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A , or , was a weapon launched by Japan during World War II. A hydrogen balloon with a load varying from a antipersonnel bomb to one incendiary bomb and four incendiary devices attached, it was designed as a cheap weapon intended to make use of the jet stream over the Pacific Ocean and drop bombs on American and Canadian cities, forests, and farmland.〔〔Mikesh, pp.1&21〕 The Japanese fire balloon was the first ever weapon possessing intercontinental range (the second being the Convair B-36 Peacemaker and the third being the R-7ICBM). The Japanese balloon strikes on North America were at that time the longest ranged attacks ever conducted in the history of warfare, a record which was not broken until the 1982 Operation Black Buck raids during the Falkland Islands War. The balloons were relatively ineffective as weapons but were used in one of the few attacks on North America during World War II. ==Overview== From late 1944 until early 1945, the Japanese launched over 9300 fire balloons, of which 300 were found or observed in the U.S. Despite the high hopes of their designers, the balloons were ineffective as weapons: causing only six deaths (from one single incident) and a small amount of damage. The Japanese designed two types of balloons. The first was called the "Type B Balloon" and was designed by the Japanese Navy. It was in diameter and consisted of rubberized silk. The type B balloons were sent first and mainly used for meteorological purposes. The Japanese used them to determine the possibility of the bomb-carrying balloons reaching North America. The second type was the bomb-carrying balloon. Japanese bomb-carrying balloons were in diameter and, when fully inflated, held about of hydrogen. Their launch sites were located on the east coast of the main Japanese island of Honshū. Japan released the first of these bomb-bearing balloons on November 3, 1944. They were found in Alaska, Washington, Oregon, California, Arizona, Idaho, Montana, Utah, Wyoming, Colorado, Texas, Kansas, Nebraska, South Dakota, North Dakota, Michigan and Iowa, as well as Mexico and Canada. General Kusaba's men launched over 9,000 balloons throughout the course of the project. The Japanese expected 10% (around 900) of them to reach America, which is also what is currently believed by researchers.〔Mikesh, p.1〕 About 300 balloon bombs were found or observed in America. It is likely that more balloon bombs landed in unpopulated areas of North America. The last one was launched in April 1945. 抄文引用元・出典: フリー百科事典『 ウィキペディア（Wikipedia）』 ■ウィキペディアで「fire balloon」の詳細全文を読む スポンサード リンク
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