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Nobuo Fujita ( of the Imperial Japanese Navy who flew a Floatplane from a long-range Submarine Aircraft Carrier , the '' I-25 '', and conducted what is still the only wartime airplane-dropped bombing on the continental United States ever. Using Incendiary Bomb s, his mission was to start massive forest fires in the Pacific Northwest outside the town of Brookings, Oregon on 9 September 1942 , with the ultimate objective of tying up US military resources to the defense of the mainland, away from the Pacific Theater . The strategy was also used in the Japanese Fire Balloon campaign. LIFE AND MILITARY CAREER Nobuo Fujita was born in 1911 . He joined the Imperial Japanese Navy in 1932 , and became a pilot in 1933 . Pearl Harbor and US West Coast ''. The bulbous plane hangar and the catapult are visible forward of the conning tower.]] Fujita was onboard the ''I-25'' during the attack on Pearl Harbor , where the ''I-25'' and three other submarines patrolled a line 120 miles north of Oahu . Fujita's plane, a Yokosuka E14Y "Glen" seaplane, did not function properly, and he was unable to participate in the reconnaissance mission planned before the attack. After Pearl Harbor, ''I-25'' patrolled along the west coast of the United States with eight other submarines, where they sank US shipping before returning to their base in Kwajalein Atoll in the Marshall Islands , arriving on 11 January 1942 to refuel and be refurbished. South Pacific ''I-25'''s next mission was to reconnoitre the Australian harbours of Sydney , Melbourne and Hobart followed by the New Zealand harbours of Wellington and Auckland . On Tuesday, 17 February 1942 , Nobuo Fujita took off in the "Glen" for a reconnaissance flight over Sydney Harbour . The purpose was to look at Sydney's airbase. By 7:30 a.m., Fujita had returned to ''I-25'', disassembled the "Glen" and stowed it in the water-tight hangar. Their next mission was a similar flight over Melbourne. Fujita took off from Cape Wickham at the northern end of King Island at the western end of Bass Strait about halfway between Victoria and Tasmania . The floatplane was launched on 26 February 1942 for its reconnaissance flight to Melbourne over Port Phillip Bay . Fujita's next reconnaissance flight in Australia was over Hobart on 1 March 1942 . ''I-25'' then headed for New Zealand where Fujita flew another reconnaissance flight over Wellington on 8 March 1942 . Fujita next flew over Auckland on 13 March 1942 , followed by Fiji on 17 March 1942 . They returned to their base at Kwajalein on 31 March 1942 . Bombing of continental United States "Glen".]] It seems Fujita himself suggested the idea of using a submarine-based seaplane to launch attacks on the U.S. mainland, as well the strategic Panama Canal . The ideas were approved, and the mission given to the ''I-25''. Later, submarine aircraft carriers such as the giant I-400 Class Submarine s were developed specifically to bomb the Panama Canal. On Wednesday morning, . They were able to report it, and the fires started by Fujita's plane were controlled. Fragments of the bomb's casing were also found. After the bombing, the ''I-25'' came under attack by a US Army Air Corps aircraft on patrol, forcing the submarine to dive and hide on the ocean floor off Port Orford . The American attacks were without effect, and Fujita managed to launch a second bombing sortie three weeks later. Although the coast was blacked out as a defensive measure, Fujita was able to use the Cape Blanco Lighthouse as a beacon. After 90 minutes flying east, Fujita dropped his bombs and said he saw flames, but the bombing remained unnoticed in the U.S. After that last bombing, the submarine sank the SS Camden and SS Larry Doheny . On its way to Japan, the ''I-25'' sunk the Soviet submarine ''L-16'', which was in transit between Dutch Harbor , Alaska , and San Francisco , mistaking it for an American submarine (Japan and the USSR were not at war at the time). These two attacks on Oregon in September 1942 were the first attacks on the continental United States since the British invasion in 1814 during the War Of 1812 , and the only wartime airplane bombings on the continental United States. Later life Fujita continued activity as an Imperial Japanese Navy pilot, mainly in reconnaissance duties, until 1944, when he was transferred to the training of Kamikaze pilots. Fujita would be invited back to Brookings in 1962 , and he presented to the town his family's 400-year-old Samurai Sword in friendship after the Japanese Government was assured he would not be tried as a War Criminal . Impressed by his welcome in the United States, Fujita invited three female students from Brookings to Japan in 1985. He later received a dedicatory letter from President Ronald Reagan "with admiration for your kindness and generosity." He was made an honorary citizen of Gold Beach, Oregon , several days before his death on September 30 , 1997 , at the age of 85. Some of his ashes were scattered on Mount Emily. SEE ALSO EXTERNAL LINKS
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