Author Topic: Bat Bombs  (Read 1351 times)

Offline Nathan60

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Bat Bombs
« on: February 15, 2012, 12:10:04 PM »
Bat bombs were bomb-shaped casings with numerous compartments, each containing a Mexican Free-tailed Bat with a small timed incendiary bomb attached. Dropped from a bomber at dawn, the casings would deploy a parachute in mid-flight and open to release the bats which would then roost in eaves and attics. The incendiaries would start fires in inaccessible places in the largely wood and paper construction of the Japanese cities that were the weapon's intended target.

Developed by the United States during World War II, four biological factors gave promise to this plan. First, bats occur in large numbers (four caves in Texas are each occupied by several million bats). Second, bats can carry more than their own weight in flight (females carry their young—sometimes twins). Third, bats hibernate, and while dormant they do not require food or maintenance. Fourth, bats fly in darkness, then find secluded places (often in buildings) to hide during daylight.

The plan was to release bat bombs over Japanese cities having widely-dispersed industrial targets. The bats would spread far from the point of release due to the relatively high altitude of their release, then at dawn they would hide in buildings across the city. Shortly thereafter built-in timers would ignite the bombs, causing widespread fires and chaos. The bat bomb idea was conceived by dental surgeon Lytle S. Adams, who submitted it to the White House in January 1942, where it was subsequently approved by President Roosevelt.[1] Adams was recruited to research and obtain a suitable supply of bats.


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Offline FLOTSOM

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Re: Bat Bombs
« Reply #1 on: February 15, 2012, 12:12:32 PM »
All Praise DW!!!!  :pray

your a little late with this one, look up the thread firebombs....good try though, KEEP THE FAITH!!!!!!
FLOTSOM

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Offline Rob52240

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Re: Bat Bombs
« Reply #2 on: February 15, 2012, 12:14:11 PM »
LoL

Look up the USS Habekuk too.  Both were amazing ideas that never got implemented but they were both featured on the weird weapons of the allies documentary.
If I had a gun with 3 bullets and I was locked in a room with Bin Laden, Hitler, Saddam and Zipp...  I would shoot Zipp 3 times.

Offline MAINER

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Re: Bat Bombs
« Reply #3 on: February 15, 2012, 12:20:13 PM »
+1 long live David Wales!
Are those our bombers?-famous last words



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Offline caldera

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Re: Bat Bombs
« Reply #4 on: February 15, 2012, 12:23:19 PM »
That actually would have worked.  A mock up "Japanese" village was built to test the bat bombs and the whole thing burned to the ground.
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Offline Rob52240

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Re: Bat Bombs
« Reply #5 on: February 15, 2012, 12:27:03 PM »
That actually would have worked.  A mock up "Japanese" village was built to test the bat bombs and the whole thing burned to the ground.

Some bats also escaped and burned down a hanger too.
If I had a gun with 3 bullets and I was locked in a room with Bin Laden, Hitler, Saddam and Zipp...  I would shoot Zipp 3 times.

Offline FLS

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Re: Bat Bombs
« Reply #6 on: February 15, 2012, 12:31:53 PM »
Pity they turned out to be homing bats.

Offline BrockS

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Re: Bat Bombs
« Reply #7 on: February 15, 2012, 12:47:28 PM »
When the bats were dropped from an aircraft their wings broke when they hit the airstream and the now flightless creatures plummeted to earth.


Offline Nathan60

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Re: Bat Bombs
« Reply #8 on: February 15, 2012, 01:09:08 PM »
When the bats were dropped from an aircraft their wings broke when they hit the airstream and the now flightless creatures plummeted to earth.



they still 'sploded right?
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Offline FLOTSOM

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Re: Bat Bombs
« Reply #9 on: February 15, 2012, 01:20:31 PM »
Pity they turned out to be homing bats.

thats kinda rude!!! who cares if the bats were gay or not, as long as they 'sploded on Q!
FLOTSOM

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Offline BrockS

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Re: Bat Bombs
« Reply #10 on: February 15, 2012, 01:23:02 PM »
they still 'sploded right?

The origional intent was for them to find a dark place in a structure to roost and then a timed incediary device would ignite the buildings (mostly paper in Japan) on fire. If they just fell straight to earth, there is no reason to go through the trouble of capturing bats and attaching devices.

Offline caldera

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Re: Bat Bombs
« Reply #11 on: February 15, 2012, 01:31:32 PM »
When the bats were dropped from an aircraft their wings broke when they hit the airstream and the now flightless creatures plummeted to earth.




Not quite.  Where did you come up with this?
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Offline BrockS

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Re: Bat Bombs
« Reply #12 on: February 15, 2012, 01:35:35 PM »

Not quite.  Where did you come up with this?

An instructor I had who was a bomber pilot in WWII and involved in the testing in some capacity I can't recall at the moment.

Offline Nathan60

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Re: Bat Bombs
« Reply #13 on: February 15, 2012, 01:36:45 PM »
The origional intent was for them to find a dark place in a structure to roost and then a timed incediary device would ignite the buildings (mostly paper in Japan) on fire. If they just fell straight to earth, there is no reason to go through the trouble of capturing bats and attaching devices.


Why didnt they just drop bombs then? I think they had bombs that did the same thing as a bat with a zippo strapped to its a55.
« Last Edit: February 15, 2012, 01:41:49 PM by Nathan60 »
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Offline BrockS

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Re: Bat Bombs
« Reply #14 on: February 15, 2012, 01:41:59 PM »

Why didnt they just drop bombs then? I think they had bombs that did the say thing as a bat with a zippo strapped to its a55.

Because the bats would dispers into a much wider area and reduce calateral human casualties to the civilian population.

And to clarify, after the initial tests just dropping the bats for the planes as/is and encountering the boken wings problem new testing took place dropping them out of the aircraft in canisters and the testing of the new system, while it may have been successful, delayed developement to the extent that it was deemed not worth pursuing any further.