Several buildings, however, were destroyed by the shell debris, and three people died from heart attacks brought on by panic. No bombs were dropped, no fighters were scrambled, and no aircraft were shot down. In all, about 1430 shells were expended firing at the unidentified objects. The fire against the smaller craft ended at 4:14 am on the 26th. It then moved at 60 mph to Santa Monica and south to Long Beach, where it was lost. By all accounts, the object was impervious to the AAA's 12.8 lb shells. The slow craft was photographed, and the artillery opened fire, scoring several direct hits. It finally began to move over land at Culver City, where all searchlights trained on the object. This larger object moved very slowly over the ocean and observers on the ground said it appeared to be luminous. The second type of craft was the object seen on radar. Some disappeared, not diminishing in brilliance or fading away gradually but just vanishing instantaneously into the night." Instead of flying straight over the city, they were observed to "mix and play tag with about 30 to 40 others moving so fast they couldn't be counted accurately." Collins, an employee of the Douglas Aircraft Company, saw the craft "appearing from nowhere and then zigzagging from side to side. One observer calculated the speed of the formation to be a remarkable 18,000 mph. Thousands of witnesses on the ground saw small objects, red and silver in color, flying in formation, dodging the AAA salvos. There were apparently two types of craft involved. Searchlight beams tracked the attackers through the skies of LA. The city went into blackout, and anti-aircraft artillery units began scanning the skies.Īt 3:16, the AAA opened fire on a number of unidentified and visible aircraft coming in from over the ocean. The four hours expired without incident, but at 2:15 am, radar picked up an incoming unidentified aircraft 120 miles out to sea. The raid itself would go on to have little historical significance, but the way the government reacted to it launched an entire sorry chapter in defense history.Īt 7:18 pm on the night of February 25, lights and flares were seen in the sky near defense plants in Los Angeles, triggering a four-hour alert. It's not taught about in schools, but it's one of those odd episodes which makes the study of history so rewarding. Today, the Los Angeles Air Raid (less commonly known as " The Battle of Los Angeles") remains a historical anomaly. In 1942, in the early months of American involvement in World War II, something very strange happened in Los Angeles.
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