 thumb|shot-down fire balloon reinflated by americans in california a , or fu-go (windship weapon), 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, they were 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 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 9,300 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 balloons. 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 honshÅ«. 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 cour
American_Theater_of_World_War_II Balloon_weaponry Balloons_(aircraft) Incendiary_weapons Japanese_inventions Mass_murder_in_1944 Military_equipment_of_Japan World_War_II_weapons_of_Japan