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Posted on 07/19/2005 10:25:45 PM PDT by SAMWolf
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 are acknowledged, affirmed and commemorated.
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| Our Mission: The FReeper Foxhole is dedicated to Veterans of our Nation's military forces and to others who are affected in their relationships with Veterans. In the FReeper Foxhole, Veterans or their family members should feel free to address their specific circumstances or whatever issues concern them in an atmosphere of peace, understanding, brotherhood and support. The FReeper Foxhole hopes to share with it's readers an open forum where we can learn about and discuss military history, military news and other topics of concern or interest to our readers be they Veteran's, Current Duty or anyone interested in what we have to offer. If the Foxhole makes someone appreciate, even a little, what others have sacrificed for us, then it has accomplished one of it's missions. We hope the Foxhole in some small way helps us to remember and honor those who came before us.
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At the outset of World War II, innovative plans were laid to send some talented fliers to the front lines.  A dental surgeon from Irwin, Pa., is credited with the idea of using bats as bombers. And a behavioral psychologist, also a Pennsylvanian, showed how pigeons could guide bombs directly to surface targets. The two projects were not related, and the two men never met. Dr. Lytle S. Adams was vacationing in the Southwest on December 7, 1941, when he heard the shocking news of the Japanese attack on Pearl Harbor. Adams immediately headed home. He had just visited Carlsbad Caverns, N.M. -- believed to house the world's largest bat colony -- where he had been fascinated by the bats that emerged nightly to feed on insects. Thinking about that impressive colony, the dentist asked himself: "Couldn't those millions of bats be fitted with incendiary bombs and dropped from planes? What could be more devastating than such a firebomb attack?" he recalled in a 1948 interview. He stopped by Carlsbad on his way home and captured some Mexican free-tail bats, the most common species in North America. The free-tails, also known as guano bats, are small brown mammals capable of catching more than 1,000 mosquitoes or gnats in a night. Weighing about 9 grams, the free-tails can carry an external load more than twice their own weight.  Back home, Adams looked up everything he could find about the tiny mammals and discovered that although bats are frequently vilified by the public, they are not usually dangerous to humans. They aren't blind, don't get tangled up in one's hair and don't attack people. Although generally considered evil in Europe, they symbolize prosperity and happiness in China. The Navajo Indians believe them to be intermediaries between men and the gods. They range in size from the bumblebee bat of Thailand, which weighs less than a penny, to the mastiff bat, North America's largest flying mammal with a 22-inch wingspread, and the giant flying fox bat with a 6-foot wingspan, found primarily in Indonesia. Adams became convinced that bats could be used as bombers. On January 12, 1942, he sent a letter to the White House proposing that the government investigate this possibility. His suggestion was considered, along with hundreds of others from well-meaning citizens with war-winning ideas, but his was one of the few that reached the desk of the commander in chief. President Franklin D. Roosevelt forwarded a memo to Colonel William J. Donovan, then coordinator of information, with a cryptic notation: "This man is not a nut. It sounds like a perfectly wild idea but is worth looking into." In fact, Adams had already made a name for himself as an inventor. In the 1920s and '30s he launched a 15-year campaign to perfect an airmail pickup system.  William J. Donovan Donovan sent the proposal to the National Defense Research Committee (NDRC) of the National Inventors Council. After reviewing Adams' idea, a memorandum titled "Use of Bats as Vectors of Incendiary Bombs" was sent to the committee on April 16, 1942, by Donald R. Griffin, a special-research assistant. He described the proposal as using "very large numbers of bats, each carrying a small incendiary time bomb. The bats would be released at night from airplanes, preferably at high altitudes and the incendiaries would be timed to ignite after the bats had descended to low altitudes and taken shelter for the day. Since bats often roost in buildings, they could be released over settled areas with a good expectation that a large percentage would be roosting in buildings or other inflammable installations…when the incendiary material was ignited." Griffin summarized his memo by saying that, although "this proposal seems bizarre and visionary at first glance…extensive experience with experimental biology convinces the writer that if executed competently it would have every chance of success." He recommended an investigation "with all possible speed, accuracy and efficiency" by the U.S. Army Air Forces. Bomb development was passed on to the Army Chemical Warfare Service.  Adams and a team of naturalists were immediately authorized to find bats for experimentation. The team visited a number of likely sites in Texas and New Mexico where the bats could be found in large quantities -- mostly in caves, but also under bridges, in barns and in large piles of rubbish. "We visited a thousand caves and three thousand mines," Adams said. "Speed was so imperative that we generally drove all day and night, when we weren't exploring caves. We slept in the cars, taking turns at driving. One car in our search team covered 350,000 miles." The team first investigated the mastiff bat, which they determined could carry a 1-pound stick of dynamite. But there was not a sufficient number of that variety available. The more common bat was the mule-eared or pallid species, which could carry 3 ounces. However, the naturalists concluded that the species was not sufficiently hardy for the work that needed to be done. They finally settled on the Mexican free-tail bat for the project. Although it weighed only one-third of an ounce, experiments showed that it could fly fairly well with a payload of 15 to 18 grams. The Army's Edgewood Arsenal in Maryland, near Washington, D.C., was to design an incendiary bomb weighing no more than 18 grams. The largest colony of free-tails found during the search was an estimated 20 to 30 million that lived in the limestone Ney and Bracken caves near Bandera, in southwest Texas. At Ney Cave, U.S. Army Captain Wiley W. Carr reported that "five hours' time is required for these animals to leave the cave while flying out in a dense stream fifteen feet in diameter and so closely packed they can barely fly."
