A Yokosuka E14Y floatplane, the type flown by Nobuo Fujita in 1942

Nobuo Fujita: The Pilot Who Bombed Oregon’s Forests and Came Back as a Friend

ByMegan Harlow

Photo: Unknown author / Wikimedia Commons, Public domain.

On the morning of September 9, 1942, a small floatplane launched from a Japanese submarine off the southern Oregon coast and flew inland over the forest east of Brookings. Its pilot, Warrant Officer Nobuo Fujita of the Imperial Japanese Navy, carried two incendiary bombs. His mission was to start forest fires, and it made him the only enemy pilot to drop bombs from an aircraft on the U.S. mainland during World War II.

A plan launched from a submarine

Fujita flew a Yokosuka E14Y reconnaissance seaplane, a small aircraft that could be folded and stored in a watertight hangar on the deck of the submarine I-25. Crews assembled the plane on deck and launched it by catapult.

The idea behind the raid was straightforward: the Pacific Northwest’s forests were vast and, in late summer, dry. Japanese planners hoped fires would force the United States to divert resources and spread alarm along the West Coast. Fujita and his observer, Shoji Okuda, dropped their bombs on the slopes of Mount Emily in the Siskiyou National Forest, then flew back to the submarine.

Why the fires didn’t spread

The raid didn’t go as planned. Rain earlier in the season had left the forest damp. A U.S. Forest Service lookout spotted smoke, and fire crews reached the area and put out the small fires. Fujita flew a second mission later in September, but it also caused little damage. The airborne attacks on the mainland ended there.

For people on the coast, the raids were one of several reminders that the war was close. In June 1942, the same submarine had shelled Fort Stevens, at the mouth of the Columbia River near Hammond, now part of Warrenton. The shells did little physical harm, but Fort Stevens became one of the few military installations in the continental United States to come under enemy fire during the war. (Fort Stevens State Park has more on that history.)

The return to Brookings

Fujita survived the war and went into business in Japan. In 1962, the city of Brookings invited him to visit during its Azalea Festival. He came, bringing a samurai sword that had been in his family for generations, which he presented to the city as a gesture of reconciliation. The sword is displayed at the Chetco Community Public Library in Brookings.

He came back several more times. He sponsored a visit to Japan by Brookings-area high school students and donated money to the local library for books about Japan, hoping to help young Americans understand his country. Fujita died in 1997. A portion of his ashes was later buried at the bomb site on Mount Emily, where a trail and interpretive signs now mark the location.

Visiting the site

The Bombsite Trail is in the Rogue River-Siskiyou National Forest, inland from Brookings. Check road and trail conditions with the Forest Service before you go, especially during fire season, when access may be restricted.

Why the story lasts

The Mount Emily raid caused almost no damage, but it has become one of the best-known episodes of World War II on the Oregon coast. It’s remembered less for the bombing itself than for what came afterward: a former enemy pilot who chose, decades later, to come back as a guest and a friend.

Sources: USDA Forest Service, Rogue River-Siskiyou National Forest (Bombsite Trail); Oregon Parks and Recreation Department, Fort Stevens State Park history; Oregon Encyclopedia (Oregon Historical Society), entries on the 1942 Japanese attacks on Oregon.

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