Japan's Balloon Bombs: Fu-Go

Japan's Balloon Bombs: Fu-Go

Date: November 1944 – April 1945

Story:

Towards the end of WWII, Imperial Japan launched one of the most bizarre and geographically ambitious attacks in military history: Fu-Go (literally "Balloon Bomb"). Faced with diminishing naval and air power, Japan developed large, hydrogen-filled balloons carrying incendiary and anti-personnel bombs. The ingenious idea was to launch these balloons from Japan, allowing them to ride the high-altitude jet stream across the Pacific Ocean to the North American mainland, where they would drop their payloads. Over 9,000 such balloons were launched. While most either crashed into the Pacific or were shot down, approximately 300 made it to North America, landing in various locations from Alaska to Mexico. They caused some forest fires and a few casualties (including six civilians in Oregon, the only enemy-caused deaths on the continental U.S. during the war). The U.S. government implemented a strict news blackout to prevent panic and deny Japan intelligence on the success of their campaign, making it a lesser-known, yet remarkably unique, aspect of the war.

Reference:

Mikesh, Robert C. Japan's World War II Balloon Bombs. Smithsonian Institution Press, 1973.

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