Saw a show on History Chanel about the weird weapons of WWII, including iceberg carriers. Also included...
USA.Bat Bombs—hundreds of bats, kept refrigerated and loaded into bomb casings. Each bat had a small incendiary bomb with a very slow timed fuse attached. When the bomb got near the ground it would fly apart, and the bats would fly away and hide in attics, buildings, etc. A few hours later the bombs would go off, starting fires. This was actually used a few times, but was discontinued in favor of simply carpet boming cities with incendiaries.
Germany. Corner guns—special attachments to the German “Storm Rifle”, the original assualt rifle. It was a 90 degree barrell extention with a mirrored sight for shooting around corners. This one worked, and was used by special units.
USA/Britain— A 25,000 lb blockbuster bomb, the original MOAB. This bomb was long and thin with a hardened case and spiral fins. Meant to be dropped from high altitude on hardened targets. The combination of the long drop, and spiral fins meant this bomb would come down like a bullet, penetrating over 50’ of reinforced concrete before exploding, shattering any structure it hit. One bomb could just barely be carried by a Liberator bomber. It was used do destroy hardened German sub pens, which the Germans had though invulvernerable to air attack. They weren’t.
Britain—Sticky bombs. If you saw Private Ryan you probably remember where they improvise sticky bombs to destroy tanks. The originals were round balls with handles. The ball was covered in a contact adhesive, and covered with a metal case. Removing the case worked like pulling the pin on a grenade. The soldier was supposed to get close to a tank, remove the case and toss or drop the bomb onto it. Assuming he wasn’t killed by supporing infantry, there was a very real possibility that the bomb could touch his skin or clothing and get stuck. A very bad idea that saw very limited use.
There was an excellent book a few years ago about the Bat Bomb..The project was discontinued once the B-29 became operational..it had the range to reach Japanese cities...
He was too far ahead of his time. Let’s say you have a floating fission nuclear reactor that can put out all kinds of heat. You then dredge ocean bottom mud from 2 miles down to the surface. After drying it out you make hemungous amounts of bubble-filled buoyant glass. You then make floating islands with it.
On about 5% of the oceans surface you could have enough space for a city-block sized island(a family of 4 on 330’x330’)for every one of 7 billion people, a “maui” for everyone. Why go running off to mars as an escapist/survivalist when you could have your own maui in pleasant tropical climes? What would YOUR island design look like?
Bat Bomb was a fun read.