Bat Bombs in Carlsbad

In particular, the plan involved the Mexican free-tailed bat—a medium-sized species chosen for its ability to fly while carrying more than twice its weight—and chosen for its vast, millions-sized colonies, which even today form the largest gatherings of mammals on the planet.

In the plan, members of a top-secret World War II-era unit of the U.S. Air Force would net literally millions of Mexican free-tailed bats, from Texas or New Mexico caves, before gluing a tiny, specially-made napalm time-bomb onto every individual one. More than a thousand such armed bats would then be hung beneath stacked trays, inside a hollow, five-foot-tall bombshell perforated with air holes and equipped with a parachute. Hundreds, perhaps thousands, of these bombs would then be loaded into planes. The bombs’ temperatures would be lowered enough to send the bats into temporary hibernation—to eliminate the need to feed and calm them—and the “bat bombs” would then be flown, via the Micronesian island of Tinian, into the early-morning darkness over Japan.

Continues at --
Bat Bombs in Carlsbad - My Strange NM - My Strange New Mexico