On This Day in Tech History

During World War II, the Japanese launched a series of "balloon bombs" with the intention of attacking the United States from the air. These balloons were launched from Japan and were carried by the jet stream across the Pacific Ocean to North America. On May 5, 1945, a Japanese balloon bomb exploded in the United States, killing six people in the town of Bly, Oregon. The victims were a woman and five children who had been on a picnic in the forest when they came across the unexploded bomb. When they tried to move it, the bomb detonated, killing all of them instantly. This was the only fatal incident caused by a Japanese balloon bomb on US soil during the war. In total, it is estimated that around 9,000 balloon bombs were launched by Japan, with most of them landing harmlessly or being intercepted before they could cause damage.