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Just browsing the Internets and found this article on MSN.com, 'The Gay Bomb' and 'The Fart Bomb' are particular highlights!


Weird weapons in history

Daniel Bettridge

From gay bombs to heat rays, we look at some of the weirdest weapons to have ever graced the battlefield.
In answer to Edwin Starr’s iconic anthem, war, as it turns out, is particularly good for bringing out the best in boffins. After all conflict has provided the spur for scientists to develop some of mankind’s greatest inventions from penicillin to machine-rolled cigarettes, but it’s also inspired some truly wacky weapons.
So join us as we look at the strangest armaments ever invented, crackpot projects that were actually developed in the hope of defeating an enemy. 

The gay bomb
Designed to dishearten the enemy and break the morale of opposition forces, the gay bomb is a research project that was originally proposed by the US air force back in the early 90s. The basic aim was to release non-lethal chemicals including strong aphrodisiacs to encourage the enemy to engage in homosexual activity. The project, which was revealed after a freedom of information request in the US, was described in the proposals as "distasteful but completely non-lethal". It was eventually consigned to the scrapheap after scientists admitted that no such chemicals actually existed.

Whirlwind canon
The brainchild of an Austrian scientist, the whirlwind cannon was developed by German forces during second world war as a form of anti-aircraft weapon. The canon worked by creating explosions in a combustion chamber and releasing the energy through targeted nozzles towards their targets. A scale model was built and successfully tested. However, the project was scrapped after a full-sized version proved to be ineffective against targets at high altitudes.

Incendiary swine
Legend has it that in around 260BC it was not uncommon for pigs to be covered in flammable fluid and released into the battlefield. The sight, sound and presumably smell of the beasts would disrupt opposing forces, especially if they were using battle elephants, who were notoriously scared of even the slightest of critters. It also presumably distracted opposition troops too, after all who can resist the smell of bacon cooking?

Anti-tank dogs
Man’s best friend was sent into battle in the second world war when, in an effort to combat the enemy’s armoured capability, Soviet forces employed what would later become known as bomb dogs. These specially trained hounds were taught to find food under armoured vehicles. They were then starved before being released on the battlefield with explosives strapped to them. Amazingly it worked and after scores of units were destroyed, an order was sent out to German troops to shoot all mutts on sight.

Vomit ray
Currently being developed with the backing of the US navy, the vomit ray or ‘non-lethal stand-off weapon’ as it’s otherwise known, harnesses radio frequencies to make its targets dizzy. The aim is to disorientate and confuse opposing forces but the secondary effect of the weapon is that it can actually make its targets physically sick. The vomit ray is still in its experimental phase, but the company behind it claim that eventually it will be able to be fired through walls, giving forces an edge when clearing urban compounds and during hostage situations.

Bat bombs
It seems that much of the second world war was spent with scientists strapping explosives to unsuspecting animals with varying degrees of success. One project that did prove promising, however, involved America’s bat bombs. The plan consisted of actual bats that would have timed explosives strapped to them and then be released in Japanese cities. By night the flying critters would whoosh around like normal, but when daylight came they’d seek shelter in the nooks and crannies of buildings, just in time for their incendiaries to detonate. Amazingly the idea actually worked, but the detonation of atomic bombs over Nagasaki and Hiroshima ended the conflict before it could be put in operation.

Heat ray
It may sound like the stuff of science fiction but the heat ray, or an approximation of it, has actually been developed by US contractors. Designed for non-lethal situations these weapons use high-powered energy beams to heat the target’s skin up to 50C, which is roughly equivalent to the blast of a hot oven. Designed to be uncomfortable rather than deadly it’s supposed to be used for crowd control and was even deployed in Afghanistan recently.

The fart bomb
As ridiculous as it sounds this was a project that actually found its way into operation during the second world war. Developed by the Americans and given to the French resistance, these weaponised stink bombs were designed to be sprayed directly onto German occupiers with the aim of humiliating and by extension demoralising them. It worked, but almost too well with the sprayer often left as pungent as their potential target. Needless to say the project was abandoned after just two weeks.

