In a classic case of wartime jitters, the U.S. Navy once opened fire on the planet Venus. Discover the history of the Japanese Fu-Go balloon bombs and the "battle" that followed.

November 3, 1944 - The first of 9,000 Japanese balloon bombs was launched on Nov. 3, 1944. The Japanese government was hoping to set fires and cause casualties during World War Two. Parts of five ...

In the final months of WWII, Japan launched a secret weapon—balloons meant to start chaos in the U.S. Few arrived, but one led to tragedy. We visit the Mitchell Monument in Oregon, site of the only ...

The end of the war heralded a new, more peaceful world, economic worries, and release of previously censored news about Pearl Harbor blame and a wave of Japanese balloon bombs. The front page of the ...

Originally published: Japan's World War II balloon attacks on North America. Washington : Smithsonian Institution Press, 1973. (Smithsonian annals of flight ; no. 9) ...

On May 5, 1945, a quiet spring afternoon near Bly, Oregon, became a tragic moment in American history. Six innocent lives were lost when a Japanese balloon bomb (one of the mysterious Fu-Go weapons ...