Balloon bombs touch down near Kalispell

[Ptah]

Historian Jon Axline tells a story about Oscar Hill and his son, who in
1944 were cutting firewood 17 miles southwest of Kalispell. They found
a strange parachute-like object with Japanese writing and a rising sun
symbol stenciled on it. Sheriff Duncan McCarthy took the object to a
Kalispell garage. Rumors flew and soon 500 people crowded into the
garage to take a look. It turned out to be a Japanese balloon rigged
to carry a bomb. It was the beginning of an aerial attack on the
United States by Imperial Japan as World War II wound down. In
November of 1944, the Japanese began launching hydrogen-filled paper
balloons believing the jet stream would carry them to North America.
The attached incendiary and anti-personnel bombs would start forest fires
and kill civilians. The Japanese also intended the balloon bombs as
psychological weapons, designed to cause confusion and spread panic.
The Japanese called them Fu-Go, “Windship Weapons.” They were the
first intercontinental weapons, a low-tech predecessor to the
ballistic missiles of the late 20th century.


http://www.greatfallstribune.com/story/life/my-montana/2016/04/06/balloon-bombs-kalispell/82726198/

[Hoppy]

1. I recollect reading that some of the bombs did explode. The damage was kept under wraps so as not to

worry the populace andor encourage the Japanese to send more.

[SCantiGOP]

2. Post this in LBN

It will get a lot of attention.