GR: WWII balloonery

[Monte Davis]

I'd known for a long time about Japan's effort late in WWII -- with very
little success -- to attack the US west coast with unguided balloons
bearing small incendiary and explosive payloads.

But until a recent Futility Closet podcast (17:15 in the audio here)

http://www.futilitycloset.com/2016/09/26/podcast-episode-123-washington-d-c-s-hidden-tunnels/

I'd never heard of Operation Outward, a longer and 10x larger balloon
campaign by the UK against Germany.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Operation_Outward

Just another bit of background for the barrage balloons over Roger &
Jessica's love nest, or Tyrone gasbagging over Thuringia.

BTW, the "trail wires across power lines to short them" tactic would
resurface as carbon-filament bombs to cause blackouts in Iraq (1991),
Serbia (1999), and Iraq again (2003).
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