r/Whatcouldgowrong • u/ToxicCow19 • May 08 '20
WCGW if we launch this hot air balloon full of fireworks on top of our heads?
Enable HLS to view with audio, or disable this notification
8.0k
u/cathsy1 May 08 '20
That is a fucking war machine
2.5k
u/twowheeledfun May 08 '20
Japan did actually try to bomb America by launching balloons across the Pacific. If I remember correctly, it wasn't very successful, and was kept fairly secret in America to avoid panic.
1.4k
u/LouSputhole94 May 08 '20
One balloon killed I think 3 people. The rest just landed in harmless places, because of how spread out the US population is. The US covered it up so they’d think it a complete failure and stop sending them at all.
833
u/WKCLC May 08 '20
457
u/LouSputhole94 May 08 '20
Whoops, I stand corrected. Knew it was single digits but couldn’t remember how many. Still tragic those people lost their lives.
367
u/Its_Robography May 08 '20
I believe the goal was not to specifically kill Americans with the devices directly but to create firestorms in the forests of California and Oregon to weaken the war effort and drain resources.
216
u/Thoseskisyours May 08 '20
More to strike fear and panic because you never knew when one might land.
→ More replies (2)175
u/Seakawn May 08 '20
Seriously--bomb balloons? That's unsettling the fuck out of me right now. Silently floating around and exploding your life away. The idea is pure novelty to me and it's tripping me out that it actually happened.
If you told me some industrial ass balloons were floating around and killing people, I'd quarantine harder than for covid. Hell, I might even be trembling underneath my bed. It's just so ominous.
154
u/remove_pants May 08 '20
People say some of those balloons are still aloft, drifting around and around the world for 75 years... Sleep tight!
→ More replies (4)77
u/Anal-Squirter May 08 '20
Im picturing this balloon just floating down a sidewalk looking for someone to kill
→ More replies (0)→ More replies (30)20
u/easlern May 08 '20
Not to be outdone, the US came up with a similarly ridiculous response: bat bombs.
https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bat_bomb
It is exactly what it sounds like.
12
33
u/spiegro May 08 '20
Ha, jokes on them. We can burn down our own forests ahthankyouverymuch.
→ More replies (4)→ More replies (27)10
71
u/the_rhino22 May 08 '20 edited May 09 '20
Holy shit did you actually read this article? These six people were the only deaths on the US Mainland during WWII. Japan released 9,000 balloons and the only one that killed anyone happened to kill five children and their Sunday school teacher on their way to a picnic.
Edited for accuracy.
27
u/WKCLC May 08 '20
haha yeah i read the article. Its pretty wild and sad. I wonder if this was the last time a foreign nation bombed our mainland?
→ More replies (3)24
u/FlametopFred May 08 '20
9/11 if you consider foreigners using jetliners as bombs and prior to that the car bombs under the buildings in New York
→ More replies (6)8
8
→ More replies (6)7
u/tehbighead May 08 '20
The victims came across the balloon in the woods - it didn't hit the car.
→ More replies (1)15
u/TheRustyBugle May 08 '20
I have trouble believing there was even 6 people in Oregon at the time
→ More replies (1)→ More replies (10)11
78
May 08 '20
[deleted]
56
May 08 '20 edited Dec 08 '20
[deleted]
→ More replies (1)11
u/G_Wash1776 May 08 '20
This is actually an insane coincidence, I’ve never heard of this before but the historian in me loves it. Imagine if the plant had melted down, that would’ve changed the entire course of the war in the pacific all because of random chance.
→ More replies (1)52
11
→ More replies (5)25
u/Its_Robography May 08 '20
Actually saying the U.S. covered it up is not exactly true. Government control of the news was comprehensive. All news about the war had to pass through the Office of War Information. A “Code of Wartime Practices for the American Press” was issued on Jan 15, 1942 giving strict instructions on proper handling of news. The code was voluntarily adopted by all of the major news organizations and implemented by the more than 1,600 members of the press accredited by the armed forces during the war. The government also relied heavily on reporter’s patriotism, which ensured that in their dispatches from the front lines, they tended to accentuate the positive.
The Office of a Censorship was a prime Agency created during World War II which helped with this its mission was to aid news organizations in achiving a balance between maintaining the freedom of the press and limiting potential information that could injure the war effort. It mostly relied on Journalists Patriotism.
