On May 5, 1945, six civilians were killed near Bly, Oregon, when they discovered one of the balloon bombs in Fremont National Forest, becoming the only fatalities from Axis action in the continental U.S. during the war. He can be found online at www.christopherklein.com or on Twitter @historyauthor. When Col. Sigmund Poole, head of the U.S. Geological Survey military geology unit at the time, was given sand from one of the balloon's ballast bags, he is alleged to have asked, "Where'd the damn sand come from?". Another bizarre explanation is that it was a balloon bomb launched by the Japanese. The bomb that exploded . As a result, a single one achieved its goal. They called it Operation Fu-Go. [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. As recently as 2014, aballoon was discovered in Canada, and it was technically functional. The first balloon bomb was set free on Nov. 3, 1944. Suitable launch conditions were expected for only about fifty days through the winter period of maximum jet stream velocity. Following the end of the war, a team of American scientists arrived in Tokyo in September to create a report on Japanese scientific war research. J apanese weapon straight out of a pulp science-fiction magazine created a lot of problems for the U.S. government in the waning months of World War IIproblems not of national defense, but of public information and morale.. In addition, the balloons could only be launched during certain wind conditions. A large explosion occurred; the four boys (Edward Engen, 13; Jay Gifford, 13; Dick Patzke, 14; and Sherman Shoemaker, 11) were killed instantly, while Joan Patzke (13) and Elsie died shortly afterwards. For Reverend Archie Mitchell, the spring of 1945 was a season of change. While the tragedy of that day in Bly has not been repeated, the sequel remains a realif remotepossibility. None of the balloons, however, had caused any injuriesuntil Mitchells church group came across the wreckage of one on Gearhart Mountain. Scientists just confirmed a 30-foot void first detected inside the monument years ago. [8], Each launch pad consisted of anchor screws drilled into the ground and arranged in a circle the same diameter as the balloons. Coincidentally, the largest consumer of energy on this power grid was theHanford siteof the Manhattan Project, which suddenly lost power. "Most likely it had been coming from a small chunk of beach east of Tokyo," he added. Around 300 of them landed in the United States. The propaganda largely aimed to play up the success of the Fu-Go operation, and warned the US that the balloons were merely a prelude to something big.. The balloons weren't designed to navigate themselves and that's part of the wonder of this Japans offensive. The officials determined that the balloon was of Japanese origin, but how it had gotten to Montana and where it came from was a mystery.". [48] A carriage with a live bomb was found near Lumby, British Columbia, in 2014 and detonated by a Royal Canadian Navy ordnance disposal team. When you talk about something like that, as bad as it seems when that happened and everything, I look at my four children, they never would have been, and Im so thankful for all four of my children and my ten grandchildren. Reverend Archie Mitchell and his pregnant wife Elsie (age 26) drove up Gearhart Mountain that day with five of their Sunday school students for a picnic. The silence was successful, as the Japanese only heard about one balloon incident in America, through the Chinese newspaperTakungpao. A National Geographic team has made the first ascent of the remote Mount Michael, looking for a lava lake in the volcanos crater. A Japanese Fu-Go balloon with bombs attached near Bigelow, Kansas, on February 23, 1945. The downside to such secrecy was that American citizens didn't know what these weapons were. "Code 'Fu' [Weapon]") was an incendiary balloon weapon (, fsen bakudan, lit. In March 1945, one balloon even hit a high-tension power line and caused a temporary blackout at the Hanford, Washington, plant that was producing plutonium that would be used in the atomic bomb dropped on Nagasaki five months later. Japanese fire balloon reinflated at Moffett Field, California, after it had been shot down by a Navy aircraft January 10, 1945. After laying out a deflated envelope, hoses were used to fill the envelope with hydrogen before it was tied down with guide ropes and detached from the anchors. Between November 1944 and April 1945, the Imperial Japanese Army launched about 9,300 balloons from sites on Honshu, of which about 300 were found or observed in the U.S. and Canada, with some in Mexico. Early U.S. theories speculated that they were launched from German prisoner of war camps or from Japanese-American internment centers. The massive balloons would then be launched, timed carefully to optimize the wind currents of the jet stream and reach the United States. Fu-Go ([], fug [heiki], lit. Jeff Quitney/YouTube A captured Japanese Fu-Go balloon bomb photographed during post-war testing to evaluate its potential desctructive capabilities. [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. Between 1944 and 1945, the Japanese military launched an estimated 9,000 bomb-rigged balloons across the Pacific Ocean. The groundbreaking promise of cellular housekeeping. 