OT: Balloon Bomb

[Mundy]

Looks like an old balloon bomb was found in Canada.

SP Article

[Yaab]

WOW! I want to bomb Texas too! How do you refuel Emilys by submarine TF in WITP:AE?

[geofflambert]

I've been reading about Gen. James Gavin (a straight up stud by the way) who commanded the 82nd Airborne at Operation Market Garden. He was played by Ryan O'Neal in "A Bridge Too Far". Casting O'Neal in that role was a stretch too far, he did it terribly. Anyways, Gavin was hot to deseg. the Armed Forces and formed a battalion for the 82nd of African Americans. This battalion was used as smoke jumpers to put out fires caused by those balloon bombs. I'm not sure if they ever saw any action in Europe.

[wdolson]

From what I've read the African American paratroopers were never deployed overseas.

Bill

[btd64]

The military channel had a show about the Balloon Bombs. Was a interesting idea really....GP

How about the Bat Bomb. I don't remember the guys name, but someone had the idea to equip bats with a small incendiary device. The idea was the bats would fly under the eaves of a building and the bomb would explode causing a fire. How about the Bird Guided Bomb. Yup, Look it up....GP

[wdolson]

The same weather phenomenon that allowed Japan to send the balloon bombs to the US has brought typhoon Vongfong (called Vern Fonk in this house) to the Northwest today. Very little wind, but lots and lots of rain. Vongfong broke up and is spread across the North Pacific so tendrils will be blowing in the rest of the week. Then the remains of hurricane Ana will hit us.

The jet stream was discovered right about the time WW II started and was not well understood. but both the Japanese and Americans began to understand it better as the war went on. A major reason the B-29s started low altitude attacks was due to the jet stream which blows right over Japan. Trying to bomb from altitudes of the jet stream caused the bombs to be scattered all over the countryside.

The jet stream blows from Japan right across the Pacific and into North America. It is the engine for all the weather west of the Rockies. The Japanese hit upon an idea that is somewhat crackpot in hindsight. They had seen images of big forest fires in the western US and thought if they could get some forest fires going, it would tie up American resources and maybe burn down some cities like Seattle. They didn't realize that the forests didn't go into Northwest cities and American cities weren't as flammable as Japanese cities often were.

So they sent thousands of balloon bombs up into the jet stream and let them carry their incendiary payloads to the US. The plan had a lot of flaws. They had timers to release the bombs at a certain time after they were launched which they thought would be over American forests. However, they couldn't gauge the speed of the jet stream that well and the balloons were rather fragile. A lot of balloons were found off the coast and many drifted much further inland than planned.

Another huge flaw in the plan was they started the program in November which is early in the wet season in the Northwest (usually about this time of year I tell people "only 9 more months of winter!"). They were dropping incendiaries into forests during one of the wettest times of the year. I don't believe there are any records of any forest fires started by these bombs.

When they were discovered American officials were concerned about them and they went to great measures to suppress all news coverage of them. The Japanese saw no news about them and concluded the program was a failure so they discontinued the program before the next summer when they might have started some serious forest fires.

Bill

[tocaff]

My father told me the story about a B-29 formation that his plane was part of that got "lost" due to the jet stream. They were a long way away from where they were supposed to be and that was the B-29's hello to the jet stream.

[pnzrgnral]

The 555th Parachute Infantry Battalion ("Triple Nickel") was fully formed and trained but was never deployed overseas during World War II.

[HansBolter]

Don't forget that the Russians trained dogs to run under tanks with bombs strapped to their backs.

Humans demonstrate no limit to their depravity for engaging in animal cruelty.

[msieving1]

ORIGINAL: HansBolter

Don't forget that the Russians trained dogs to run under tanks with bombs strapped to their backs.

Humans demonstrate no limit to their depravity for engaging in animal cruelty.

The Japanese trained people to run under tanks with bombs strapped to their backs.

[Zorch]

ORIGINAL: wdolson

The same weather phenomenon that allowed Japan to send the balloon bombs to the US has brought typhoon Vongfong (called Vern Fonk in this house) to the Northwest today. Very little wind, but lots and lots of rain. Vongfong broke up and is spread across the North Pacific so tendrils will be blowing in the rest of the week. Then the remains of hurricane Ana will hit us.

The jet stream was discovered right about the time WW II started and was not well understood. but both the Japanese and Americans began to understand it better as the war went on. A major reason the B-29s started low altitude attacks was due to the jet stream which blows right over Japan. Trying to bomb from altitudes of the jet stream caused the bombs to be scattered all over the countryside.

The jet stream blows from Japan right across the Pacific and into North America. It is the engine for all the weather west of the Rockies. The Japanese hit upon an idea that is somewhat crackpot in hindsight. They had seen images of big forest fires in the western US and thought if they could get some forest fires going, it would tie up American resources and maybe burn down some cities like Seattle. They didn't realize that the forests didn't go into Northwest cities and American cities weren't as flammable as Japanese cities often were.

So they sent thousands of balloon bombs up into the jet stream and let them carry their incendiary payloads to the US. The plan had a lot of flaws. They had timers to release the bombs at a certain time after they were launched which they thought would be over American forests. However, they couldn't gauge the speed of the jet stream that well and the balloons were rather fragile. A lot of balloons were found off the coast and many drifted much further inland than planned.

Another huge flaw in the plan was they started the program in November which is early in the wet season in the Northwest (usually about this time of year I tell people "only 9 more months of winter!"). They were dropping incendiaries into forests during one of the wettest times of the year. I don't believe there are any records of any forest fires started by these bombs.

When they were discovered American officials were concerned about them and they went to great measures to suppress all news coverage of them. The Japanese saw no news about them and concluded the program was a failure so they discontinued the program before the next summer when they might have started some serious forest fires.

Bill

The US gov't changed their policy and publicized the bombs after a teacher and 5 kids were killed by one. Fortunately the japs had already stopped sending them. See http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fire_balloon

[rustysi]

The idea was the bats would fly under the eaves of a building and the bomb would explode causing a fire.

Yep, and after the bats nearly burned down the base they were testing the idea at the project was abandoned.[:D]