--- title: Rocket Cat Manual by Franz Helm at University of Pennsylvania description: German artillery manual penned by Franz Helm suggests strapping rockets to cats. canonical: https://time.com/14212/rocket-cats-rocket-cats/ author: Olivia B. Waxman article:opinion: false article:content_tier: free article:published_time: 2014-03-06T17:16:56.000Z article:modified_time: 2026-05-11T04:48:47.585Z og:title: How to Make Your Cat Into a Weapon og:description: Note the dove, as well, which is ironic og:url: https://time.com/14212/rocket-cats-rocket-cats/ og:site_name: TIME og:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt301a72a027556fb2/69868437169ab0936e2781df/rocket-cat.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 og:image:width: 1200 og:image:height: 675 og:image:alt: rocket-cat og:type: article twitter:card: summary_large_image twitter:title: How to Make Your Cat Into a Weapon twitter:description: Note the dove, as well, which is ironic twitter:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt301a72a027556fb2/69868437169ab0936e2781df/rocket-cat.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 ---  # Rocket Cats? Rocket Cats  by [Olivia B. Waxman](https://time.com/author/olivia-b-waxman/)  ## Olivia B. Waxman Staff Writer Mar 6, 2014 5:16 PM UTC  Matt Rourke / AP  by [Olivia B. Waxman](https://time.com/author/olivia-b-waxman/)  ## Olivia B. Waxman Staff Writer Mar 6, 2014 5:16 PM UTC There is an a-_mew_sing illustration in a guide to artillery written around 1530 that appears to endorse strapping explosives to cats and doves and igniting the ammunition during a rebellion, the Associated Press [reports](http://bigstory.ap.org/article/16th-century-manual-shows-rocket-cat-weaponry).  Matt Rourke / AP  Matt Rourke / AP Digitized by the University of Pennsylvania and translated by researcher Mitch Fraas, the German manual penned by artillery master Franz Helm of Cologne — whose experience included fighting Turks in south-central Europe — appears to [say](http://bigstory.ap.org/article/16th-century-manual-shows-rocket-cat-weaponry): --- > “” --- Fraas said he has not found evidence that cats or birds were used in this way and [told the AP](http://bigstory.ap.org/article/16th-century-manual-shows-rocket-cat-weaponry) that it would be “very unlikely the animals would run back to where they came from. More likely they’d set your own camp on fire.” Rocket Cat Manual by Franz Helm at University of Pennsylvania ```json [{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"NewsArticle","@id":"https://time.com/14212/rocket-cats-rocket-cats/","mainEntityOfPage":{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https://time.com/14212/rocket-cats-rocket-cats/"},"headline":"Rocket Cats? Rocket Cats","datePublished":"2014-03-06T17:16:56.000Z","dateModified":"2026-05-11T04:48:47.585Z","description":"Note the dove, as well, which is ironic","url":"https://time.com/14212/rocket-cats-rocket-cats/","keywords":["Newsfeed","History"],"thumbnailUrl":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt301a72a027556fb2/69868437169ab0936e2781df/rocket-cat.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","author":[{"@type":"Person","name":"Olivia B. Waxman","jobTitle":"Staff Writer","url":"https://time.com/author/olivia-b-waxman/"}],"articleSection":"","image":[{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt301a72a027556fb2/69868437169ab0936e2781df/rocket-cat.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","width":1200,"height":675,"headline":"rocket-cat","caption":"","creditText":"Matt Rourke / AP","representativeOfPage":true}],"publisher":{"@type":"Organization","name":"Time","url":"https://time.com/","logo":{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://time.com/images/logo.png","width":528,"height":156},"foundingDate":"March 3, 1923","sameAs":["https://www.facebook.com/time","https://www.instagram.com/time/?hl=en","https://twitter.com/time","https://www.pinterest.com/timemagazine"]}},{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"BreadcrumbList","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"item":{"@id":"/tag/time-section-newsfeed/","name":"Newsfeed"}},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"item":{"@id":"https://time.com/14212/rocket-cats-rocket-cats/","name":"Rocket Cats? Rocket Cats"}}]}] ```