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The balloon bombs, also known as "Fu-Go", were a vengence weapon used by Japan during the later
half of the Pacific War.They were in retaliation for the 1942 attack on Tokyo by Col. Doolittle.
The balloons theirselves were paper bags partially filled to counteract the extreme fluctuations
in the Pacific Jet Stream.The theory was that the balloons would follow the Jet Stream to North
America.Then, land and explode with a one hour fuse.It carried one 15 kg. Anti-Presonnal Bomb and
two incendiaries.This would, especially in the fire season, would cause a herrific forest fire
and terrorize the civilian population.
Out of the 9,000 that were launched, about a 1,000 reached their mark, ranging from Alaska to California to Texas and even as far east as Michigan! Out of all of those that made it, only one had causalities linked to it.A bomb was found near a camp site in Lakeview, Oregon.The children that found it drug it back to the camp site, and it exploded, killing five children and a woman named Elsie Mitchell.After the attack, the American press agreed with the government to not run the story.So, with no news of the bombs ever reaching their target, Japan stopped launching them.Even though the last balloon bomb was launched in April of 1945, the last one was found in Alaska in 1955.And, there may still be others out there. 
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