Tomatolake
Tyro
Death to the Japanese, Pagan, Yorkshireman
Posts: 27 
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Post by Tomatolake on Oct 12, 2019 1:32:41 GMT -5
So today I learnt about the Turkey parachutes.
This occurred during the Spanish civil war.
Some Republican soldiers where besieged in a monastery and could only be resupplied by air. The problem was that the Republicans didn't have any parachutes.
The solution was simple. They strapped the supplies to Turkeys then dropped them over the monastery. The frantic flapping of the turkeys as they descended cushioned the fall and provided the occupants with a source of fresh meat.
Any other examples of non-conventional use of animals in war fare.
The USSR and their dog -mines spring to mind.
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Post by Aurelia on Oct 13, 2019 16:47:20 GMT -5
Parachuting turkeys is a great idea... I've heard that the U.S. was working on dropping loads of Mexican free-tailed bats over Japan - each suited up with an incendiary bomb. The idea was that the bats would roost in the eaves of buildings and other out of the way places and would catch them on fire. Apparently during testing, a few of the bats escaped and (of course) took shelter under a fuel tank and lit up the Carlsbad Army Air Field.  The idea is an old one, though... I always get a laugh out of these incendiary cat and bird diagrams from Europe in the Middles Ages. This one is from sometime around 1530:  Such a dangerous idea! I wonder if it ever worked? |
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Tomatolake
Tyro
Death to the Japanese, Pagan, Yorkshireman
Posts: 27
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Post by Tomatolake on Oct 13, 2019 17:53:27 GMT -5
I believe it did.
Olga of Kiev, pulled this off.
She was besieging a city without success.
After a few months she approached the city and demanded 3 sparrows and 3 pigeons from each house and then she would leave.
Laughing the citizens of the city gave her the birds, they then watched laughing as her army marched to the top of a nearby hill.
Then they watched in horror as they tied pieces of flaming sulpher to the birds and released them.
The panicking birds then flew back to their homes burning the city down.
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Post by Aurelia on Oct 22, 2019 17:45:20 GMT -5
I believe it did. Olga of Kiev, pulled this off. She was besieging a city without success. After a few months she approached the city and demanded 3 sparrows and 3 pigeons from each house and then she would leave. Laughing the citizens of the city gave her the birds, they then watched laughing as her army marched to the top of a nearby hill. Then they watched in horror as they tied pieces of flaming sulpher to the birds and released them. The panicking birds then flew back to their homes burning the city down. I had no idea this was a tried and true method! Sounds like they weren't laughing at her for too long! |
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Post by Aurelia on Oct 22, 2019 17:57:21 GMT -5
I own a Bouvier de Flandres, a breed of herding dog that supposedly would carry messages and pull ambulance liters due to their large size ... they were so heavily used that the breed was almost extinct after WWI. My Bouv is just pretty lazy - but it's interesting that they could be used for such a different purpose than being a farm dog. Apparently Hitler didn't like them after his experience in WWI, so he ordered all Bouviers in Europe be killed during WWII. The dog that is now called a Bouvier is much different than the original breed - and both Belgium and France tend to take credit for its creation. Here are what appears to be Bouviers wearing gas masks... ![]()  |
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Post by Woland on Nov 4, 2019 16:19:05 GMT -5
Acoustic Kitty was a 60s CIA project using cats to spy on the Kremlin and Soviet Embassies. The cats had a microphone surgically implanted inside the ear canal, a radio transmitter and an antenna wire were also implanted to "bug the cat".  In the very first mission the bugged cat was supposed to eavesdrop on two potential Soviet diplomats in a park, a taxi ran over the poor kitty. |
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Post by Aurelia on Nov 14, 2019 17:54:30 GMT -5
In the very first mission the bugged cat was supposed to eavesdrop on two potential Soviet diplomats in a park, a taxi ran over the poor kitty. It was a great idea... those were back in the days when governments had to be crafty to plant a bug... nowadays they just switch on the mic on your smart phone! |
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Post by Woland on May 4, 2020 18:25:55 GMT -5
The Pigeon guided missle was an idea developed by the US military in 1943, only to be cancelled at the last moment. 3 Pigeons would sit in the front of the missile pecking at an image of the target to guide it, the idea being pigeons were unflappable in chaotic situations with excellent vision to boot.
Who would come up with such a crazy idea? Behavioural psychologist B.F. Skinner would.
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Post by andrew on Oct 5, 2020 15:28:45 GMT -5
I'm somewhat surprised no one has mentioned the (in)famous Soviet mine dogs - dogs which were trained to run beneath enemy tanks, where an explosive would be triggered. In true Soviet style, they trained these dogs on their own diesel-engined machines rather than gasoline-powered vehicles used by the Germans. The results were predictable - the released dogs headed for the nearest, usually Soviet, diesel machine...
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Post by andrew on Dec 25, 2020 17:49:00 GMT -5
This isn't actually a real thing. But it oughta be!  |
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/https://public-media.si-cdn.com/filer/20110818094003skinner-pigeon-nose-cone.jpg)
