18. The Idea of Bat Bombs Actually Wasn’t That Batty
Dr. Adams read, observed, and conducted experiments on bats. He grew convinced that his nebulous plan to weaponize bats might actually be feasible. Bats – particularly Mexican Free-Tailed Bats – were hardy, could travel long distances, and could survive in high altitudes. Best of all, they could fly with a load greater than their own body weight. Loads such as tiny, incendiary bombs. In theory, if bats with incendiary bombs were released over Japanese cities, they would naturally fly into and roost in the nooks and crannies of Japan’s mostly wooden buildings. Then the incendiaries would go off, and start numerous fires that would overwhelm firefighters, and cause widespread devastation.
Within weeks after the attack on Pearl Harbor, Adams had committed his idea to paper, and on January 12th, 1942, he wrote up a proposal and sent it to the White House. There, his plan would probably have been laughed off and dismissed out of hand, if not for the fact that he was a personal friend of Eleanor Roosevelt, the president’s wife. With help from the First Lady, the proposal made it to the desk of Franklin D. Roosevelt, and thence to the country’s top military brass. FDR thought it was “a perfectly wild idea but is worth looking into“. So he sent Adams to see William J. Donovan, Roosevelt’s chief intelligence advisor and eventual head of the Office of Strategic Services, the CIA’s predecessor, with a note that advised him: “This man is not a nut!“
