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    History and Headlines
    You are at:Home»February»February 24»February 24, 1942: The U.S. vs. UFOs, the Battle of Los Angeles
    February 24

    February 24, 1942: The U.S. vs. UFOs, the Battle of Los Angeles

    Major DanBy Major DanFebruary 24, 2015Updated:February 12, 202015 Comments3 Mins Read
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    A Brief History

    On February 24, 1942, less than 3 months after the surprise attack on Pearl Harbor, the city of Los Angeles seemed to be under attack from a mysterious flying object. 

    Digging Deeper

    Later claimed by the government to have been a false alarm, something had to have caused numerous air raid alerts to go off and give anti-aircraft gunners something to shoot at.  Shoot they did, and a furious firefight ensued with .50 caliber machine guns and 3-inch artillery shells, about 1,400 rounds of which exploded over the city,  showering it with metal fragments.

    General Marshall later speculated that unknown persons had perhaps used commercial aircraft to rattle the public in a sort of psychological warfare, but this lame explanation seems unfounded.  Even at the time, many found the government response to be somewhat sketchy, and many have theorized that the incident was a response to a UFO encounter.  At least one congressman demanded a congressional inquiry, and newspapers noted the reluctance of the government to speak openly.  It has even been claimed that the government or the military staged the incident to keep the public alert and on edge.

    In 1983, the U.S. Air Force produced an investigative report that blamed a common suspect in UFO encounters, dreaded weather balloons.  A photo that had appeared in the LA Times 2 days after the incident, however, is considered “proof” by UFO conspiracy theorists that the object being shot at was a UFO of alien origin.

    Every year the event is celebrated as “The Great LA Air Raid of 1942” at the Fort MacArthur Museum located at the Los Angeles harbor.  The 1979 film 1941, with Dan Aykroyd and John Belushi, is a comedy based loosely on this event.  The 2011 film Battle: Los Angeles refers to this incident and the infamous newspaper photo, but does so with fictitious headlines purporting to be real historical fact.

    Make of the “battle” what you will, but our advice is if you hear explosions going off above you, find cover quickly!

    Question for students (and subscribers): What do you think really happened?  Please let us know in the comments section below this article.

    If you liked this article and would like to receive notification of new articles, please feel welcome to subscribe to History and Headlines by liking us on Facebook and becoming one of our patrons!

    Your readership is much appreciated!

    Historical Evidence

    For more information, please see…

    Sword, Terrenz.  The Battle of Los Angeles, 1942: The Mystery Air Raid.  CreateSpace Independent Publishing Platform, 2016.

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    Major Dan
    Major Dan

      Major Dan is a retired veteran of the United States Marine Corps. He served during the Cold War and has traveled to many countries around the world. Prior to his military service, he graduated from Cleveland State University, having majored in sociology. Following his military service, he worked as a police officer eventually earning the rank of captain prior to his retirement.

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      <span class="dsq-postid" data-dsqidentifier="9699 https://www.historyandheadlines.com/?p=9699">15 Comments

      1. Avatar
        Alex Guthrie on December 5, 2015 1:04 pm

        Perhaps it was a UFO but this whole scenario seems unclear. Who really knows…

        Reply
      2. Avatar
        Olivia K on December 7, 2015 2:08 pm

        I am very skeptical about aliens. However, there is a large amount of people who do believe in them so I give them a higher consideration than big foot.

        Reply
      3. Avatar
        Lauren Mangan on December 7, 2015 7:51 pm

        This scenario is a little to sketchy to be true aliens but I do think that aliens may exist.

        Reply
      4. Avatar
        Sammi DiGeronimo on December 7, 2015 10:59 pm

        I have never believed in aliens or UFO’s so I believe that this story is a hoax.

        Reply
      5. Avatar
        Connor Lynch on December 8, 2015 9:44 pm

        Clearly it was something other than UFOs. People of the time were just anxious from Pearl Harbor; as they rightly should have been.

        Reply
      6. Avatar
        KR on December 10, 2015 12:24 am

        That would have been an exciting night. That’s definitely one way to terrify a lot of people really quickly.

        Reply
      7. Avatar
        Dan Hennessey on December 11, 2015 11:14 am

        I really believe that this was just a result of miscommunication of a plane or radio failure and a mix of that this was in World War II. Also the questioning of the congressman and inaccurate media information lead to mass hysteria.

        Reply
      8. Avatar
        Thomas Robinson on December 16, 2015 9:13 pm

        Not sure I believe aliens were involved in this incident, but I do still believe we are not the only intelligent life in the universe.

        Reply
      9. Avatar
        Salih Saritoprak on December 17, 2015 12:42 pm

        It is more unrealistic to believe that we are alone in this universe.

        Reply
      10. Avatar
        Alexa V on December 17, 2015 6:39 pm

        Even the news report stated that it was probably a publicity stunt to keep the public on their feet.

        Reply
      11. Avatar
        SK on December 17, 2015 11:19 pm

        There has to be something other than us humans in the universe.

        Reply
      12. Avatar
        N Sword on December 18, 2015 12:52 am

        This is a bunch of malarky. While I have always been under the impression that our nearly infinite universe MUST be inhabited by something other than just humans, this attack was so close to Pearl Harbor that it had to be related. The fact that aliens would choose to present themselves mere days after a world-changing event seems highly unlikely.

        Reply
      13. Avatar
        Matt Chojnacki on December 18, 2015 10:10 am

        I think it was just a photo doctered by the newspaper

        Reply
      14. Avatar
        Mason Nist on February 27, 2017 1:31 pm

        I think that our US Air Force could have possibly been overreacting to the event due to the tragic events that had taken place just 3 months ago.

        Reply
      15. Avatar
        Caitlyn Seebach on March 24, 2017 9:18 am

        I definitely believe in UFO’s and aliens. I bet it actually was a UFO the government just didn’t know how to react to it. Yes it would have been scary from what had happened recently but they shouldn’t have played it off as nothing

        Reply

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