Editing Fu-Go balloon bomb (section)

{{Short description|WWII Japanese incendiary weapon}}
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{{Use mdy dates|date=April 2016}}
{{Infobox aircraft
| name    = Fu-Go<br/>ふ号
| image   = Japanese fire balloon Moffett.jpg
| size    = 220px
| alt     = 
| image_caption = Fu-Go balloon reinflated in California, January 1945
| aircraft_type            = [[Incendiary balloon]]
| national_origin = Japan
| manufacturer    = [[Imperial Japanese Army]] (A-Type)<br>[[Imperial Japanese Navy]] (B-Type)
| first_flight    =
| introduction      = November 3, 1944
| retired         = April 20, 1945
| primary_user    = Imperial Japanese Army
| more_users      =
| produced        = 1944–1945
| number_built    = About 9,300
| developed_into  = 
}}

{{Nihongo|'''Fu-Go'''|ふ号[兵器]|fugō [heiki]|{{lit}} "Code 'Fu' [Weapon]"}} was an {{nihongo|[[incendiary balloon]] weapon|風船爆弾|fūsen bakudan|{{lit}} "balloon bomb"}} deployed by Japan against the United States during [[World War II]]. It consisted of a [[hydrogen]]-filled paper balloon {{convert|33|ft|m}} in diameter, with a payload of four {{convert|11|lb|kg|adj=on}} [[Incendiary device|incendiary devices]] and one {{convert|33|lb|kg|adj=on}} high-explosive [[Anti-personnel weapon|anti-personnel bomb]]. The uncontrolled balloons were carried over the Pacific Ocean from Japan to North America by fast, high-altitude air currents, today known as the [[jet stream]], and used a sophisticated sandbag [[ballast]] system to maintain their altitude. The bombs were intended to ignite large-scale forest fires and spread panic.

Between November 1944 and April 1945, the [[Imperial Japanese Army]] launched about 9,300 balloons from sites on coastal [[Honshu]], of which about 300 were found or observed in the U.S., Canada, and Mexico. The bombs were ineffective as fire starters due to damp seasonal conditions, with no forest fires being attributed to the offensive. A U.S. media censorship campaign prevented the Imperial Army from learning of the offensive's results. On May 5, 1945, six civilians were killed by one of the bombs near [[Bly, Oregon]], becoming the war's only fatalities in the contiguous U.S. The Fu-Go balloon bomb was the first weapon system with intercontinental range, predating the [[intercontinental ballistic missile]].