Americana: Bomber Bats over Tokyo

Some Americans may think the MX missile is a batty idea, but it is the height of orthodoxy compared with a weapons scheme described in this month’s American Heritage magazine. Just after the Japanese bombed Pearl Harbor in 1941, a Pennsylvania dental surgeon named Lytle S. Adams hit upon the idea of arming bats with tiny incendiary bombs and letting them loose over Japan. The bomber bats would supposedly seek refuge in the eaves of Japanese houses, where their deadly cargoes—equipped with a 15-hr, timer—would explode and set off fires.

The Adams plan caught the attention of the National Defense Research Committee, which spent $2 million on the scheme before deciding the little beasts were too difficult to handle. Miniature bombs made of celluloid and filled with napalm gel were attached to the bats with surgical clips, and the recruits hibernated in cold-storage chests until flight time. Then came the first test run, held at Muroc Lake, Calif, in May 1943. When released from the planes, many of the bats did not wake up, and plummeted to the ground like tiny kamikazes. Others drowsily flew off, never to report for duty again. One of the bats turned out to be a mole: it took refuge under the car of the general supervising the tests and set it aflame.