Japan's balloon bombs

[namvet]

probably discussed elsewhere on the forum. today I found a video that shows the complexity of this weapon. amazing technology here. its technical and about 21 mins long.

balloonbomb

they knew something about the weather we didn't. the jet stream. they were assembled by school children.

japaneseballonbomb

 

[MontyB]

I never realised that the technology of the process was so advanced, quite amazing for a system that had no real chance of achieving anything.

Given the conditions they were made under though it was ingenious.

 

[LeEnfield]

The idea was not be accurate but to start fires in the forests and cause a bit of chaos. I was one of the few ways they had to hit back or at least to try to.

 

[namvet]

The idea was not be accurate but to start fires in the forests and cause a bit of chaos. I was one of the few ways they had to hit back or at least to try to.

they did kill one family. On May 5, 1945, a woman and five children in Gearhart Mountain, Ore., were killed after discovering an explosive balloon launched by the Japanese military.

link

so the potential was there

 

[MontyB]

they did kill one family. On May 5, 1945, a woman and five children in Gearhart Mountain, Ore., were killed after discovering an explosive balloon launched by the Japanese military.

link

so the potential was there

I am not sure I agree, sure they killed a family and sure they had the potential to kill more but any deaths were more a case of pure bad luck than calculation further to that it was a very short term attack as the jet stream is a pretty fickle delivery system with weather affecting its path.

Possibly its greatest potential would have been realised with dirty bombs which would have had a far wider coverage but on the whole a few incendiaries and 250lb HE bomb landing somewhere between the Arctic and Mexico city was hardly likely to be a great threat.