[Rwrwalker]

Hi guys;

Interesting thread. The RCAF brought down at least 3 of these balloons. In addition to the two brought down by Kittyhawks, one was "forced down" by a Canso (Catalina to you Yanks) of 6 (BR) Squadron, near the north end of Vancouver Island on 12 March 1945. Those are the words from the official RCAF history, whereas they describe the Kittyhawk claims as "shot down". Maybe just literary licence, but I picture the Canso pilot calling for "ramming speed". There is also a press report of an interception over western Alberta, but this is not confirmed in any surviving RCAF records. Apparently the balloons didn't show on radar of the day, so interception was mostly based on luck.

Several more landed across western Canada, as far east as Saskatchewan, without major effect. The Oregon incident was the only casuality caused by any of the several hundred balloons launched. None of them ever achieved their goal of starting forest fires, because they arrived over the west coast at the height of the rainy season. Late in the war the RCAF moved east coast Hurricanes to the western prairies, and diverted Canadian built Mosquitos to BC to intercept balloons, but none of these aircraft ever sighted a balloon. In one sense, the diversion of these aircraft from other uses was a small victory for the Japanese.

Several of the balloons landed intact, and did not ignite. Those that were found were rushed to Rockcliffe for examination at the RCAF engineering offices, but I can't find any record of any pieces on display today in Canada. Officially, the Canadian government clamped down on all reporting of balloons, to prevent any useful information from reaching Japan. For this reason, there is very little information on this campaign outside of a few RCAF records.