When Japan Bombed Oregon

The Day Japan Bombed Oregon <http://acmp.com/blog/the‐day‐japan‐bombed‐oregon.html> September 9, 1942 , the I‐25 class Japanese If this test run were successful, Japan had submarine was cruising in an easterly direction hopes of using their huge submarine fleet to raising its periscope occasionally as it neared attack the eastern end of the Panama Canal to the United States Coastline. slow down shipping from the Atlantic to the Pacific. Japan had attacked Pearl Harbor less than a year ago and the Captain of the attack The Japanese Navy had a large number of submarine knew that Americans were watching I‐400 submarines under construction. their coast line for ships and aircraft that might attack our country. Each capable of carrying three aircraft. Dawn was approaching; the first rays of the sun Pilot Chief Warrant Officer Nobuo Fujita and were flickering off the periscopes lens. his crewman Petty Officer Shoji Okuda were making last minute checks of their charts Their mission; attack the west coast with making sure they matched those of the incendiary bombs in hopes of starting a submarines navigator. devastating forest fire. The only plane ever to drop a bomb on the United States during WWII was this Japanese submarine based Glen. September 9, 1942: Nebraska forestry It was cold on the coast this September morning student Keith V. Johnson was on duty atop and quiet. a forest fire lookout tower between Golds Beach and Brookings Oregon . The residents of the area were still in bed or preparing to head for work. Keith had memorized the silhouettes of Japanese long distance bombers and those Lumber was a large part of the industry in of our own aircraft. Brookings, just a few miles north of the California Oregon state lines. He felt confident that he could spot and identify, friend or foe, almost immediately. The aircraft carried two incendiary 168 pound bombs and a crew of two. Aboard the submarine the Captains voice boomed over the PA system, This was a small two passenger float plane with a nine cylinder Prepare to surface, aircrew report to your stations, wait for the open 340 hp radial engine. hatch signal. It was full daylight when the Captain ordered the aircraft to be During training runs several subs were lost when hangar door were placed on the catapult. opened too soon and sea water rushed into the hangars and sank the boat with all hands lost. Warrant Officer Fujita started the engine, let it warm up, checkedthemagnetosandoilpressure. You could hear the change of sound as the bow of the I‐25 broke from the depths, nosed over for its run on the surface. There was a slight breeze blowing and the seas were calm. A loud bell signaled the All Clear. A perfect day to attack the United States of America . The crew assigned to the single engine Yokosuki E14Ys float equipped When the gauges were in the green the pilot signaled and the observation and light attack aircraft sprang into action. catapult launched the aircraft. They rolled the plane out its hangar built next to the conning tower. After a short climb to altitude the pilot turned on a heading for the Oregon coast. The wings and tail were unfolded, and several 176 pound incendiary bombs were attached to the hard points under the wings. The Glen was launched via catapult from a I‐25 class Japanese submarine. It was unusual because in the past all air traffic had been flying Johnson was sweeping the horizon but could see nothing, he up and down the coast, not aiming into the coast. went back to his duties as a forestry agent which was searching for any signs of a forest fire. The pilot of the aircraft checked his course and alerted his observer to be on the lookout for a fire tower which was on the The morning moved on. edge of the wooded area where they were supposed to drop their bombs. Every few minutes he would scan low, medium and high but nothing caught his eye. These airplanes carried very little fuel and all flights were in and out without any loitering. The small Japanese float plane had climbed to several thousand feet of altitude for better visibility and to get above the coastal Theplanereachedtheshorelineandthepilotmadeacourse fog. correction 20 degrees to the north. The pilot had calculated land fall in a few minutes and right on The huge trees were easy to spot and certainly easy to hit with schedule he could see the breakers flashing white as they hit the thebombs.Thefogwasverywispybythistime. Oregon shores. Johnson was about to put his binoculars down when something flashed in the sun just above the fog bank. Warrant Officer Fujita is shown with his Yokosuka E14Y (Glen) float plane prior to his