Okuda Shoji

Who is Okuda Shoji?

Petty Officer Shoji Okuda, served as an aerial observer in the Imperial Japanese Navy on a floatplane Yokosuka E14Y that was launched from a long-range submarine aircraft carrier, the I-25.

Together with pilot Nobuo Fujita, he participated in a mission using incendiary bombs, known as "The Lookout Air Raid". The mission was to start massive forest fires in the Pacific Northwest outside the town of Brookings, Oregon, on 9 September 1942, with the ultimate objective of tying up U.S. military resources to the defense of the mainland, away from the Pacific Theater.

Although the mission was a minor incident, it was the first airplane-dropped bombing on the continental United States.