The Lookout Air Raids were minor but historic Japanese air raids that occurred in the mountains of Oregon , several miles outside Brookings during World War II .
25-428: On September 9, 1942, a Japanese Yokosuka E14Y Glen floatplane , launched from a Japanese submarine, dropped two incendiary bombs with the intention of starting a forest fire . However, with the efforts of a patrol of fire lookouts and weather conditions not amenable to a fire, the damage done by the attack was minor. The attack was the first time the contiguous United States was bombed by an enemy aircraft. It
50-522: A captured technical manual. Data from Japanese Aircraft of the Pacific War General characteristics Performance Armament Aircraft of comparable role, configuration, and era Related lists World War II Allied names for Japanese aircraft The World War II Allied names for Japanese aircraft were reporting names, often described as codenames, given by Allied personnel to Imperial Japanese aircraft during
75-498: A dedicatory letter from an aide of President Ronald Reagan "with admiration for your kindness and generosity". Fujita returned to Brookings in 1990, 1992, and 1995. In 1992 he planted a tree at the bomb site as a gesture of peace. In 1995, he moved the samurai sword from the Brookings City Hall into the new library's display case. He was made an honorary citizen of Brookings several days before his death on September 30, 1997, at
100-523: A load of two incendiary bombs of 76 kilograms (168 lb) each. Howard "Razz" Gardner spotted and reported the incoming "Glen" from his fire lookout tower on Mount Emily in the Siskiyou National Forest . Although Razz did not see the bombing, he saw the smoke plume and reported the fire to the dispatch office. He was instructed to hike to the fire to see what suppression he could do. Dispatch also sent USFS Fire Lookout Keith V. Johnson from
125-536: A pilot in the Japanese Imperial Navy, and his crewman, Petty Officer Shoji Okuda, surfaced in submarine I-25 off the coast of Oregon near Brookings. The seaplane had folding wings and was transported in a watertight capsule attached to the deck of the submarine. The bombs – 76 kg (168 lb) incendiaries intended to cause forest fires – caused no injuries or real damage. A total of 126 E14Ys were produced. Aviation History magazine reported in
150-690: The Allied Technical Air Intelligence Unit in Australia, set out to devise a simpler method for identifying Japanese aircraft. Together with Technical Sergeant Francis M. Williams and Corporal Joseph Grattan, McCoy divided the Japanese aircraft into two categories; fighters and everything else. He gave boys' names to the fighters, and girls' names to the others. Later, training aircraft were named after trees, single engine reconnaissance aircraft were given men's names and multi-engine aircraft of
175-532: The Pacific campaign of World War II. The names were used by Allied personnel to identify aircraft operated by the Japanese for reporting and descriptive purposes. Generally, Western men's names were given to fighter aircraft , women's names to bombers , transports , and reconnaissance aircraft , bird names to gliders , and tree names to trainer aircraft . The use of the names, from their origin in mid-1942, became widespread among Allied forces from early 1943 until
200-735: The Allied build-up in Wellington harbour in a "Glen" launched from the Japanese submarine I-25 . On 13 March he flew over Auckland , before the I-25 proceeded to Australia. On the night of 24/25 May Warrant Officer Susumo Ito flew a "Glen" over Auckland from the Japanese submarine I-21 . Just days later, in the same aircraft, Ito flew the reconnaissance flight preceding the sole Japanese attack on Sydney Harbour in which 21 seamen were killed when HMAS Kuttabul sank on 1 June 1942. Type A1 submarine I-9
225-429: The Japanese records, but no trace has yet been found of the second bomb. One of the bombs left a foot-deep crater. Fujita and his observer made a second attack on September 29, again causing only negligible damage. Twenty years later, Fujita was invited back to Brookings. Before he made the trip the Japanese government was assured he would not be tried as a war criminal . In Brookings, Fujita served as Grand Marshal for
250-581: The November 2008 issue that divers had found airplane parts in the Akibasan Maru wreck, a Japanese cargo ship sunk in the Kwajalein Atoll on 20 January 1944, and rediscovered in 1965. The parts (including wings and floats) have been finally identified (April 2008) as belonging to two E14Y1 "Glen" floatplanes , through the use of photographs from the wreck and comparisons with original technical drawings and
275-510: The age of 85. In October 1998, his daughter, Yoriko Asakura, buried some of Fujita's ashes at the bomb site. Yokosuka E14Y The Yokosuka E14Y ( Allied reporting name Glen ) was an Imperial Japanese Navy reconnaissance seaplane transported aboard and launched from Japanese submarine aircraft carriers such as the I-25 during World War II . The Japanese Navy designation was " Type 0 Small Reconnaissance Seaplane " (零式小型水上偵察機). The E14Y
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#1732880998775300-566: The air for three hours, during which time they successfully flew over Port Phillip Bay and observed the ships at anchor off Melbourne before returning to land on its floats beside the submarine, where it was winched aboard and disassembled. The E14Y is the only Japanese aircraft to overfly New Zealand during World War II (and only the second enemy aircraft after the German Friedrichshafen FF.33 'Wölfchen' during World War I). On 8 March 1942 Warrant Officer Nobuo Fujita photographed
