New, Old, Guided Missile

[Vladika]

I came across this and just had to pass it on...

During WWII, the military paid behavioral psychologist B.F. Skinner $25,000 to train pigeons to guide missiles to their targets. It involved putting pigeons inside a missile and with a camera on the front of the missile, the bird could see where it was going, on a small screen inside the missile. It would then peck at the screen when the missile would drift off course from where the pigeon was trained to go. However, it was scrapped because government officials just couldn’t get passed the ridiculousness of it.

 

[Condottiere]

Dolphins are more intelligent, and we have large enough sized torpedoes.

Unfortunately, they'll just thank us for the fish and then leave.

 

[Vladika]

Dolphins are more intelligent, and we have large enough sized torpedoes.

Unfortunately, they'll just thank us for the fish and then leave.

42

 

[Condottiere]

http://www.zmescience.com/other/hor...iller-dolphins-on-the-loose-in-the-black-sea/

 

[Patron Zero]

On one of the history-science-military history channels is a documentary under the title Weird Weapons of WWII or something close, the one covering the Allies has a segment about the pigeons which as presented seemed a 'reasonable' idea.

 

[aramis]

On one of the history-science-military history channels is a documentary under the title Weird Weapons of WWII or something close, the one covering the Allies has a segment about the pigeons which as presented seemed a 'reasonable' idea.

Bird Guided Missiles have been used in 3 or 4 different guided bomb and guided missile projects. Wires have always been cheaper.

 

[savage]

Dolphins are more intelligent, and we have large enough sized torpedoes.

Unfortunately, they'll just thank us for the fish and then leave.

The US navy has been pushed not to use Dolphins as combatants. They were looking at attaching mines to ships. However, does anyone recall that several Dolphin soldiers escaped from the Black Sea Naval Base in Crimea. These Dolphins we're trained in the use of bladed weapons of some sort, guns and ship mines.

http://rt.com/news/sevastopol-combat-dolphins-revived-350/

 

[Kaeto]

Then of course there were the bats with incendiary bombs strapped on that we were going to release over Japan.

 

[Condottiere]

I think there's another one where they stuck electrodes into a fly's brains and used that to direct a small electric cart.

I don't think Traveller can really reflect the amount of computing power we should have available by TL15, nor how cheap it will be.

 

[savage]

I think there's another one where they stuck electrodes into a fly's brains and used that to direct a small electric cart.

I don't think Traveller can really reflect the amount of computing power we should have available by TL15, nor how cheap it will be.

Or even miniaturization, alternative non-silicon forms, etc...

 

[Timerover51]

Then of course there were the bats with incendiary bombs strapped on that we were going to release over Japan.

The OSS actually did use "bat bombs" in Europe, with incendiary capsules attached to the legs which the bat bit the string through and then the capsule dropped into whatever building the bats were using for a domicile. I will not go into how the capsule worked, but it probably can be found online.

 

[Condottiere]

At some point it descends into biological warfare.

It turns out, that the Nazis were considering using mosquitoes infected with malaria.

 

[Timerover51]

At some point it descends into biological warfare.

It turns out, that the Nazis were considering using mosquitoes infected with malaria.

That Japanese were dropping fleas infected with Bubonic Plague on Chinese cities during World War 2, with considerable success. They had developed a very promising anthrax bomb, and may also have been spreading cholera in China as well. Based on the history of the US Chemical Warfare Service in World War 2, Polish and Russian partizans were using biological agents against the Germans as well.

See THE CHEMICAL WARFARE SERVICE: FROM LABORATORY TO FIELD, Center of Military History publication 10-2, available for free download at the following website:

http://www.history.army.mil/html/books/010/10-2/index.html

The specific cite is on page 114, second paragraph. One presumes that the source of the agents used was the USSR.