Japan built many interesting aircraft in WWII - the fastest of which was the Nakajima Ki-84 Hayate 'Frank', however, none of these attacked the US Mainland. History is full of many bizarre tales - and one of them is the only time the Lower 48 came under air attack in WWII was from (oddly) a submarine. On September 9, 1942, the mountains of Oregon near Brookings were air raided by a lonely Japanese floatplane .
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The floatplane was a Japanese Yokosuka E14Y "Glen" launched from a Japanese submarine that had sailed across the Pacific. There was reason to the proverbial madness to attack Oregon's stunning wilderness. The aircraft dropped two incendiary bombs, hoping to start a forest fire.
The Lookout Air Raids on Oregon
Despite fears after Pearl Harbor that the Japanese would invade the West Coast, this was absolutely out of the question for Japan's capabilities. But people didn't necessarily know that, and Japan sought to leverage that fear as much as possible (and also to avenge the humiliating Doolittle Raid on the home islands).
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The first aerial bombing of the United States mainland by a foreign power came from the same I-25 Japanese submarine. The Japanese pilot, Nobuo Fujita, catapulted from the submarine and flew toward Mt. Emily. It was hoped that a large forest fire caused by enemy raids on the mainland would trigger the US to divert resources from elsewhere in the war to guard the coast.
Yokosuka E14Y "Glen" floatplane:
Type:
Submarine-based reconnaissance seaplane
Number built:
126
First flight:
1939
Introduced:
1941
Retired:
1943
Max take-off weight:
3,527 lb
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One bomb left a crater around three feet in diameter and one foot deep. The raid took place just before dawn and was observed by the force service employee Howard "Razz" Gardner. At first, he thought the aircraft was one of the many patrol planes that had passed up and down the coast.
Later, Gardner saw smoke and called for help (thinking the fire was from a lightning strike). They quickly controlled the fire and then found the crater from the bomb impact (he assumed it had been dropped accidentally by an American plane).
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"If the forest had been as dry as normal for that time of year, the Japanese plan might have worked, leaving forest fires that diverted hundreds of fire fighters and large amounts of money from the war effort while triggering panic in the population." - State of Oregon
Photo: Public Domain l Wikimedia Commons
A second seaplane attack occurred at the end of September with a similar result (the forest was unusually wet for that time of year).
Submarine sunk in the Guadalcanal Campaign
The submarine was able to carry a single two-seater Yokosuka E14Y reconnaissance floatplane. The plane would be disassembled and stowed in a hangar in front of the conning tower.
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Lookout Air Raids
Date:
September 9 and September 29, 1942
Location:
Oregon mountains
Outcome:
Negligible
Number of aircraft:
1
Aircraft type:
Yokosuka E14Y "Glen" floatplane
Photo: Public Domain l Wikimedia Commons
Within a year, the I-25 submarine would go on to be sunk by US destroyers (no one knows which destroyer) during the Guadalcanal Campaign. The sub was sunk between late August and mid-September 1943 and was reported presumed lost by the Japanese on 24 October 1943, with the loss of all 100 men onboard.
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The last Japanese airman known to have taken part in the Raid on Pearl Harbor has finally died.
3 Axis attempts to bomb the US Mainland
While the most famous (or infamous) Japanese attack on US soil was the Raid on Pearl Harbor, it was far from the only attack. The Japanese also invaded or attempted to invade the American Philippines, Wake Island, Midway, and Alaska's Aleutian Islands. However, all of these (including Hawaii) were US territories at the time - during WWII, the US had 48 states.
Photo: Kogo | Wikimedia Commons Shelling of Fort Stevens
In June 1942, the Japanese submarine I-25 shelled Fort Stevens (which defended the Oregon side of the Columbia River's Pacific entrance). The only causality of the incident was a soldier who cut his head while rushing to his battle station.
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This was the first hostile shelling of a US mainland military base since the War of 1812. Besides damaging the only backstop of the baseball diamond, the submarine only left a few craters on the beach and marshland (the fort failed to return fire on the submarine). The Japanese also attacked Canada's Vancouver Island.
Related The Role Of Mitsubishi A6M Zero Fighters In The Attack On Pearl Harbor
Most of the damage at Pearl Harbor was inflicted by "Kate" and "Val" bombers. But the Zero added its fair share of death and destruction during.
Fu-Go balloons Photo: Department of the Air Force l Wikimedia Commons ✕ Remove Ads
Another way the Japanese tried to strike the US was by floating "Fu-Go" balloons up into the atmosphere, where jet streams would carry them across the Pacific, with the balloons eventually releasing their bombs over the US. While the balloons caused a stir, little ever came of it (except for one incident where six were killed as they played with the bomb, not knowing what it was).
The goal of the Fu-Go balloons was also to start forest fires. The US became aware of the balloons carrying incendiary bombs on December 6, 1944 after an investigation into a "mysterious explosion" in Wyoming found balloon parts and bomb casing fragments from a 33 lb high explosive bomb. In all, according to the State of Oregon, "Japan launched over 9,000 balloon bombs resulting in over 342 incidents registered throughout western United States and Canada."
Photo: National Air and Space Museum ✕ Remove Ads The German Amerikabomber
Axis attacks on the US proper were rare, but not for want of trying - the Germans built prototypes for the long-ranged "Amerikabomber" and tended to have the range to bomb New York. The Japanese tried to build their own long-range bombers to bomb the US Mainland (ultimately unsuccessfully).