Yup, I've heard of the balloon program. The idea was to send incendiaries over and start massive forest fires. The balloons were actually made of rice paper, hundreds of sheets glued together to make the envelope. Filled with hydrogen, which in theory would leak out at a particular rate so that the balloon would come down at the desired time. Explosives were set to be released when the balloon descended to a certain altitude. If memory serves, over 9,000 were launched, and of course no one knows how many actually arrived.
The first encounter was a group on a church picnic in Oregon, IIRC in late 1944 -- the kids ran over to see what was what, set the bomb off, killing five. Balloons were found in the Pacific Northwest, B.C., Alberta, and as far east as Michigan and Ontario. Backcountry hikers are still warned to be aware of the things. You're right, it was an extremely well-kept secret, particularly given that the public (rather than just the military) was obviously involved. |
