Battle of Los Angeles The Battle of Los Angeles ( also known as The Los Angeles air raid ) was a mysterious battle between the U . S army and an unknown squadron of strange aircrafts that took place in February 24 , 1942 . Introduction . To understand the importance of this event go , before anything else , examine the context of the times that the incident occurred . Since 1931 , Japan had maintained an aggressive policy towards China . In 1937 , he began a large - scale war between the two countries resulting in a full - scale invasion of Chinese territory , by Japanese forces . With the rise of Japanese moral ambition and confidence have taken over the minds of Japanese leaders . Thus , the Japanese war production increased further with the construction of aircraft , aircraft carriers and other war materials , already preparing a large - scale war . The U . S . sent a small fighting force in support of China . The " " Flying Tigers " " . Also , cut oil supplies to the Japanese steel and hurting their operations against China . This was just one reason the Japanese attack on American base at Pearl Harbor , Hawaii , on December 7 , 1941 . ' s point Strategically , the attack would allow time for the Japanese invasion of the islands in the South Pacific to obtain raw materials to feed the war machine . As the attack on Pearl Harbor , War becomes truly global , involving all the continents . In the United States declared itself a state of war , starting training and embarkation of troops for the so - called Theater of War . Were established air defense systems and naval , to prevent any military operations on the United States . One of those defenses consisted in the establishment of various posts of defense armed with anti - aircraft guns . For night operation were provided powerful spotlights allowing for continuous operation of these weapons . The defense naval turn , used the island of San Miguel , Santa Rosa , Santa Cruz , Santa Catalina , San Clemente based support . The Battle . All this military force , and thousands of soldiers operating these devices could do nothing for the mysterious episode in the early morning of February 25 , 1942 . Thousands of local residents awaked with sirens or the firing of the Air Defense Group . It is estimated that across the region were approximately 12 000 homes where residents , terrified , have witnessed the awesome episode . The next day villagers , military and government were frightened . After thousands of shots straight at the target located , nothing was dropped . Several cars and homes damaged by shrapnel from shots . Three people died from shrapnel and these other three died of heart attacks . The military authorities did not know what to inform the population . There were several statements conflicting with each other , but the mystery remained . So far no one has an accurate estimate of the number of objects involved in the incident . Some claim to have seen a single object that would fly at about 300 km per hour . Others said they were more luminous objects . There were those who said he saw several squadrons with objects of various sizes flying in the region . It is difficult nowadays to separate reports of serious allegations in the packed hysteria that day . There were also statements about fighter aircraft from the 4th Squadron Intercept would have taken off to repel the invaders . The military , however denied this assertion . After numerous contradictions , the military said the incident originated in a coordinated operation in Japan , with aircraft , with the support of a submarine , with the aim of causing fear and decrease the morale of the country in the war , ending the question there . They cited including a possible attack by a submarine on February 23 in an oil storage facility near Santa Barbara . However , if you look at all the details concerning the strange episode is concluded that this excuse is inconsistent . The Battle of Los Angeles began the night of February 24 when several people identified strange luminous objects in the heavens . Some people come into contact with the Coast Artillery Brigade , responsible for air defense in the region . The objects were picked up by radar and monitored closely by the military . These objects have adopted a V formation , the standard used by military aircraft . As a result , around 2 : 25 pm the sirens were activated alert for air strikes . He was ordained a blackout across the region and the floodlights were switched on . Fighter pilots were poised to take off when needed . At 3 : 16 pm , the 37th Coast Artillery Brigade identified UFOs and began firing on them , using dozens of anti - aircraft guns with ammunition 8 . 