Tensions were high and nerves frayed. The Japanese surprise attack on Pearl Harbor had pulled The United States into World War II less than three months before. Making matters worse, Santa Barbara's Ellwood Oil Fields had been shelled by an off-shore Japanese submarine just two days before the mysterious object appeared in the skies over Los Angeles. Every military unit in the area was on high alert.
At 3:16am February 25, 1942, thousands of area residents awoke to the sound of wailing air raid sirens. Next came the deep boomp-boomp-boomp-boomp of 12.8 pound anti-aircraft shells exploding in the skies above the suburbs of west Los Angeles. Hot steel rained down on the houses below. Six people were killed by the falling debris.
So what were the soldiers firing at? Whatever it was was a sitting duck for the Army's guns as it slowly moved along the coast line before finally vanishing. Gunners claimed to have scored several direct hits, making it highly unlikely that their target was a dirigible or some other kind of fragile lighter-than-air craft. The enhanced photo above is inconclusive. It does appear that there is some solid object caught in the searchlights.
The roar and flash of the exploding shells made the scene even more chaotic and unclear. Edgy soldiers continued to send shells skyward until 4:14am. Sirens finally sounded the "all clear" at 7:21am. The shooting was over. Now the public waited for an explanation. The military admitted it could not identify the flying object.
A USAF review conducted decades after the incident speculated that nervous artillerymen were actually firing at the point were the searchlight beams intersected. Despite the fact that tens of thousands of witnesses reported seeing the large object, the Air Force report attributed the entire incident to jumpy, trigger-happy soldiers.
More than seventy years later, mystery still surrounds what really sparked The Battle of Los Angeles.
At 3:16am February 25, 1942, thousands of area residents awoke to the sound of wailing air raid sirens. Next came the deep boomp-boomp-boomp-boomp of 12.8 pound anti-aircraft shells exploding in the skies above the suburbs of west Los Angeles. Hot steel rained down on the houses below. Six people were killed by the falling debris.
So what were the soldiers firing at? Whatever it was was a sitting duck for the Army's guns as it slowly moved along the coast line before finally vanishing. Gunners claimed to have scored several direct hits, making it highly unlikely that their target was a dirigible or some other kind of fragile lighter-than-air craft. The enhanced photo above is inconclusive. It does appear that there is some solid object caught in the searchlights.
The roar and flash of the exploding shells made the scene even more chaotic and unclear. Edgy soldiers continued to send shells skyward until 4:14am. Sirens finally sounded the "all clear" at 7:21am. The shooting was over. Now the public waited for an explanation. The military admitted it could not identify the flying object.
A USAF review conducted decades after the incident speculated that nervous artillerymen were actually firing at the point were the searchlight beams intersected. Despite the fact that tens of thousands of witnesses reported seeing the large object, the Air Force report attributed the entire incident to jumpy, trigger-happy soldiers.
More than seventy years later, mystery still surrounds what really sparked The Battle of Los Angeles.
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