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Los Angeles and the Barrage of 1942

added01 September 2026

On the night of 24–25 February 1942, ten weeks after Pearl Harbor, an air raid alert was sounded over Los Angeles and the anti-aircraft batteries opened fire. The shooting went on for over an hour: some 1,400 shells were fired and five people died — three in traffic accidents in the blackout, two of heart attacks. No aircraft was brought down and no wreckage was found. The next day the Los Angeles Times printed a photograph of the night sky with searchlight beams converging on a bright patch. The frame has been reprinted as evidence ever since, though the retouching on it was ordinary newspaper practice of the period. The official explanation is a weather balloon and wartime nerves.

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34.05000, -118.25000

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