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The Bat Bomb Invention and Other Odd Facts from History and War

Khalid Elhassan May 10, 2020 33 min

15. Testing For Project X-Ray

Bomb canister to hold the hibernating bats. Wikimedia

The bat collecting expedition’s studies and observations confirmed Dr. Adams’ hunch that the Mexican Free-Tailed Bat was the best candidate for the project. So Adams’ team netted hundreds of Free-tails, placed them in refrigerated trucks to induce hibernation, and sent them to Washington for further research.

There, Adams conducted an experiment in front of military brass using some Free-tails and dummy bombs. The results impressed his audience, and convinced them that the plan, which was designated Project X-Ray, warranted serious research. The US Army Air Force was put in charge of the project, whose subject matter was described as a “Test of Methods of Scattering Incendiaries“. Testing and research was ordered, so as to “[d]etermine the feasibility of using bats to carry small incendiary bombs into enemy targets“.

Written by

Khalid Elhassan

A lifelong history buff, I developed a particular passion for WW2 history as a child, when I spent hours listening to my grandfather, enraptured, as he recounted his wartime experiences in the British East African Campaign and with the British 8th Army in North Africa.

I graduated with a history BA from George Mason University, then went on to get a JD from the University of Virginia School of Law. After lawyering for a decade, I moved to sunny Rio de Janeiro and a less demanding career, opening a tourism agency in Copacabana.

A big chunk of my free time is spent blogging (you can follow me on Quora https://www.quora.com/profile/Khalid-Elhassan ) or freelance writing, mostly about my favorite subject, history.