--- 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=3840&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=3840&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.” ```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"}}]}] ```