Ice ships
Allied shipping was repeatedly threatened by German U-boats during the second world war, with the Atlantic proving particularly perilous. Planes were effective at hunting the submerged menace, but the sheer expanse of the ocean compared to available aircraft carriers made protection difficult if not impossible. However, the British scientist Geoffrey Pyke struck upon an ingenious idea to turn icebergs into aircraft carriers to solve the problem. The aim would be to use a levelled off ice floe as a makeshift carrier providing a landing platform in the middle of the Atlantic. Despite gaining the support of Churchill himself though, the project was eventually binned on account of the spiralling costs and the development of long-range capabilities for allied aircraft.

The zombie gun
Last year it was widely reported that the Russians were ploughing on with research into what the press dubbed ‘the zombie gun’. It is believed to be based on the type of microwaves that militaries across the globe have been researching since the 1950s. The thinking behind it all is that there’s some potential for such weapons to make their targets pliable to suggestion, or even to drive them insane by targeting the brain directly.
So there you have it, some strange, weird and outright wacky weapons that have been developed down the years.

Another example of the planetary cancer (i.e. humanity) being completely gakky to animals. And to kill each other no less. Dumb fething monkeys.

I heard the Anti-tank dogs didn't work at all because they actually only associated food with Russian tanks and were thus abandoned.

I like the idea of a gay bomb, we should totally make one. I refuse to believe that there is no concoction or formula in this universe that can't make people engage in homosexual activity. With 55 million chemicals and substances in this world, there's bound to be a combination that works

Notice how most of these were during WWII.
Was everyone in the world working off cartoon logic?

 hotsauceman1 wrote:
Notice how most of these were during WWII.
Was everyone in the world working off cartoon logic?

A bomb, radar, proximity fuses, radar guided machine guns and battleship cannon, jet engines....

Also read the letters from German soldiers. They were deathly afraid of antitank bomb dogs. The vortex gun was a valid idea. These guys also developed the first SAM, wire guided aerial bomb, and of course the V2.

And Dogs Strapped with bomb.. Oooo, and the flying tank by russia.

Yeah, but would that not have led to large planes (C130's for instance) being loaded with tanks to drop them into war zones?

I guess what this really shows is that without War, we wouldn't have half the technology we take for granted these days....

The British did use Gliders to drop down light tanks IIRC.

And tanks have been airdropped successfully. They just use giant parachutes, or drop them only a few feet off the ground.


Automatically Appended Next Post:

 sarpedons-right-hand wrote:


I guess what this really shows is that without War, we wouldn't have half the technology we take for granted these days....

One that effects all us modelers. Super Glue

None of these can beat the bowel disruptor from Transmetropolitan.
That has to be my favorite fictional weapon.

I think Tex Mex might qualify as a Bowel Disrupter.

Nothing fictional about that.

 sarpedons-right-hand wrote:
Just browsing the Internets and found this article on MSN.com, 'The Gay Bomb' and 'The Fart Bomb' are particular highlights!


Weird weapons in history

Anti-tank dogs
Man’s best friend was sent into battle in the second world war when, in an effort to combat the enemy’s armoured capability, Soviet forces employed what would later become known as bomb dogs. These specially trained hounds were taught to find food under armoured vehicles. They were then starved before being released on the battlefield with explosives strapped to them. Amazingly it worked and after scores of units were destroyed, an order was sent out to German troops to shoot all mutts on sight.

Didn't work as well as they hoped, they were trained using russian tanks, and when released, well they did what they were trained to do, look for food under russian tanks.

Ice ships
Allied shipping was repeatedly threatened by German U-boats during the second world war, with the Atlantic proving particularly perilous. Planes were effective at hunting the submerged menace, but the sheer expanse of the ocean compared to available aircraft carriers made protection difficult if not impossible. However, the British scientist Geoffrey Pyke struck upon an ingenious idea to turn icebergs into aircraft carriers to solve the problem. The aim would be to use a levelled off ice floe as a makeshift carrier providing a landing platform in the middle of the Atlantic. Despite gaining the support of Churchill himself though, the project was eventually binned on account of the spiralling costs and the development of long-range capabilities for allied aircraft.

Floating Ice fortresses, coming soon to a world near you!

 CthuluIsSpy wrote:
None of these can beat the bowel disruptor from Transmetropolitan.
That has to be my favorite fictional weapon.

WAIT a minute...

No one has mentioned the "Orgazmo"?

I am disappoint.

 whembly wrote:

 CthuluIsSpy wrote:
None of these can beat the bowel disruptor from Transmetropolitan.
That has to be my favorite fictional weapon.