325-550: The area commander announced, The Western Defense Command is investigating the circumstances surrounding the discovery on Sept. 9 of fragments of what appears to have been an incendiary bomb. These fragments were found by personnel of the United States Forestry Service near Mt. Emily nine miles northeast of Brookings, Or. Markings of the bomb fragments indicated that the missile was of Japanese origin. The floatplane carried two bombs. Both were dropped, according to
350-527: The correct height. The men stayed on scene and worked through the night keeping the fires contained. In the morning, a fire crew arrived to help. A recent rain storm had kept the area wet, which helped the fire lookouts contain the blaze. A full investigation was launched by the Federal Bureau of Investigation , which resulted in locating several bomb fragments. The story was reported in several newspapers on September 10, 1942. Lieut. Gen. John L. DeWitt ,
375-575: The creators of the system knew personally; the Mitsubishi G4M bomber, with its large gun blisters was named "Betty" in homage to a busty female friend of Williams. The Aichi D3A "Val" got its name from an Australian Army sergeant. Not all of McCoy's chosen names caught on. Many Allied personnel continued calling the Mitsubishi Navy Type 0 Carrier Fighter "Zero" instead of McCoy's name of "Zeke." Also, McCoy's name for an upgraded version of
400-470: The end of the war in 1945. Many subsequent Western histories of the war have continued to use the names. During the first year of the Pacific War beginning on 7 December 1941, Allied personnel often struggled to quickly, succinctly, and accurately identify Japanese aircraft encountered in combat. They found the Japanese designation system bewildering and awkward, as it allocated two names to each aircraft. One
425-589: The local Azalea Festival. At the festival, Fujita presented his family's 400-year-old samurai sword to the city as a symbol of reconciliation. Fujita made a number of additional visits to Brookings, serving as an "informal ambassador of peace and friendship". Impressed by his welcome in the United States, in 1985 Fujita invited three students from Brookings to Japan. During the visit of the Brookings-Harbor High School students to Japan, Fujita received
450-469: The nearby Bear Wallow Lookout Tower. Fujita dropped two bombs, one on Wheeler Ridge on Mount Emily in Oregon . The location of the other bomb is unknown. The Wheeler Ridge bomb started a small fire 16 km (9.9 mi) due east of Brookings . The two men proceeded to the location and were able to keep the fire under control. Only a few small scattered fires were started because the bombs were not dropped from
475-451: The same type were given women's names. Transports were given girls' names that all began with the letter "T". Gliders were given the names of birds. McCoy's system quickly caught on and spread to other US and Allied units throughout the Pacific theater. By the end of 1942, all American forces in the Pacific and east Asia had begun using McCoy's system, and British Commonwealth nations adopted
500-548: The same year carried the same type number; aircraft such as the Type 96 Carrier Bomber and the Type 96 Land Attack Bomber . Adding to the confusion, the US Army and US Navy each had their own different systems for identifying Japanese aircraft. In mid-1942, Captain Frank T. McCoy, a United States Army Air Forces military intelligence officer from the 38th Bombardment Group assigned to
525-516: The system shortly thereafter. The list eventually included 122 names and was used until the end of World War II. To this day, many Western historical accounts of the Pacific War still use McCoy's system to identify Japanese aircraft. In an effort to make the names sound somewhat comical, McCoy gave many of the aircraft ' hillbilly ' names, such as "Zeke" and "Rufe," that he had encountered while growing up in Tennessee . Others were given names of people
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#1732880998775550-473: Was also the second time the continental United States was attacked by enemy aircraft during World War II, the first being the bombing of Dutch Harbor three months earlier. On Wednesday morning, September 9, 1942, the submarine I-25 , under the command of Lieutenant Commander Akiji Tagami, surfaced west of Cape Blanco . The submarine launched a "Glen" Yokosuka E14Y floatplane, flown by Warrant Officer Nobuo Fujita and Petty Officer Okuda Shoji, with
575-523: Was caught off the New Zealand coast in early 1943; however, no Japanese aircraft was observed, and any records of overflights were lost when the submarine was sunk. The E14Y also has the distinction of being the only submarine-based aircraft to drop bombs on the United States during World War II, in an incident known as The Lookout Air Raid . On 9 September 1942 , Chief Warrant Officer Nobuo Fujita,
600-575: Was the manufacturer's alphanumeric project code, and the other was the official military designation, which consisted of a description of the aircraft plus the year it entered service. For example, the military designation of the Mitsubishi A5M fighter was the "Navy Type 96 Carrier Fighter". Type 96 meant that the aircraft had entered service in Imperial year 2596, equivalent to Gregorian calendar year 1936. Other aircraft, however, which had entered service
625-607: Was used for several Japanese reconnaissance missions during the Pacific War . On 26 February 1942 the Japanese submarine I-25 , under the command of Captain Akiji Tagami, was off the northern tip of King Island in Bass Strait off the coast of Victoria, Australia , when an E14Y was launched on a reconnaissance flight over the Port of Melbourne . The pilot and observer/gunner were in
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