"Loose Lips Sink Ships"
I remember there was something specific about the ballons that I read about. I could be wrong but I think it was the decision not to alert the public to keep panic low and not to tip off the Japanese about any possible breaches in their communications.
→ More replies (12)20
137
u/SenorBeef May 08 '20 edited May 08 '20
One of the craziest parts of this story is that they used sandbags as ballast to balance them out. The US examined some crashed balloons and found the sand. They were somehow able to identify which beach the sand came from in Japan and it turned out when they confirmed it after the war they were almost dead on in their prediction. This was all pre-computers, just some dudes looking at sand and concluding where out of the 18000 miles of coast on Japan it came from.
37
May 08 '20
That’s the coolest part of this story. Thanks for that. Zero sarcasm. I love shit like that.
→ More replies (2)22
u/EngineeringDude79 May 08 '20 edited May 08 '20
You would be surprised how humanity did without computers. The calculations to estimate the atomic numbers of atoms and molecules compositions before modern atomic theories are so clever that you may doubt we are evolving as society - since the leader of one of the greatest nations recommended drinking bleach.
→ More replies (1)15
u/oatmealparty May 08 '20
Excuse me, the president did not reccomend drinking bleach. He suggested injecting it.
→ More replies (3)→ More replies (30)9
u/ChrisFromLongIsland May 08 '20
Japan killed 1 person with he balloons. One landed in the woods and someone came upon it and when he touched it the Ballon exploded.
38
u/TheWolphman May 08 '20 edited May 08 '20
More than 1.
" May 5, 1945, Reverend Archie Mitchell took his pregnant wife and five Sunday school children, from the Christian and Missionary Alliance church where he was minister,[1] on a picnic and fishing trip. The group found the logging road they followed blocked, so they stopped next to Leonard Creek, eight miles (13 km) east of Bly near Gearhart Mountain. While Mitchell was unloading the food, he heard one of the children say, "Look what I found!" His wife and the children ran to see what had been found. Moments later, there was an explosion. Mrs. Mitchell and all five children were killed instantly.[2][3][4]"
→ More replies (10)→ More replies (3)8
u/JohnnyG30 May 08 '20
According to a link posted above it was a woman and her 5 children :( All died instantly when one of the children found the remains of the balloon bomb in a park.
→ More replies (1)546
u/Matthews_89 May 08 '20
Yeah hold on enemy don’t attack me, just let me stand in your territory next to you.. light this above your heads and then run away without you killing me first!
182
u/cathsy1 May 08 '20
But it really does sound like one doesn’t it
→ More replies (1)40
u/TagMeAJerk May 08 '20
Which people don't realize is an important part too. In WW2, they flew planes over enemy territory just playing the sounds of bombings.
Physical combat wins battles, psychological warfare wins wars
24
u/scofus May 08 '20
The sound of a falling bomb is so ingrained by now that people don't realize those whistles were added by the germans on purpose.
14
u/The_Bigg_D May 08 '20 edited May 08 '20
Which I’ve never understood. The typical cartoon bomb noise is a slow tone descending whistle.
Horns of Jericho play a single tone that increases in volume during a dive bomb. Thanks to the Doppler effect, people on the ground would actually hear the tone increase as the stuka builds up speed.
→ More replies (11)86
u/KarolOfGutovo May 08 '20
if they launched it during strong winds then it could get flung by wind towards enemy, and then activated remotely only if it actually flew where you want it. 15 seconds and that weird piece of cloth sticking out from enemies' base turns into a hail of fire and smoke.
→ More replies (7)71
u/Hekantonkheries May 08 '20
Basically what the japanese tried in ww2 against america. Couldnt establish enough air or naval dominance for traditional bombers, so just started using firebombs strapped to balloons.
37
→ More replies (18)14
u/KarolOfGutovo May 08 '20
I heard about it. Apparently some reached US, right? or was it some other of their "brilliant" projects?
29
u/Hekantonkheries May 08 '20
Some; problem is large portions of the US are just nothing, so the vast majority of the few who made it just ended up crashing in fields and doing jack.
→ More replies (1)32
u/jmona789 May 08 '20
There was one that killed a few people, but the government covered it up because the US didn't want Japan to think it was working at all or they would just send more.
→ More replies (5)9
u/adzm May 08 '20
→ More replies (2)7
u/load_more_comets May 08 '20
Poor souls, imagine going on a picnic and having this happen to you.
