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This is Volume One of The Army Air Forces in World War II, titled Plans and Early Operations, January 1939 to August 1942, edited by Wesley Frank Craven and James Lea Cate. The University of Chicago Press first published it in 1948, and the Office of Air Force History reprinted it in 1983. The front matter explains how the AAF historical program was set up during the war. The index covers Pacific, Atlantic and European operations, and nothing in the text concerns unidentified aerial phenomena.
“The Invaders”15 pages
T H E A R M Y A I R F O R C E S I N W O R L D W A R I 1 varied from “very slow” to over zoo miles per hour, were observed to parade across the ~kies.‘~These mysterious forces dropped no bombs and, despite the fact that 1,440rounds of antiaircraft ammunition were directed against them, suffered no losses. There were reports, to be sure, that four enemy planes had been shot down, and one was sup- posed to have landed in flames a t a Hollywood intersection.80 Resi- dents in a forty-mile arc along the coast watched from hills or rooftops as the play of guns and searchlights provided the first real drama of the war for citizens of the mainland. The dawn, which ended the shooting and the fantasy, also proved that the only damage which resulted to the city was such as had been caused by the excitement (there was at least one death from heart failure), by traffic accidents in the blacked-out streets, or by shell fragments from the artillery barrage.81 Attempts to arrive at an explanation of the incident quickly became as involved and mysterious as the “battle” itself. The Navy immedi- ately insisted that there was no evidence of the presence of enemy planes, and Secretary Knox announced at a press conference on 2 5 February that the raid was just a false At the same conference he admitted that attacks were always possible and indicated that vital industries located along the coast ought to be moved inland. The Army had a hard time making up its mind on the cause of the alert. A report to Washington, made by the Western Defense Command shortly after the raid had ended, indicated that the credibility of reports of an attack had begun to be shaken before the blackout was lifted. This message predicted that developments would prove “that most previous reports had been greatly exaggerated.” 8 3 The Fourth Air Force had indicated its belief that there were no planes over Los Angeles. But the Army did not publish these initial conclusions. Instead, it waited a day, until after a thorough examination of witnesses had been fini~hed.~”On the basis of these hearings, local commanders altered their verdict and indicated a belief that from one to five unidentified airplanes had been over Los A n g e l e ~ . ~ ~Secretary Stimson announced this conclusion as the War Department version of the incident, and he advanced two theories to account for the mysterious craft: either they were commer- cial planes operated by an enemy from secret fields in California or Mexico, or they were light planes launched from Japanese sub- marines.86In either case, the enemy’s purpose must have been to locate antiaircraft defenses in the area or to deliver a blow at civilian morale. 284
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