Paper Bags

The Japs' balloon-bombing campaign against the U.S. had always looked fantastic, but not until last week was it clear how much effort had been expended on it. The Army & Navy, after digging through enemy archives, summarized their findings.

After the Doolittle bombing of Tokyo, the Japs decided that they had to retaliate somehow. They spent years, and $18,000,000, researching and manufacturing long-range gas bags, mostly of mulberry-bark paper. Some 9.000 were launched. Only 283 are known to have landed in the Eastern Pacific or North America. No military damage was done. A few grass fires were started and six people were killed--when an Oregon child tampered with an unexploded bomb.

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