This odd-looking device is what's left of a FUGO. We found it at Fort Rodd Hill National Historic Site. It intrigued me because the FUGO was used by the Japanese in WWII to attempt to set North America on fire. No kiddin'. This frame you see was set aloft in the Jet Stream by hydrogen balloons made of lacquered paper (yes, you read that right - paper), and counterweighted with sandbags for ballast. A barometer would trigger sandbags to drop when the device sank out of the jet stream. The whole thing was calculated to make its final descent over the west coast of North America, where it would set off a 15 kilogram anti-personnel bomb and magnesium charges intended to ignite forest fires. Wow. The plan intended to divert resources and manpower from the overseas war effort to the mainland. Unfortunately for the Japanese, the FUGO was deployed as a frantic bid for an advantage...in the winter...of 1944. The devices did sail on the jet stream, as designed to do, but when they reached the U.S. and Canada, they did not start fires or cause much damage at all because of the wet and cold winter conditions. In fact, the only mainland casualties from WWII were a family of picnickers who discovered a fallen FUGO and accidentally detonated it. Interestingly enough, the fear of these fires gave rise to the Smokey the Bear program, still in use today. "Smokey says, only YOU can prevent forest fires"