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. The . "It just made a big hole in the ground.". Lieutenant Commander Kiyoshi Tanaka headed an group that developed a 30-foot (9.1m) rubberized silk balloon, designated the B-Type (in contrast to the Army's A-Type). I radioed in that I had found it and got it. Map of Fu-Go incident locations in North America. 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. ", "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, ------------------------------------------------------------------------------. 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. [36], In late March, the United Press (UP) wrote a detailed story on the balloons intended for its distributors across the country. They were the only Americans to be killed by enemy action during World War II in the continental USA. The initial reaction of the military was immediate concern. The Winnipeg Tribune noted that one balloon bomb was found 10 miles from Detroit and another one near Grand Rapids. To this day, historians believe not all balloons have been recovered. Published: Feb. 6, 2023 at 5:38 PM PST. I had been walking around on that stuff and they had not told me! 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. The Japanese harnessed air currents to create the first intercontinental weaponsballoons. May 5, 2021. Their launch sites were located on the east coast of the main Japanese island of Honsh. The incidents remind historians and Nebraskans of an incident that occurred in Dundee during World War II. And so ends a sensational chapter of the war, it noted. [35] In both cases, the Office of Censorship deemed it unnecessary to censor the comic strips. Map by Jerome N. Cookson, National Geographic; source: Dave Tewksbury, Hamilton College. Stocks of decontamination chemicals, ultimately unused, were shipped to key points in the western states. [39] The Fu-Go balloon was the first weapon system to have intercontinental range, with its flights being the longest-ranged attacks in the history of warfare at the time. Which travel companies promote harmful wildlife activities? According to Powles, "An investigation by local sheriffs determined that the object was not a parachute, but a large paper balloon with ropes attached along with a gas relief valve, a long fuse connected to a small incendiary bomb, and a thick rubber cord. The balloons were supposed to blow themselves up after releasing anti-personnel and. 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. One of the thousands of bomb-carrying balloons they launched into the jet stream toward North America knocked out electricity for a . Pamela Lovett saw a small object covered. Finally, on the auspicious day of November 3, 1944, chosen for being the birthday of former Emperor Meiji, the first of the balloons were launched. [19], The first balloons were launched at 0500 on November 3, 1944. Arakawa further found that the strongest winds blew from November to March at speeds approaching 200 miles per hour (320km/h). The plan was diabolic. The memorial commemorating the six Oregonians killed by a Japanese "Fu-Go" balloon bomb during WWII near Bly in the Mitchell Recreation Area. They designed balloon bombs to be launched from Japanese submarines on the West Coast of America. [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. Unauthorized use is prohibited. In the 1940s, the Japanese were mapping out air currents by launching balloons attached with measuring instruments from the western side of Japan and picking them up on the eastern side. where personnel from the FBI, Army and Navy carefully examined everything. Despite the launches being top secret, once released, balloons were not hidden to those in the neighboring areas. 129 McNutt Hall, 1400 N. Bishop Ave. Rolla, MO 65409-0230. Photograph courtesy of Karen Melkonian. A separate altimeter set between 13,000 and 20,000 feet (4,000 and 6,100m) controlled the later release of the bombs. When 13-year-old Joan Patzke spied a strange white canvas on the forest floor, the curious girl summoned the rest of the group. Japanese scientists carefully studied what would become commonly known as the jet stream, realizing these currents of wind could enable balloons to reach United States shores in just a couple of days. These skeletons may have the answer, Scientists are making advancements in birth controlfor men, Blood cleaning? [43] A bomb disposal expert guessed that the bomb had been kicked or otherwise disturbed. "The control frame really is a piece of art. Marc Lancaster. Matthias recalled that although the Hanford plant did lose about two days of production, we were all tickled to death this happened because it proved the back-up system worked. Or Joan dead? Heres why each season begins twice. They each carried four incendiaries and one thirty-pound high-explosive bomb. They wouldnt have been if that tragedy hadnt happened, Betty Mitchell told Sol in an interview. "Code 'Fu' [Weapon]") was an incendiary balloon weapon (, fsen bakudan, lit. 2023 Smithsonian Magazine 1. 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. Location. When the balloons made landfall, there were no obvious clues as to where they originated.