I'm a refugee from the "Is my born date intimidating" thread". Apparently, technical discussions of military weapons just isn't that interesting to SOME people.
Fine. We don't have a military section so I'll post it here. Cindy's nominations for "Craziest weapon ideas" throughout history. Additions are welcome.
Here's my #1 favorite "loony idea":
Japanese balloons and bats! - Aircraft of World War II - Warbird Forums Quote:
After hearing the news about Pearl Harbor a Pennsylvania dental surgeon, Dr. Lytle Adams, had a masterful counterstroke in mind. He wondered why the millions of bats in Carlsbad Caverns of New Mexico could not be fitted with incendiary bombs then dropped on Japanese cities. The furry kamikazes would naturally seek shelter in the buildings. The pre-set fuses would trigger firebombs that would cause conflagrations in the flimsy wooden structures of Japan, he reasoned.
Even if the fires didn’t link up, as did the later B-29’s, the toll exacted on the populace would be valuable in the psy-war. The fuses could be set for any time indiscriminately in the future. They’d never be certain when or where fires would erupt. Panicked citizens would endure dangers and stress in relation to the random occurrences. Some could go off immediately. Once fires from them were quenched more could be generated hours or days later.
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Quote:
High-flying bombers would deliver the bats in containers and drop them. At 1,000 feet the containers would automatically open and the fuzzy, winged rodents would carry out their dastardly scheme on the wood and paper buildings. Roosevelt directed the project classified as Top Secret with the code name Operation X-Ray, perhaps for the originator dentist Dr. Adams. Adams was brought to Washington and placed in charge of the program.
He and his program assistants traveled all over the country in search of bats on a wholesale basis. Carlsbad Caverns had a bat population of some nine million with one cavity housing half a million alone. But Texas always does thing bigger and better. There in Ney Caverns an estimated thirty million furry critters dwelled in a virtual bat utopia. Capture began and the Army Chemical Warfare Department and the National Defense Committee commenced work on an incendiary device small enough for the bat bombers. By 1943 the experts had an oblong case of nitro-cellulose filled with napalm actuated by a delayed timing mechanism.
To handle and ship the bats they were cooled to 40 degrees Fahrenheit at which temperature they began hibernation. This solved the feeding problem that was becoming immense. But it’s not nice to fool Mother Nature, and artificial cool down using ice cubes did not produce the same result, as did the natural process. Most of the bats simply did not awaken!
Considered a minor setback, testing with live bombs was undertaken near Carlsbad New Mexico from an auxiliary airfield. Military experts pointed out that high-altitude release would cause the same effect as the ice cube freezes did due to the cold temperatures of the upper atmosphere. The answer was to fly low and to hell with anti-aircraft fire! How sad it would have been to one day find out your loved one had lost his life dropping fire-bats over Japan!
The first test bats dropped either plummeted to the ground anyway or flew off in distant directions. The scientific types hoped they wouldn’t fly to the city of Carlsbad where the residents would not have enjoyed the results, if successful. Since it was Top Secret and the military couldn’t have told the citizens why they burned down their town.
The setback was temporary and more bats were collected. The second test was successful. The containers opened and the hairy winged warriors alighted from them. Since there was no Japanese city nearby the fuzzy creatures congregated in a hanger, which promptly burned down. At least it worked. One bat found a visiting general’s car nearby and sought a darkened refuge for a bat nap. The resulting mass of molten metal prompted the Army to relinquish all interest in the project to the U.S. Navy who swiftly gave it to the Marines.
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