[unique1]

Scientists at NASA have developed a gun built specifically to launch dead chickens at the windshields of airliners, military jets and the space shuttle, all traveling at maximum velocity.

The idea is to simulate the frequent incidents of collisions with airborne fowl to test the strength of the windshields.

British engineers heard about the gun and were eager to test it on the windshield of their new high speed trains. Arrangements were made. But when the gun was fired, the engineers stood shocked as the chicken hurtled out of the barrel, crashed into the shatterproof shield, smashed it to smithereens, crashed through the control console, snapped the engineer’s backrest in two and embedded itself in the back wall of the cabin.

Horrified Britons sent NASA the disastrous results of the experiment, along with the designs of the windshield, and begged the U.S. scientists for suggestions.

NASA’s response was just three words, “Thaw the chicken.”

[Phlyer]

NASA’s response was just three words, “Thaw the chicken.”

That's a fun story, and I wouldn't want to spoil your enjoyment. It might even be true that the Brits fired a frozen chicken, but I doubt it.

My company has a "chicken gun", too, and our requirement (which I believe is pretty standard) is that you use a 'fresh-killed' chicken so that there is no degradation of the tissues. Further, our test for a chicken always specified a 4-lb bird, so after it is killed, they weigh it and - if needed - inject water into the body until the weight is precisely 4 pounds.

Then they pack it in a fabric bag and enclose it in a sabot that just fits in the tube of the chicken gun. If the bird were frozen, it wouldn't deform to that regular, very round cylinder it takes to fit in the gun tube.

But, as I said, it's a fun story.