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No problemo, glad to be able to fill in.
In other good news Mrs alfa6's knee replacement went well yesterday. She was up and on her feet for just a few minutes yesterday. I just talked to her and she said that they let her walk to the potty palace this AM. I am heading over there in a few minutes.
Regards
alfa6 ;>}
On This Day In History
Birthdates which occurred on July 20:
1304 Francesco Petrarch Italy, poet (Italia Mia) (A founder of Renaissance Humanism)
1519 Innocent IX 230th Roman Catholic pope (1591)
1785 Mahmud II Ottoman sultan, Westernizer, reformer
1824 Alexander Schimmelfennig, Prussia, Brig General (Union volunteers)
1890 Theda Bara actress/vamp (Under Two Flags, Cleopatra)
1890 Verna Felton Salinas Calif, actress (Hilda-December Bride)
1919 Sir Edmund Hillary one of 1st 2 men to scale Mt Everest (namesake of the EX firstlady)
1920 Elliot L Richardson Attorney General (1973)/Sec of Defense (1973)
1924 Thomas Berger US, novelist (Vital Parts, Little Big Man)
1933 Nelson Doubleday publisher (Doubleday)/owner (NY Mets)
1938 Diana Rigg Doncaster England, actress (Emma Peel-Avengers)
1938 Jo Ann Campbell Jacksonville Fla, Lawrence Welk's champagne lady
1938 Natalie Wood [Natasha Gurdin], SF, (Gypsy, Rebel Without a Cause)
1939 Judy Chicago [Cohen], Chicago, artist (The Dinner Party)
1940 Tony Oliva ball player, batting champ (AL Rookie of Year 1964)
1941 Vladimir A Lyakhov cosmonaut (Soyuz 32, T-9)
1943 John Lodge bassist (Moody Blues)
1947 Carlos Santana Mexico, musician (Santana-Black Magic Woman)
1957 Donna Dixon Va, actress, Mrs Dan Ackwoyd (Couch Trip, Bossom Buddies)
Another great "below the fold" read.
Good news on Mrs. Alfa's surgery success.
Good to hear that Mrs. Alafa6's surgury went well, I'll include prayers for a quick recovery for her.
What a beauty! She can bring yoiu to tears.
Knee replacement?
Had heard they were pretty routine and easy, but to hear that she was actually up for a bit this morning truly amazes me.
Is that a drive shaft sticking into the ground?
Ain't she fine?
And look at that rear-end!
Looks like the bumper stickers are all that's holding it together.
Might be. ;-)
The therapist had Mrs alfa6 up and walking in the hall today, she is limited to about 100' round trip. The Mrs also has 105 degrees of motion in her knee which is really good for the day after. The dressing comes off tomorrow, I keep telling the wife that I want to be there so I can be sure I have the right kind of coupling for the grease gun :-)
Tomcat pic for the lovely & gracious Ms bentfeather
Regards
alfa6 ;>}
Speaking of "holding it together" . . . how are you and Wonder Woman doing?
OUCH!
Grease... gun... fitting?
*hand over mouth, stifling a glaugh*
Oh she is going to get you..
You should have heard US in the Pre-op room. Aparently the Manufacter's rep helps the surgeon pic out the right knee assembly from a cart full of knees.
We were making jokes about wether or not the A-37B model would be right or maybe the A-37X model would be better. The poor nurse could hardly keep a straight face when I started in on the possibilty of saving some money by gettiing a knee that was last years model on clearance :-)
Back tonight
Regards
alfa6 ;>}
Oh wow.
Sounds like she has a great sense ofhumor!
Gorgeous picture.
Again, wonderful news coming from Mrs. Alfa's recovery.
Oh so, you're gonna do the grease work, LOL
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