WAIT a minute...

No one has mentioned the "Orgazmo"?

I am disappoint.

Arrgggh! The Orgazmarator...!! How could I forget that!!

"Quickly! To the Orgazmobile, my 1989 Buick Century!"

"I am Sancho"

Brilliant stuff

We might have to compromise for the Gay Bomb... but it seems somebody's thought of the next best thing: Orgy de a 'le Parfume:

Probably NSFW btw.. but it's on Youtube.

 Grey Templar wrote:
I heard the Anti-tank dogs didn't work at all because they actually only associated food with Russian tanks and were thus abandoned.

That was a problem, especially as the Russian tanks were diesel, while German tanks were most gasoline. But it didn't stop the program have some limited success (the Soviet claims of success were wildly over the top, as you'd expect, but there were definitely instances where multiple tanks in a column were taken out by suicide dogs).

The biggest problem was actually that tanks are generally on the move, and you can't convince a dog to run under a moving tank no matter how hungry he is. In a lot of cases dogs would actually run around the moving tank, waiting for it to stop (and likely getting shot before the tank does stop).


Automatically Appended Next Post:

 FM Ninja 048 wrote:
Didn't work as well as they hoped, they were trained using russian tanks, and when released, well they did what they were trained to do, look for food under russian tanks.

I see you're a fan of QI

Anyhow, that isn't entirely true. A lot of dogs were frightened by the noise of battle (they were trained with blanks being fired, but nothing sounds like real war) and ran back to their own lines. Some of these dogs triggered their own bombs on reaching the trenches and killed Russian soldiers.

But in general the program was somewhat successful, and only really phased out as the Russian army achieved greater material supplies and was able to rely on more traditional, typical weapons of war.

The Japanese also tried the plan, but their training regime was poor and delivered nothing effective. The US also had a plan to use dogs as bunker busters, with the bomb triggered by radio.

I dunno if it really counts as a weapon or not, but go read up on the Ghost Army

 azazel the cat wrote:
I dunno if it really counts as a weapon or not, but go read up on the Ghost Army

Just read about them.
Gotta love a bit of subterfuge

Does anyone know about the Code Talkers?

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Code_talker

At one stage in WWII America was trying to develop a bomb that would unleash tsunamis on Japan; I don't think they ever got it to work on a useful scale.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MO3IsRrjtXw&feature=youtu.be

 CthuluIsSpy wrote:

 azazel the cat wrote:
I dunno if it really counts as a weapon or not, but go read up on the Ghost Army

Just read about them.
Gotta love a bit of subterfuge

Does anyone know about the Code Talkers?

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Code_talker

From the wiki entry

A similar system employing Welsh was used by British forces, but not to any great extent during World War II. Welsh was used more recently in the Balkan peace-keeping efforts for non-vital messages.

 RossDas wrote:
At one stage in WWII America was trying to develop a bomb that would unleash tsunamis on Japan; I don't think they ever got it to work on a useful scale.

That wouldn't be outside the realm of possability. A really big bomb on the ocean floor near a fault line could do it.

 hotsauceman1 wrote:
And Dogs Strapped with bomb.. Oooo, and the flying tank by russia.

Spoiler:

The original deep striking Land Raider!

 d-usa wrote:

 hotsauceman1 wrote:
And Dogs Strapped with bomb.. Oooo, and the flying tank by russia.

Spoiler:

The original deep striking Land Raider!

That's what I thought...

Ain't the new flying landraider now the C130 Gunship? (probably more like a StormRaven...)

 RossDas wrote:
At one stage in WWII America was trying to develop a bomb that would unleash tsunamis on Japan; I don't think they ever got it to work on a useful scale.

Thats just what sheeple think!!!! Obama caused Fukushima read between the lines!!!! Wake up sheeple!

 reds8n wrote:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MO3IsRrjtXw&feature=youtu.be

Wonderful! A crazy German with a bazooka that shoots saw blades. What could be better?

Explosive sawblades?

That explode into bees.

Not a wierd weapon, but absolutely terrifying none the less...


A giant French(?) FlameThrower from WW1..... And the outcome of this?



Imagine riding your Horse through No Mans Land and seeing that leaping towards you.....

I remember watching that thing in action! Was it on Discovery channel perhaps?