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To: COEXERJ145
That said, the Japanese weren't stupid and they figured out how to use the jet stream to send their balloon bombs across the Pacific.

Hey, I could use the jet stream to send balloons across the Pacific Ocean, too. What I can't do, however (and I don't understand how anyone in 1945 could have done it), is: 1) ensure that it follows a precise track that takes it directly over the U.S., and 2) runs out of air over the U.S. (as opposed to landing in the Pacific Ocean, the Atlantic Ocean in Europe, or -- heaven forbid -- floats all the way around the world and lands in Japan).

140 posted on 05/20/2006 9:58:37 PM PDT by Alberta's Child (Can money pay for all the days I lived awake but half asleep?)
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To: Alberta's Child
They didn't need it to run out of air (hydrogen). They had calculated the amount of time the balloon would take to travel the distance from Japan to the continental United States. They installed a simple timing device would release the balloon's payload at the calculated time.

After the payload was released, the balloon had a self destruct system that would destroy the balloon to prevent the Americans from capturing one intact.

144 posted on 05/20/2006 10:02:29 PM PDT by COEXERJ145 (Real Leaders Base Their Decisions on Their Convictions. Wannabes Base Decisions on the Latest Poll.)
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To: Alberta's Child

It isnt that hard. If you have a rudimentary knowledge of wind patterns, velocities and distances, you set various balloons to destruct after a certain time frame. It is a pretty stupid way to make war, but that is what the Japanese had to work with at that point, as decimated as they were.


148 posted on 05/20/2006 10:04:51 PM PDT by rlmorel ("Innocence seldom utters outraged shrieks. Guilt does." Whittaker Chambers)
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To: Alberta's Child

Hey, I could use the jet stream to send balloons across the Pacific Ocean, too. What I can't do, however (and I don't understand how anyone in 1945 could have done it), is: 1) ensure that it follows a precise track that takes it directly over the U.S., and 2) runs out of air over the U.S. (as opposed to landing in the Pacific Ocean, the Atlantic Ocean in Europe, or -- heaven forbid -- floats all the way around the world and lands in Japan).

"From the late fall of 1944 through the early spring of 1945, the Japanese launched more than 9,000 of these "fusen bakudan", or fire balloons, of which 300 were found or observed in the US."

http://www.japan-101.com/history/fire_balloons_or_balloon_bombs.htm

It's like talking to a wall with some people

Again, just because you don't see how it could happen doesn't mean that it didn't happen. You really should at least know a little bit about the ACTUAL history of WWII before making ridiculous statements.

151 posted on 05/20/2006 10:06:27 PM PDT by frankiep (Visualize Whirled Peas)
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