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Are_grits_groceries

(17,111 posts)
Wed Aug 5, 2015, 12:55 PM Aug 2015

During WWII, the US planned to drop 1000s of bats with tiny bombs on Japan

Imagine: a quiet, tense night in the middle of wartime. A plane rips through the air above your city, rupturing the stillness. The bay doors open, and out whistles a bomb. It drops and drops. Everyone braces. But when it explodes, the city is filled not with the flash of impact, but with hundreds and hundreds of tiny, whirling bats.


This ridiculous vision—in which Japanese cities were destroyed by a giant bomb full of bats that were themselves carrying tinier bombs—was called Project X-Ray, and it was but a claw's breadth from becoming a reality.

A canister to hold 1000 bats with their tiny bombs

It took a dentist to come up with such a nightmarish plan. Like many Americans, Dr. Lytle S. Adams was incensed by the Japanese attack on Pearl Harbor, enough to turn his mind towards the war effort. Adams had just returned to his Pennsylvania home from a vacation in New Mexico, where, he remembered years later, he had been “tremendously impressed” by the Mexican Free-Tailed Bats that migrate through the state and roost by the millions in Carlsbad Caverns.

A bat with his tiny bomb

Adams read up on bats. He returned to Carlsbad Caverns and captured some of his own (it was a different time). Through study and observation, he realized that the little critters are war machines, perfectly calibrated for withstanding high altitudes, flying long distances, and carrying heavy loads—for example, timed bombs.
<snip>
Much more: http://www.atlasobscura.com/articles/the-almost-perfect-world-war-ii-plot-to-bomb-japan-with-bats

Thankfully this plan got nixed. They thought enough of it to actually carry out tests though.

19 replies = new reply since forum marked as read
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During WWII, the US planned to drop 1000s of bats with tiny bombs on Japan (Original Post) Are_grits_groceries Aug 2015 OP
Watching "ZOO" on CBS, mini series of the book, reminded me of this AllFieldsRequired Aug 2015 #1
That's the first thing I thought of as well. Dr Hobbitstein Aug 2015 #18
Whereas the Japanese used balloons... PoliticAverse Aug 2015 #2
If you read up on it, there were lots of crazy ideas floated. hobbit709 Aug 2015 #3
Oh I know. Are_grits_groceries Aug 2015 #5
Then there was using pigeons to steer bombs. hobbit709 Aug 2015 #6
and we're horrified by bats HFRN Aug 2015 #4
The idea was... HassleCat Aug 2015 #7
I'm not impressed until we've got sharks with frickin' laser beams attached to their heads stevenleser Aug 2015 #8
Sorry, sea bass is the best we can do. n/t DefenseLawyer Aug 2015 #12
are they ill-tempered? nt geek tragedy Aug 2015 #15
. Dr Hobbitstein Aug 2015 #19
That is truly batshit crazy KamaAina Aug 2015 #9
"It took a dentist to come up with such a nightmarish plan" KamaAina Aug 2015 #10
I saw somewhere that on the first test, they failed to consider the cold temperature at high brewens Aug 2015 #11
The bomb device tied to the bat would have to be far ladjf Aug 2015 #13
Actually, they did fine in the tests -- except for the small matter of targeting. eppur_se_muova Aug 2015 #14
I saw an episode on SNAFUs in WWII TlalocW Aug 2015 #16
how bizarre... yuiyoshida Aug 2015 #17
 

Dr Hobbitstein

(6,568 posts)
18. That's the first thing I thought of as well.
Wed Aug 5, 2015, 03:55 PM
Aug 2015

I haven't read the book, but I've been enjoying the series (as ridiculous as some of the situations and as bad as the acting have been).

 

HassleCat

(6,409 posts)
7. The idea was...
Wed Aug 5, 2015, 01:03 PM
Aug 2015

The bats would seek refuge in cracks, vents, eaves, etc. of buildings. Then their little flares would ignite and burn the buildings.

brewens

(13,582 posts)
11. I saw somewhere that on the first test, they failed to consider the cold temperature at high
Wed Aug 5, 2015, 01:07 PM
Aug 2015

altitude. The ice cold bats and their bombs just buried themselves in the ground. Then they burned down their own control tower!

ladjf

(17,320 posts)
13. The bomb device tied to the bat would have to be far
Wed Aug 5, 2015, 01:50 PM
Aug 2015

heavier than the bat. They are good flyers but not that good. That bat isn't flying anywhere with that "anchor" tied to it.


eppur_se_muova

(36,261 posts)
14. Actually, they did fine in the tests -- except for the small matter of targeting.
Wed Aug 5, 2015, 02:05 PM
Aug 2015

They burned down the whole test range, when only one building had been intended.

Interesting to see that both Louis Fieser and Bing Crosby played a role in this project.

TlalocW

(15,381 posts)
16. I saw an episode on SNAFUs in WWII
Wed Aug 5, 2015, 02:07 PM
Aug 2015

And this was listed as one of them. The others that come to mind included grenades with stickum that you could hopefully throw and attach at enemy tanks to destroy them (unfortunately, some people grabbed the wrong part of the grenade and blew themselves up), and the Russians training dogs to carry bombs underneath enemy tanks. When they tried it against the Germans, the dogs preferred the USSR tanks instead of Panzers.

TlalocW

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