15. Tiny Bombs for Tiny Bats
Once the test subjects/ recruits were in place, it was time to develop the tiny bombs that would transform bats into weapons of mass destruction. The job was given to Dr. Louis Fieser, an organic chemist best known as the inventor of militarily effective napalm. Fieser eventually settled upon a design for a light bomb made of a guncotton case, filled with kerosene. A capsule attached to the bomb contained a timed fuse and trigger assembly, which was connected to the bat by a wire. When the bat was released, the bomb would dangle from the critter by the wire, and its weight would activate the timed fuse, which would eventually trigger the incendiary.
The Bat Bombs came in two models. A 0.6 ounce incendiary, which produced a 10 inch flamed that burned for 4 minutes, and a 1 ounce model, which produced a 12 inch flame that burned for about 6 minutes. By then the critters, released over Japanese cities, would hopefully have roosted inside attics and other nooks and crannies. In theory, the bats would gnaw through the wire the connected them to their incendiaries before they went off, and thus survive their mission and go on to live happy bat lives. If not, they would have the gratitude of Uncle Sam and the thanks of a grateful nation for their sacrifice.
