Japanese balloon bombs seen on West Coast in ’44
During World War II in late 1944, the Japanese army launched about 9,000 unmanned bomb-carrying balloons across the Pacific to bombard the West Coast.
Most of the balloon bombs fell harmlessly into the ocean, but a few landed in the Northwest, setting off a few minor forest fires. Only about 300 balloon bombs were found or observed in the U.S., Canada and Mexico.
In January 1945, the federal government’s Office of Censorship ordered a media blackout on the balloons.
Of the known locations of balloon bomb landings, only one was reported in San Diego County, according to Ross Coen, a history professor and the author of “Fu-Go: The Curious History of Japan’s Balloon Bomb Attack on America.” According to Coen, a local rancher named Eugene Campbell and one of his ranch hands observed a pear-shaped balloon land near his Julian ranch on Jan. 31, 1945.
The news blackout stayed in effect until May 5, 1945, when a mother and five children were killed in Oregon when a balloon bomb they dragged from the woods exploded.
From The San Diego Union, Friday, Aug. 17, 1945
ENEMY BALLOON FOUND IN S.D. COUNTY STUDIED
At least one and possibly two of the thousands of bomb-carrying paper balloons the Japanese are believed to have sent against the United States fell in San Diego county. Relaxation of censorship permitted this disclosure here for the first time yesterday.
In addition, at least two of the balloons are believed to have passed over the county, carried farther east by the same winds that the enemy cleverly calculated would transport the gas-filled paper bags from Japan across thousands of miles of Pacific ocean to the continental United States.
One balloon was recovered intact in the vicinity of Cedar Creek, six miles southwest of Julian, last Jan. 31. A fisherman found it and the device was studied in turn by the federal bureau of investigation and the office of naval intelligence.
SECOND BAG LOST
The other balloon was seen flying low over El Capitan dam. It rose, however, before supposedly falling in the rough mountain area beyond Descanso. It is believed to be still there. A search failing to find it was abandoned.
Neither of the balloons did any apparent damage. A block of picric acid, somewhat larger than a pound of butter and possibly intended to destroy the device to prevent study of its intricate machinery, was found on the Cedar Creek balloon.
The balloon that fell in Cedar creek was described as having a bag 33 feet in diameter, composed of three-ply laminated rice paper, which is very tough and retains gas better than cloth. The control mechanism and bomb load were carried in a “skirt” suspended by paper rope strands. The bag was filled with inflammable gas.
The bomb mechanism was controlled by barometers and an electric battery, actuating a series of switches that operated when the balloon descended to a determined altitude. At each descent ballast bags were dumped as the balloon crossed the ocean. The final series of descents dropped incendiary bombs, of which there were four, and an anti-personnel bomb. Usually the balloons also carried a demolition charge intended to destroy the device at the end.