Japan sent over 9,300 balloons to attack the North American mainland from November 1944 to early April 1945. This campaign was Japan’s attempt at vengeance for the April 1942 Doolittle attack on the island of Honshu. Built of laminated panels of paper, filled with hydrogen gas, and kept aloft by an ingenious altitude control mechanism, the balloons traveled the jet stream to make the 6,200-mile crossing of the Pacific. After taking roughly fifty hours, the balloons would drop incendiaries and high explosives on the forests of the Pacific Northwest. The actual target was the morale of the American and Canadian publics.

Slightly under 300 balloons were discovered during the war. While being found mainly in the Pacific Northwest, they were found in Alaska & the Yukon, southern California & northern Mexico, and states in the mountain West and the Great Plains. The furthest east they were discovered was in Michigan. This talk will discuss general outlines of the balloon attacks followed by a detailed description of the two balloons which were discovered at the border area of Kent & Allegan counties and in Farmington in the Detroit suburbs.

At this time masks are not required for in-person events, however, we do encourage anyone to wear one if it will make them more comfortable to attend an in-person event.

Doors will open at 6:25 pm for this event.