From: Terry W. Colvin <fortean1.nul>
Date: Tue, 15 Feb 2005 19:55:43 -0700
Fwd Date: Wed, 16 Feb 2005 08:19:13 -0500
Subject: The Los Angeles Air Raid


UFO: The Complete Sightings
by Peter Brookesmith
Barnes & Noble, Inc.
120 Fifth Avenue
New York City, NY 10011


The Los Angeles Air Raid
pp. 33-34

Unknown intruders run into an anti-aircraft barrage

TYPE: Lights in the sky
PLACE: Environs of Los Angeles, California, USA
DATE: 25 February 1942

BACKGROUND

Less than three months after the Japanese attack on Pearl
Harbor, the US military forces could not rule out an aerial
attack on the continental USA. Tension on the Pacific coast was
running high.

THE EVENTS

At 2:25am on 25 February air raid sirens sounded over Los
Angeles. The city blacked out, and at 3:16am anti-aircraft
artillery (AAA) batteries began firing at 'unidentified
aircraft' coming in over the ocean, as searchlight beams pursued
them through the sky. There seemed to be at least two types of
craft involved in the incident. Witnesses saw fast-moving, high-
flying small objects, red or silver in color, that arrived in
formation and then appeared to dodge their way through the AAA
salvos at speeds of up to five miles (8km) per second -- 18,000
mph (29,000km/h). There was also a large object that remained
stationary for some time, was caught in searchlights over Culver
City, and then moved at a stately 60 mph (100km/h) to the coast
at Santa Monica and then southward toward Long Beach, before
being lost to sight. This large object reportedly took numerous
direct hits. The AAA continued firing until 4:14am, using 1430
12.8lb (6kg) shells in all. No bombs were dropped and no
aircraft were downed.

ASSESSMENT

On 26 February, General of the Armies George C. Marshall
informed President Franklin D. Roosevelt that as many as 15
unidentified aircraft had been logged over Los Angeles, flying
at speeds of up to 200 mph (320km/h) and at altitudes of between
9000 and 18,000ft (2700-5400m). General Marshall surmised that
the enemy had used commercial aircraft operated by enemy agents
to spread alarm, locate AAA positions in California, and slow up
US war production.

No proof that any of these conclusions was accurate has ever
been forthcoming. Official estimates of the UFOs' speeds are
hugely and worringly at variance with those of witnesses, and
the behavior of the objects was unlike that of any conventional
aircraft of the period -- it is very difficult to imagine why
hostile aircraft would show their lights during an air raid over
enemy territory.

There has been speculation among many commentators that the US
military was aware all along that these were unusual targets,
because in the 50 minutes between the time they were first
alerted and the time they opened up the AAA barrage, aircraft of
the 4th Interceptor Command had not been sent to engage the
intruders. Furthermore, for reasons that have never been
explained, the US Department of Defense strenuously denied
having any records of the Los Angeles Air Raid until 1987.