Battle of Los Angeles: anti-aircraft barrage at an unidentified target, February 1942 (1942)
Anti-aircraft batteries fired about 1,440 rounds over Los Angeles in the early hours of 25 February 1942 at objects that were never identified. The Navy called it a false alarm; the official Air Force history later blamed a weather balloon plus searchlight-lit shell bursts mistaken for aircraft.
- Case number
- TU-1942-900001
- Date
- 25 February 1942
- Location
- Los Angeles, California, USA
- Coordinates
- 34.052° N, 118.244° W
- Shape
- unknown
- Colour
- Unknown
- Witnesses
- 4
- Status
- likely explained
Case summary
A naval intelligence warning on 24 February 1942, a day after a Japanese submarine shelled Ellwood, put Los Angeles on edge. An alert that evening was lifted at 10.23 p.m., then radar picked up a target 120 miles west and a blackout was ordered at 2.21 a.m. Sources differ on the start: the official Army Air Forces history gives 3.06 a.m., when a balloon with a red flare was seen over Santa Monica, while the War Department placed the barrage between 3.12 and 4.15 a.m.
Four batteries of the 37th Coast Artillery Brigade fired about 1,440 rounds at reported aircraft and balloons. No bombs fell, no aircraft were shot down and dawn found no enemy raid; five civilians died indirectly, in traffic accidents and from heart attacks. Reports ranged from one object to 'swarms' of hundreds.
Official conclusions diverged. Navy Secretary Frank Knox called it a false alarm on 25 February; War Secretary Henry Stimson relayed the Army's view that one to five unidentified aircraft had been overhead, possibly enemy planes or submarine-launched craft. The Coast Artillery Association (1949) and the Office of Air Force History (1983) both pointed to a weather balloon starting the alarm, with shell bursts then mistaken for aircraft.
Named witnesses: correspondents Ernie Pyle and Bill Henry never made out an aircraft, a coast artillery colonel reported about 25 planes at 12,000 feet, and the acting anti-aircraft commander testified he first saw fifteen aircraft and then only smoke.
Nearby strategic sites
- Beale Air Force Base — 633 km away