Lookout Air Raids

Lookout air raid schema

Date	September 9 and September 29, 1942
Location	Oregon Mountains, near Brookings, Pacific Ocean
Result	Japanese failure to ignite forest fires

Belligerents

United States

Empire of Japan

Commanders and leaders

Keith V. Johnson

Tagami Meiji
Nobuo Fujita

Strength

1 patrol of fire lookouts

Sea:
1 submarine
Air:
1 aircraft

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. This was the only time during World War II that the continental United States suffered an air raid attack by enemy forces.

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 and the second time that the mainland US was bombed by someone working for a foreign power, the first being the bombing of Naco, Arizona by Patrick Murphy, although the Murphy bombing inside the U.S. was an accident.

On Wednesday morning, September 9, 1942, the I-25, under the command of Lieutenant Commander Meiji 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 a load of two incendiary bombs of 76 kilograms (168 lb) each.

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