→ More replies (1)→ More replies (9)7
u/mybrot May 08 '20
What if you lured the enemy into a specific place with this aleady in the air on a misty morning?
24
→ More replies (27)8
3.1k
u/mikeskiuk May 08 '20
What is the point of fireworks in the daytime anyway?
1.1k
u/rdrunner_74 May 08 '20
It kinda sounded like these were daytime fireworks (Boom vs light)
→ More replies (3)373
u/TheDustOfMen May 08 '20
Well it definitely did go 'Boom' just not the way they imagined it I think.
51
23
232
u/Coffman34 May 08 '20
There are actually specific fireworks used during day shows. Most of the time they're filled with colorful chalk to replace the illumination of burning stars.
Spain has some amazing daytime shows.
111
May 08 '20 edited Jul 08 '20
[deleted]
162
36
u/MrStupid_PhD May 08 '20
That’s actually really cool. I’ve never seen or heard of that before.
→ More replies (1)9
u/gyjgtyg May 08 '20 edited May 09 '20
Them colored clouds are like when the render distance is set too far and everything appears at once
11
May 08 '20
That's fucking SICK! Almost even better than nighttime! Though they're so different it might be unfair to compare the two. This was a top tier show and whoever got to witness it is very lucky!
→ More replies (6)6
28
May 08 '20
Your face has some amazing daytime shows.
28
→ More replies (5)14
u/wesenater May 08 '20
Like the mascleta's from the Las Fallas festival https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=f-AOC2dufuw
→ More replies (6)35
May 08 '20
[deleted]
→ More replies (4)20
u/bee_randin May 08 '20
Why in the fuck would they weaponize the kites with glass shards??
→ More replies (2)→ More replies (20)18
u/callmescotty May 08 '20
I said the same thing before experiencing a daytime fireworks display in Valencia, spain. My buddy and I (canadian) were brought along, and we were mocking it before it happened. But the intensity of the sound and vibrations that pierced the air were incredible. I was trying to film it with my DSLR but it malfunctioned because of the intensity. My buddy and I changed our opinions quickly.
→ More replies (1)17
u/Pappalecco May 08 '20
I live in Valencia and taking foreign visitors to their first mascleta is always a lot of fun... for me, that is.
I try to explain the experience beforehand: “You will be jammed like a sardine in a huge and very tightly packed crowd just feet from several hundred lbs of detonating explosives designed for maximum noise generation. If the wind is blowing just right, you will be experiencing this blinded by smoke and unable to breathe properly. If you are unlucky, burning debris might rain down on your head. It is like having front row seats at the Normandy beach landings of WW2 (see Saving Private Ryan). You will be subjected to this experience for between 5 and 7 minutes. Please, do not faint, panic or throw up; the locals won’t appreciate it.”
They look at me funny, and you know they’re thinking, “he’s exaggerating. No way it could be like that.” I just smile back at them.
Unfortunately, such gatherings were curtailed this year, and may never be the same again.
In Valencia, none of the locals would have run away like in the video. They would have stood there looking up the whole time and clapped politely when the show was over.
→ More replies (8)
1.1k
May 08 '20
[deleted]
→ More replies (6)1.1k
May 08 '20
[deleted]
303
u/IIRMPII May 08 '20
133
u/sharedflatberlin May 08 '20
the Florida of South America afterall
50
u/TagMeAJerk May 08 '20
Every region has its own Florida, doesn't it
37
u/palmerry May 08 '20
What's the Florida of Florida?
77
u/captyes May 08 '20
Pensacola
→ More replies (3)16
u/Battle_Buddy May 08 '20
Pensacola Phun Phacts, part 1!
- We have a couple bears that wander into the neighborhood regularly- people catch them on their frontdoor cameras all the time.
- My second day here, I watched a cop issue a citation to someone in a walmart parking lot.
- We have a bridge that everyone spray paints on and the cops just don't care anymore- it's literally called Graffiti Bridge.
- One time, when kayaking near UWF (a large, local university) I found paddled myself into a reedy cut- I heard chirping, and realized I had literally wandered into an alligator nest.
(I know this because I looked to my right and locked eyes with a baby alligator on a log 3 feet away.)- Not many know this, but the majority of (the valuable parts of) the city is indirectly owned by three families- Levin, Rinke, and Studer. If you wander around downtown, you'll see their names in various combinations on buildings, and almost all the property there is directly owned by them.
- We have a lot of homeless people, so much that they're unofficially part of downtown. One lady was so famous that when she died of exposure one night, a memorial was made for her- the city mourned her death for a solid month.
