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"At dawn on 9 September 1942, the Japanese submarine I-25 (2,198 tons) under Frigate Captain Meija Tagami, lay off the coast of the state of Oregon. Inside the repair hangar was a Yokosuka E14Y1 seaplane. The pilot, N. Fujita, one of the youngest Japanese naval officers, pressed his eye to the periscope lens 'I looked out on the coast of Oregon where the mountains were still wreathed in mist and recognized Cape Blanco with its lighthouse. The stormy seas of the past ten days had grown calm again, and there was a cloudless sky. "Captain," I said, "it looks good. I think we can carry out our operation today." "Fine!" Tagami replied. "In a couple of minutes you'll make history: you'll be the first man ever to bomb the United States of America."'
"The raid on the USA had been N. Fujita's idea. His proposal to make the raid with a plane based on a submarine, reached Admiral Yamamoto some time in the summer of 1942, just after Yamamoto received a report from the ex-Japanese consul in Seattle advising that the best and simplest way to spread panic among the enemy was to set fire to the abundant forests along the US west coast. Now the young naval flier was about to turn his idea into reality.
"'After putting on my flying suit I made my last-minute preparations. I put a couple of locks of my hair, some finger-nail clippings and my will into a small wooden box. In case I did not return from the mission, these "remains" would be delivered to my wife. Now everything was ready, my observer Okuda was inside the plane and the catapult was lit. We zoomed over the Cape Blanco lighthouse toward the coast and then turned northeast toward the target zone. The sun bathed the eastern sky in red-gold light. When we had travelled about 42 miles, I ordered Okuda to drop the first bomb over the huge forests. We flew another 9 miles eastward and let loose the second bomb. When we reached Cape Blanco again, we veered southwest. Suddenly I saw two freighters. We flew directly over the water's surface to avoid detection. A couple of minutes later we were concealed by the skyline. Only then did we veer off to look for our submarine. Soon we were back on board.'...
"On 29 September 1942, J. Fujita took off for a second bombing raid on the forests of Oregon, this time at night. He struck at the same spot as the first time, 50 miles west[1] of Cape Blanco. This was the last bombing raid made on the USA to this day: Fujita could not make a third sortie, because the sea became too rough for him to take off."[2]
[1] It would appear this should read "east" or "northeast".
[2]Janusz Piekalkiewicz, The Air War: 1939-1945, (Blandford Press: Poole, Dorset, 1985), 218-219.
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