Ancient, Medieval and Modern Weapon Guessing

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Name: Fu-Go Fire Balloon Bombs
Operator: Japanese Imperial Army

a weapon launched by Japan during World War II. A hydrogen balloon with a load varying from a 12-kilogram (26 lb) incendiary to one 15 kg (33 lb) antipersonnel bomb and four 5 kg (11 lb) incendiary devices attached, they were designed as a cheap weapon intended to make use of the jet stream over the Pacific Ocean and wreak havoc on Canadian and American cities, forests, and farmland.
The balloons were relatively ineffective as weapons but were used in one of the few attacks on North America during World War II.
Between November 1944 and April 1945, Japan launched over 9,300 fire balloons. About 300 balloon bombs were found or observed in North America, killing six people and causing a small amount of damage

Almost as peculiar as the ‘Bat Bomb’ idea of the US military was a similarly outlandish scheme dreamed up by the Japanese, also in WWII. Yes, the Japanese came up with an idea of their own, for bombing the US mainland: Fu-Go balloon bombs, first launched in November 1944.

Made by housewives and school children from paper, cloth and rope, these unlikely weapons were intended to be transported by high altitude jet streams – 200 mph winds travelling at 30,000 ft – which would theoretically carry them to their target in three to four days. This madcap scheme was dreamed up by Japanese Ninth Army Technical Research Laboratory chief, Major-General Sueyoshi Kusaba. The plan was to have the balloons create mysterious blasts across the US – mysterious because the incendiary elements of the bombs would burn up all the evidence.



Around 32 ft in diameter, the balloons were to have anti-personnel explosives and incendiary devices slung beneath them. Each balloon could lift some 1,000 pounds in weight, 200 of which was sand bag ballast. The balloon was filled with hydrogen at the onset of the balloon's journey, and an altimeter trip-switch would release gas if the balloon got too high or drop sand if it dipped too low. The device was timed to be over the target within a predetermined timescale, and when it was assumed it had made it there, the bombs would release, after which an 84-minute incendiary fuse would be ignited to facilitate self-destruction.

This truly was low-cost warfare. The balloons were constructed mostly by school kids, who pasted squares of washi paper together, with no idea what they were working on, for up to eleven hours a day. Although there were some 9,000 of these supposedly lethal weapons deployed, very few actually reached their intended target.



There were casualties, however. Six people were killed in Oregon by one of the devices when one of them tried to investigate it and the explosives went off. Yet another device actually did start a small fire in a forest, which the Japanese high command had hoped would happen on a large scale, but the blaze was put out quickly. One balloon bomb did also collide with an electric power line at the Hanford Site in Washington, shutting down production of plutonium for the world’s first atom bomb.

Michell Monument, for US victims of a Fu-Go bomb

Most of the bombs failed, though, because they were simply too big and far too numerous. Mid-air explosions were observed near the California coast, and initially it was thought that the balloons were being released from submarines off the US West Coast. When a squadron of P-47 fighter planes spotted a balloon bomb while on coastal patrol, they managed to recover it because the bombs failed to explode, and so the Japanese secret was out. News of this plot was heavily censored, but in truth those behind the scheme got all their estimates wrong, and the balloon bomb campaign failed utterly.

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kini

[img]http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-qdxjTqyUeSk/TV1FE6eMRrI/AAAAAAAAASA/WJRBrAr3r2k*******balloons.jpg[/img]

[jangska]

sa german air balloons na sir nuh? kalimot kos pangan..

[THE KID]

Led Zeppelin

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Barrage balloon



A barrage balloon is a large balloon tethered with metal cables, used to defend against low-level aircraft attack by damaging the aircraft on collision with the cables, or at least making the attacker's approach more difficult. Some versions carried small explosive charges that would be pulled up against the aircraft to ensure its destruction. Barrage balloons were regularly employed only against low-flying aircraft, the weight of a longer cable making them impractical for higher altitudes.

Disadvantages

Balloons were sometimes more trouble than they were worth. In 1942 Canadian and American forces began joint operations to protect the sensitive locks and shipping channel at Sault Ste. Marie along their common border among the Great Lakes against possible air attack.[3] During severe storms in August and October 1942 some barrage balloons broke loose, and the trailing cables short-circuited power lines, causing serious disruption to mining and manufacturing. In particular, the metals production vital to the war effort was disrupted. Canadian military historical records indicate that "The October incident, the most serious, caused an estimated loss of 400 tons of steel and 10 tons of ferro-alloys."
Following these incidents, new procedures were put in place, which included stowing the balloons during the winter months, with regular deployment exercises and a standby team on alert to deploy the balloons in case of attack. The idea of free-floating balloons was also used in Operation Outward.

Balloons could be launched from specialised vehicles.

Nuclear weapon tests

An unforeseen use for surplus barrage balloons was as tethered shot balloons for nuclear weapon tests, throughout most of the period when nuclear weapons were tested in the atmosphere. The weapon or shot was carried aloft to the required altitude slung underneath the barrage balloon, allowing test shots at much higher altitudes than tower shots, in controlled conditions. Several of the shots in the Operation Plumbob series were carried out using barrage balloons to carry the devices.

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kani

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kani e attached ni cya sa bomber plane.

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[machinecult]

kani

One of the many types of manned torpedo/submarines. Italian Maiale Italian for "Pig".

The "Pigs" were generally ferried near to the objective clamped to the deck of a "mother" submarine. The two-man crew wore protective rubber suits and bottled oxygen-fed breathing apparatus. The officer pilot, forward, steered the craft with the co-pilot in tandem. The Maiale could dive to 30m to penetrate harbour defences.

kani e attached ni cya sa bomber plane.

"Ohka" suicide craft or manned bomb.

The Yokosuka MXY-7 Ohka (櫻花; Shinjitai: 桜花; "cherry blossom"; Hebon-shiki transcription Ōka) was a purpose-built, rocket powered human-guided anti-shipping kamikaze attack plane employed by Japan towards the end of World War II. United States sailors gave the aircraft the nickname Baka (Japanese for "fool" or "idiot")