Balloon Bomb - Smithsonian Institution Libraries

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Figure 37. "Sunset Project" facility locations in the western portion of the state of
Washington.
facts finally became evident. According to Dr. Ross, this
was obviously beach sand, and the presence of fossils
determined the northermost latitude along the Japanese
seacoast from which this could come. The Geological
Survey reported that the most likely source for both
samples was the area in the vicinity of Shiogama on the
east coast of Honshu, eight miles northeast of Sendai.
The next most likely rource was stated to be the beaches
just south of Ohara, about forty miles southeast of
Tokyo—this was Ichinomiya, an actual launch site. The
samples showed slight variations such as would be
expected in two samples collected from different parts
of one beach (see Figure 16).
The Canadians were equally concerned about the
balloon bombs and were performing similar tests with
sand ballasts. In the samples they studied, their mineralogists
had detected slag content which indicated sand
from an area near a blast furnace. Close communication
between the United States and Canada helped considerably
to narrow down the launch sites.
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