flight. He executed an 180 degree turn and headed back to the Johnson watched in awe as the small floatplane with a red meat ball submarine on the wings flew overhead. There was no air activity, the skies were clear. The plane was not a bomber and there was no way that it could have flown across the Pacific. The small float plane lined up with the surfaced submarine and landed gently on the ocean, then taxied to the sub. Johnson could not understand what was happening. A long boom swung out from the stern. He locked onto the p lane and followed it as it headed inland. The pilot activated the release locks so that when he could pickled His crewman caught the cable and hooked it into the pickup the bombs they would release. attached to the roll over cage between the cockpits. His instructions were simple, fly at 500 feet, drop the bombs into The plane was swung onto the deck. the trees and circle once to see if they had started any fires and then head back to the submarine. The planes crew folded the wings and tail, pushed it into its hangar and secured the water tight doors. Johnson could see the two bombs under the wing of the plane and knew that they would be dropped. The I‐25 submerged and headed back to Japan . He grabbed his communications radio and called the Forest Fire This event, which caused no damage, marked the only time Headquarters informing them of what he was watching unfold. during World War II that an enemy plane had dropped bombs on the United States mainland. The bombs tumbled from the small seaplane and impacted the forests, the pilot circled once and spotted fire around the impact What the Japanese didn’t count on was coastal fog, mist and point. heavy doses of rain made the forests so wet they simply would not catch fire. This Memorial Plaque is located in Brookings , Oregon at the site of the 1942 bombing Fifty years later the Japanese pilot, who survived the war, would return to Oregon to help dedicate a historical plaque at the exact spot where his two bombs had impacted. The elderly pilot then donated his ceremonial sword as a gesture of peace and closure of the bombing of Oregon in 1942. Prolog On September 9, 1942, Mount Emily, near Fujita would be invited back to Brookings Brookings, became the first site in the in 1962 and he presented the town his continental United States to suffer aerial family’s 400‐year old samurai sword in bombardment in wartime. friendship after the Japanese government was given assurances that he would not be A Japanese floatplane piloted by Nobuo tried as a war criminal. Fujita launched from submarine I‐25 was loaded with incendiary bombs and sent to Brookings made him an honorary citizen start massive fires in the dense forests of several days before his death in 1997 the Pacific Northwest. The attack caused only minor damage. Mount Emily Mount Emily is a mountain in the The Fire Lookout stationed at the Klamath Mountains of southwestern Mount Emily Fire Lookout Tower played Oregon in the United States. a major role in “The Lookout Air Raid of 1942” which became the first bombing ItislocatedinsouthernCurryCounty of the continental United States by an in the extreme southwest corner of the enemy aircraft. state, near Brookings, approximately 5 miles (8.0 km) from the Pacific Ocean Thesiteofthebombingwaslistedin and 5 miles (8.0 km) from the California the National Register of Historic Places state line. as the Wheeler Ridge Japanese Bombing Site in July 2006. On September 9, 1942 the Japanese I‐25 (submarine) surfaced near Cape Blanco, Oregon, and launched a Yokosuka E14Y “Glen” seaplane piloted by Nubuo Fujita who dropped incendiary bombs on Mount Emily and succeeded in starting multiple forest fires. MT. EMILY BOMBSITE Sixteen miles east of Brookings, Oregon, is the site of the first bombing of the mainland United States by enemy aircraft. Just before dawn on September ninth, 1942, a Japanese submarine surfaced twenty‐five miles off Cape Blanco near Port Orford, Oregon. The submarine contained a tiny, modified Zero fighter plane that could be launched by a catapult. Loaded with two 170 pound incendiary bombs, the plane headed south. The bombs were dropped on the slopes of Wheeler Ridge on the sides of Mt Emily with the hope of starting a forest fire that would weaken the war resolve of the United States. Due to wet conditions that fall, the small fire was easily controlled. Today that event and location are commemorated at the Mt. Emily Bombsite Trail, a two mile stretch with redwoods near the beginning and fire‐dependent species such as knobcone pine and manzanita along the whole walk.

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