Ag Outlook 10-30-2020

What it World War II hadn’t ended with mushroom clouds but with swarms of bats carrying napalm payloads timed to go off in unison? It could have happened. A dental surgeon and part time inventor named Lytle Adams got the idea for arming bats, placing them in containers and dropping them over an enemy city. When released, the bats come sunrise would naturally search for cover in rooftops and attics of buildings, the closest things to caves…and then the devices they were carrying would be timed to go off creating a firestorm. The military liked Adams’ idea and they invested several million in it. It worked. Some of the loaded bats even escaped and destroyed several buildings on the testing site. But the project was cancelled in 1944 with all funding being diverted to the Manhattan Project. And so ended the ‘bat bomb’ as we end National Bat Week.