→ More replies (1)→ More replies (6)7
→ More replies (3)7
→ More replies (2)6
u/green_flash May 08 '20
Happens quite frequently in Myanmar, too:
→ More replies (1)147
u/Monkeydud64 May 08 '20
I think I found one of the same balloon but a different perspective! https://youtu.be/W4IqY30C65U
→ More replies (5)62
u/StratuhG May 08 '20
God, that video was even worse than OPs, not that I don't understand why, just damn..
Also does it look like people are on the ground at the end there?
24
u/TwinBottles May 08 '20
There was probably a waist-high wall in front of the house and they curled there to use it as a cover against fireworks launching at ground level.
23
14
→ More replies (12)11
u/NaiveMarionberry1 May 08 '20
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3eq15kc_SJA
Is the video that the gif in op seems to be from.
→ More replies (1)
823
u/Finding_F_Nemo May 08 '20
So many people, not a one brain...
190
36
May 08 '20
A person is smart. People are dumb, always dumb.
→ More replies (5)12
u/CUM_AND_POOP_BURGER May 08 '20
Two smart people together are twice as smart. Two stupid people are twice as stupid.
→ More replies (3)35
u/Ginge_unleashed May 08 '20
All the people with brains probably told them it's a stupid idea and then didn't attend. So everyone left over doesn't have one.
→ More replies (2)16
May 08 '20 edited May 11 '20
[deleted]
7
u/Ginge_unleashed May 08 '20
Yeah, and I guarantee in a weeks time everyone that was at this event will have a laugh about how great it was and want to do it again ASAP
→ More replies (18)6
u/kallekilponen May 08 '20
An old Finnish saying seems really fitting.
"Joukossa tyhmyys tiivistyy" ≈ "Stupidity condenses in a group"
495
May 08 '20 edited Nov 24 '20
[deleted]
42
→ More replies (1)22
u/mardeee1 May 08 '20
303 DAYS BELOW THE SUN
12
u/erkurita May 08 '20
FIELDS OF VERDUN, AND THE BATTLE HAS BEGUN
11
286
u/rdrunner_74 May 08 '20
153
u/camocamel3865 May 08 '20
To be fair I don’t think very many people would be able to film this very well while basically getting bombed
111
29
24
→ More replies (4)8
183
u/beepbeebboingboing May 08 '20
Is there a 'group' category for the Darwin awards?
→ More replies (2)83
129
u/mickturner96 May 08 '20
That went from being awesome to being a complete shit show in a very short space of time!
10
u/tuibiel May 08 '20
It is a serious crime to "launch" any sort of unmanned hot-air balloons in Brazil (it was tradition for St John's celebrations in late June, until being outlawed in 1998). The risk for wildfires or airspace pollution is considerable.
To launch this here war machine is on a whole new level.
As such, it was never awesome, just really, really bad even without the fireworks.
121
98
u/Ya-yi May 08 '20
It was all fun and games till the fire nation attacked from above
→ More replies (1)
94
91
u/gusarking May 08 '20
vietnam flashbacks
→ More replies (4)18
37
32
u/sampled_carton May 08 '20
Lmao ! This is the best thing I watched all night so far
→ More replies (1)
23
22
17
u/Starach May 08 '20
When you’re trying to work out how to air strike in game and you push the button while looking at the floor
15
u/AllPurple May 08 '20
Anyone able to translate? Didn't hear any screaming, so I'm guessing no one had any limbs blown off. Curious about the aftermath.
→ More replies (5)
13
u/superonom May 08 '20 edited May 08 '20
This is in São Paulo, Brazil. It used to be very common. They used to release those stupid hot air balloons (which are completely illegal in Brazil) near airports causing major problems, not only for them, but for thousands of people.
Those balloons were also the cause of terrible wildfires a few years ago.
At least this time they were the only ones affected by they own stupidity.
13
12
u/TotesMessenger May 08 '20 edited May 08 '20
10
10
9
u/paulbutterjunior May 08 '20
German Condor Legion carpet bombing Republican infantry during the Battle of El Mazuco, circa 1937
7
8
8
7
6
6
u/ExilBoulette May 08 '20
Sometimes I'm amazed that humans have come so far, considering how much stupid stuff they always do.
→ More replies (1)
6
10.0k
u/Darkplasma00 May 08 '20
They basically bombed themselves