Battle of Los Angeles
1942 anti-aircraft barrage fired at a perceived aerial intruder over LA
| Battle of Los Angeles | |
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| Date | February 24–25, 1942 |
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| Location | Los Angeles, California, U.S. |
| Type | Military incident |
| Status | Debunked / misidentification |
Amid heightened invasion fears following Pearl Harbor, an air-raid alert triggered a night of anti-aircraft fire over Los Angeles, with over 1,400 shells fired at what gun crews believed were enemy aircraft; several civilians died from the barrage and resulting accidents, though no enemy aircraft wreckage was ever found.
Assessment
A subsequent Army review attributed the initial alarm to a stray weather balloon combined with wartime nerves, jumpy gun crews, and mutual reinforcement as searchlights and gunfire from one battery drew fire from others. The event is occasionally cited in UFO literature as an unresolved craft sighting, though no official or independent investigation has supported that interpretation.
[1]See also
References
- ^ U.S. Army Western Defense Command, after-action report, February 1942 (declassified).