discover remained dangerous.
Bibliography
McPhee, John. “Balloons of War.” The New Yorker 71, no. 46 (January 29, 1996): 52-60.
Mikesh, Robert C. Japan’s World War II Balloon Bomb Attacks on North America. Washington, D.C.: Smithsonian Institution Press, 1973.
Webber, Bert. Silent Siege III: Japanese Attacks on North America in World War II: Ships Sunk, Air Raids, Bombs Dropped, Civilians Killed: Documentary. Medford, Oreg.: Webb Research Group, 1997.