On Fri, 02 Nov 2007 23:24:10 -0600, Vic Smith wrote:


Fat lot of good that did them. Might as well throw TNT-rigged coconuts
in the gulf stream to blow up Ireland. But hey, everything can help in
war. Kept some number of West-coasters busy on balloon patrol. Whenever
the Jap balloons come up, I'm reminded of the American bat guy whose
bats, incendiaries on their legs, were near the point of being dropped
in Japan. Those bats might have caused more Jap casualties than the
A-bombs. Who knows?

Those Japanese balloon bombs could have been an effective terrorism weapon, except for a
few small details. They were mostly incendiary devices, meant to start forest fires, some
landing as far east as Michigan, but that was back in the day where the press could keep a
secret, and very few people knew about them. Not much terror in an unknown weapon. The
other, perhaps more important reason, they were released over the winter of 1944-45. Not
the best time to be setting a forest fire in the Pacific Northwet. However, the recent fires in
California show their potential.