WW2 Japanese Incendiary Balloon Bombs in the U.S.

Many such balloon bombs reached American shores in WW2: far more than the North American people were ever made to realize during the 1944-1945 time or later. One killed several on a picnic in Oregon, one hit a power line in Washington, one down in Utah, one in Kansas, and one apparently blew up in the high plains country of Delta, Colorado and was found by a rancher in 1946.

There were others sent aloft between Nov. 1944 and April 1945 but the government had solicited the cooperation of the media (newspapers and radio) to keep a lid on it the Japanese stopped the flights and most considered the idea just another failure in the contest to build better more destructive weapons. Locations where they were found to have landed include: Japan released the first of these bomb-bearing balloons on November 3, 1944. They were found (according to Wikipedia) in Alaska, Alberta, Arizona, British Columbia, California, Colorado, Hawaii, Idaho, Iowa, Kansas, Mexico, Michigan, Montana, Nebraska, Nevada, North Dakota, Oregon, South Dakota, Texas, Utah, Washington, Wyoming, and Yukon Territory.

The Japanese Fusen-bakudan (Balloon bomb) was launched to use the Pacific Jet Stream from Nov. 1944 to April 1945 before the program was halted. Project Blue Book case # 330 concerned the finding of debris near Montrose, Colorado. Newspapers quoted that Noah L. Chubb had found it in the area of X Delta, Colorado) and turned it over to Air Force Intelligence and believed, in an April 7, 1949 newspaper article that the object might have been responsible for the 'flying discs' reports in the area during 1947. Examination of the arc shaped objects of a wheel shaped material, 4 ft. in diameter, with aluminum construction on the rim, 1-2 inches, with tube like wicks every two inches of brass construction dated its discovery at 4 April 1946 and a positive identification of the object as a ballast ring from a Japanese incendiary bomb.

While the need for secrecy during the conflict is understandable, the secrecy and lack of inclusion of the success of these objects, had tremendous impact on the history of the conflict, the manner in which the U.S. protected itself and left he American people with a false sense of protection that might have contributed to a greater willingness to wage war or assert authority over others due to a false sense of superiority. The question can be asked: what would have been the reactions of citizens in learning, after the fact, that they were not as safe as they had supposed? Would that have tempered war like rhetoric? Would that have made peace a greater imperative in situations of global or continental tensions?

The Allies, especially the American forces, had greater numbers and greater firepower but in this instance it was an ancient science of flight coupled with ingenuity that almost - almost - could have made a reality the rhetoric Japan spread at the time of American cities and forests ablaze and people trembling in fear.

What lessons might this provide for how an extraterrestial group might approach the human race? Big thoughts about big issues....

Further reading:

http://www.burnpit.us/2016/11/japanese-begin-release-incendiary-balloons-spread-terror-america

https://www.utahhumanities.org/stories/items/show/240

 https://www.atomicheritage.org/history/japanese-balloon-bombs-fu-go