12 pounds . shots were made in 1440 until around 4 : 14 pm . The objects moved from the region of Santa Monica to Long Beach , passing through the whole 20 minutes . The blackout warning and were removed only at 7 : 21 pm . In 26 days , newspapers across the country splashed news of the alarm occurred in Los Angeles and published numerous testimonies of witnesses , including local reporters who witnessed the entire episode . Bill Henry of the Los Angeles Times declared : " I was very far from the site without being able to identify it . I bet there were numerous shots on the object . " Peter Jenkins , the Los Angeles Herald Examiner , said " I could clearly see the V formation of about 25 aircraft silvery moving slowly on Long Beach . " The Attempt of Explanation . With so much public excitement , then Secretary of the Navy , Frank Knox , convened a press conference where he said that the whole episode turned out to be a false positive caused by lust for war . Some journalists have not accepted the explanation and suspected that some sort of cover up was taking place . In the editorial of the Long Beach Independent newspaper , read : " There is a mysterious reticence surrounding the subject and there seems to be some form of censorship that is trying to hold discussions on that . " The next day , Secretary of War Stimson had stated that 15 unidentified aircraft involved , moving at 300 km per hour , but that none were killed . He said his goal was to impose fear and lower the morale of the American people . As the seas were constantly monitored by both warships and by aircraft , the possibility that it was an attack from the aircraft carrier would be discarded . It was speculated then that the Japanese would have boarded planes in the submarine seen in Santa Barbara , which would have taken off and carried out overflights in Los Angeles causing any alarm . If we consider the facts we concluded that this explanation is unproven . First we evaluate the possibility of each of the different versions raised by U . S . military authorities at the time of the event . The most widespread assumption by the U . S . military is that of a Japanese large - scale operation aimed at spreading terror and affect the moral American . We can begin by asking you which would cause more terror in a population in times of war ? Would be unknown aircraft flying over their heads without making sorties , or unknown aircraft bombing cities supposedly safe ? Surely the second option would be more terrifying . So nothing can justify such an action Japanese in an enemy territory , without any support , and having no further benefit of such offensive . But assuming that the Japanese military actually chose to perform an action is not destructive in the U . S . . The fast , easy and efficient way would be via aircraft carrier which carries all the necessary personnel , fuel and other equipment required for this operation . The autonomy of the Japanese fighters of the time would not allow a direct flight from the nearest base , much less a flyover and subsequent return , so the use of a mobile naval air base would be essential . Taking into account the factor of war strategy , a port planes , due to its importance , never surf alone . There is always a great naval protection . In a region constantly patrolled and guarded by Americans , such a fleet would not go undetected . Moreover , such a fighting force is mobilized when there is strategic significance , or cause maximum damage to the enemy . As we have seen , the event in Los Angeles does not fall into that category . According to the U . S . government carried out the attack was from a Japanese submarine that had attacked on 23 north of Los Angeles . During the WWII , Japan innovated and built a new class of submarines capable of carrying between one and three seaplanes attack . The first of them began to operate militarily in November 21 , 1941 and was carrying only a single aircraft model Yokosuka E14Y . In the attack on 23 , only a single submarine was detected , there are no indications of other submarine in the area . If we consider the radar record of developing various objects speeds ranging from 0 ( static ) to 320 km / h , and the countless testimonies of witnesses who reported the presence of multiple objects , we can , we can exclude a possible Japanese attack . Moreover we have the fact that after intense Flak was no shot , even though he was visually struck by gunfire . A second hypothesis is related to widespread balloons " Fugos " ingeniously used by the Japanese in attacks over large distances . This type of balloon carrying an explosive charge combining mines , hydrogen and incendiary devices . They used a stream of air at high altitudes that transported them to the east . Several of these balloons fell in the U . S . , but damage was minor . Here we can also ask ourselves about the absence of the alleged wreck the balloon . Nothing was found that reinforced the idea to have been an attack using a " Fugo " . The third hypothesis is the most correct and that this is really an unidentified flying object ( UFO ) , because until now the nature of this object is unknown . What remains is the great mystery about the origin of the unusual object . Japanese plane was not and was not balloon . In the famous photograph taken at the time there is a clearly discoid object illuminated by floodlights . This object has been heavily targeted and left totally unharmed as if to mock our warfighting capabilities of the season . The rulers were impressed by generating the embryo of what would later be known as political cover - up .