Photo credit: Youtube.com
Ufo over Los Angeles, 1942. What happened? What was the Battle of Los Angeles?
In the very early morning of February 25th 1942, less than three months after the Japanese attack on Pearl Harbor, air raid sirens rang through the darkness over Los Angeles, throwing the city into a panic.
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Reports were coming in that an unidentified flying object was spotted, causing a total blackout of the city to be ordered and thousands of air raid wardens summoned to their places.
What Happened: The Chronicle
At 3:16 A.M., anti-aircraft shells and .50 caliber machine guns began firing into the unidentified craft. At 7:21 A.M., the all clear was sounded and the blackout was finally lifted. Yet nothing was found in the light of day to be shot down. There wasn’t any aircraft crashed into the Earth from the barrage of bullets. The only damage that could be seen seemed to be only from friendly fire.
Buildings and vehicles were damaged from shell fragments. And the only causalities were civilians; three souls died in car accidents caused by the commotion and twosuffered heart attacks caused by the stress of the night.
False Alarm Statement
A few hours after the all clear, the Secretary of the Navy released a statement saying that the incident was a false alarm, caused by “war nerves” from the United States entering into the Second World War.
The next day, the Army released their statement, believing everything was caused by a psychological warfare tactic.
The official story of the Battle of Los Angeles is that a lost meteorological balloon started the panic and the sound of friendly fire made it seem as though there was a fight to be had.
Launch of a meteorological balloon
Photo credit: Youtube.com
Outrage spread through the city due to everything this “false alarm” caused. Some 20 Japanese-Americans were arrested for allegedly trying to signal the enemy aircraft by the FBI. Damage was done. People had died and were injured. Several air-raid wardens had hurt themselves in the darkness while trying to do theirjobs.
And, as what typically happens when something is difficult to explain, there were many conspiracy theories and claims of a government cover-up to go along withthe embarrassment of the evening.
To make matters worse, the Japanese even stated after the war had ended that they had never flown aircraft over Los Angeles.
Many believe that Earth was visited byextraterrestrials of that fateful night. And the story spread, given the conflicting reports from eye-witnesses. Some claimed to have seen an aircraft shot down, eventhough none could be found the next morning.
Los Angeles Times UFO Photo
The theory really kicked off after the L.A. Times released a photograph from the air-raid The photo appears to show a saucer shaped object hovering in the sky, illuminated from beneath by search lights.
But, in a recent article from the L.A. Times commemorating the anniversary of the raid, the author states that it was common in the 1940’s to retouch photos due to the poor quality and that he wished the iconic image that is seen today was more faithful to the original.
Skeptics still today believe that the Los Angeles Air Raid was nothing more than a government cover-up of an alien encounter, citing fake headlines pulled from a movie adaptation and the photograph that was published the day after the alarms. Their evidence is easily disproven by a quick search through the L.A. Times archives.
The Office of Air Force History reported of the events of that night in 1942, nothing that several meteorological balloon had been launched that evening to determine wind conditions. Since they were silver in color, use lights for tracking purposes, and the radar technology at the time was rudimentary at best, it’s easy to see how the alerts could have begun.
It’s been widely agreed that, while the events of February 25th are confusing to say the least, Los Angeles was in no danger that particular night. If anything, it’s a small look into the fear and anxiety that many American cities felt at the beginning of the war.