Bat bomb
| Bat bomb | |
|---|---|
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| General Information | |
| Type: | Incendiary bomb |
| Country of origin: | United States |
| Manufacturer: | Louis Frederick Fieser |
| Development: | 1942 |
| Working time: | no |
| Technical specifications | |
| Combat weight: | 123 kg |
| Charge: | 1,768 grams of napalm in 1,040 individual loads |
| Length: | 123 centimeters |
| Detonator: | Time fuse |
| Commitment: |
The weapon was not further developed beyond the experimental stage |
| Lists on the subject | |
In the United States there was a serious proposal during World War II that bats with small incendiary bombs attached should be dropped over Japan . The plan was to timed the incendiary bombs so that they would explode after the bats settled in the Japanese buildings. This would cause widespread fire and chaos. The bat bomb application was considered serious enough that government researchers examined genuinely incendiary devices, made assessments of the weight-bearing ability of the Mexican bulldog bat , and in 1942 a general's car and a hangar at Army Air Base in Carlsbad , New Mexico went up in flames after being armed Bats were accidentally released. Despite (or possibly because of) these tests, bat bombs have never been used in action.
See also
literature
- Jack Couffer : Bat bomb: World War II's other secret weapon . University of Texas Press, Austin 1992, ISBN 0-292-70790-8 .
- CV Glines: The Bat Bombers . In: Air Force Magazine . tape 73 , no. October 10 , 1990, ISSN 0730-6784 ( online ).