Operation Bat Bomb
The Strangest Plan of WWII
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Operation Bat Bomb
Buy Now for $9.68
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Narrated by:
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Matthew R Weeks
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By:
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Calven Hurstin
About this listen
World War II was a crucible of invention. Out of that desperate struggle emerged radar, jet engines, mass-produced penicillin, and the atomic bomb. But alongside those triumphs of science came projects so unusual they seem almost unbelievable today. Among the strangest of all was Project X-Ray — America’s audacious plan to turn millions of bats into living incendiary weapons.
Operation Bat Bomb: The Strangest Plan of WWII tells the full, remarkable story of how a Pennsylvania dentist’s brainstorm nearly became a weapon of war. From its bizarre origins in the bat-filled caverns of New Mexico, through classified tests on U.S. air bases, to its final cancellation in the shadow of the Manhattan Project, this book uncovers one of the war’s oddest forgotten episodes.
Listeners will discover:
- The spark of an idea — how Lytle S. Adams, shaken by Pearl Harbor, imagined weaponising bats to ignite Japan’s paper-and-wood cities.
- Recruiting the team — the unlikely mix of scientists, engineers, and even bat guano experts who tried to turn fantasy into reality.
- Catching the little bombers — how thousands of Mexican free-tailed bats were captured, chilled into hibernation, and prepared for arming.